Category Archives: books

Make time for Family Literacy Day

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It’s so hard to make time. Oh, how well I know this. But, if you can, make some for Family Literacy Day on January 27, 2012. I actually did not know there was such a day, but, there I go, learning something new every day. It’s kind of the antithesis of International Talk Like A Pirate Day, which I did know about.

But all kidding aside, literacy is very, very important. So I’m all for days like this. And making days like this any every-day-of-the-year sort of habit. Read with your kids. Such a small thing, but so, so huge.

In celebration of Family Literacy Day, the Canadian Children’s Book Centre has compiled a list of 50 Canadian children’s books involving the subject of family. And one of them happens to be Catching Time, by author Rachna Gilmore and illustrated me. The list includes books for children age 4 up to young adult. But don’t stop at this list, there are tons of amazing books for kids – Canadian and beyond. However, since I’m rather fond of Canada, and my home province of B.C, here’s another list to explore – it’s all B.C books, organised by region. Abbotsford? Creston? Bella Coola? Williams Lake? Vancouver? There’s a book for that.

(also, Rachna has a teacher’s guide for Catching Time, available on her website.)

More about Family Literacy Day on the ABC Life Literacy Canada website & the Gov’t of Canada site. 

Pussycat book launch

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Dan Bar-el, storyteller, educator, author and superentertainingfunnyguy is launching his newest picture book Pussycat, Pussycat, Where Have You Been? (illustrated by Rae Maté) this coming Tuesday, 7:30pm, May 31 2011 at The Lyceum in Vancouver (3696 West 8th Avenue, Vancouver BC).

(click to embiggen)

 

Dan is the author of a whole bunch of books that are currently published (and worth seeking out in your local bookstore), and some that are on their way to being published (and worth looking forward to their arrival), such as the one that I am currently working on.

It should also be noted that PPWHYB appears here on the New York TImes Children’s Bookshelf.

Darby Visits

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~*~
Today’s post comes to you from Darby, a time-traveling heroine, with help from my friend and fellow CWILL BC member, author kc dyer.

-Kirsti

~*~

Hey Kirsti-Readers!

My name is Darby Christopher, and Kirsti has very kindly agreed to allow me a visit here to her blog today. This picture book illustration blog is a favourite for me, because of all her illustrations of animals. I don’t have any pets myself – apart from my Nan’s cat Maurice – so I like to check out all Kirsti’s cool illustrations whenever I can.

Today, I’m just back from a sidetrip to Vancouver Island, as a part of the blog tour celebrating the launch of my new book Facing Fire. It picks up the story of what happened after the magical summer that you may have read about in A Walk Through A Window, and kinda highlights my own special talent. I can’t draw like Kirsti – I wish I could! – but I do seem to have picked up a talent for slip-sliding-through-time…

If you are interested in learning more, you may want to have a peek at my new book. You can find out more about it at www.kcdyer.com

Or better still, how ’bout winning a copy as a prize? If you leave comment on this post, Kirsti will put your name into a draw to win a free copy of the new book – Facing Fire. And if you actually link to this post somewhere else [like in another blog, or facebook post or even a tweet] we’ll put your name in for the draw for BOTH of my books. So comment away! (Contest closes October 20, 2010)

By the way, if you’re into looking for prizes, [especially if you like making videos], check out my blog HERE at Darby Speaks. I have an AMAZING contest going with some totally fantastic prizes. And if you like twitter, you can follow all the latest on the contest and the blog tour and launches @DarbyWalking.

See you there.

Thanks for having me, Kirsti!

~Darby

Fall Book Harvest

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Fall Book Harvest Logo

The North Vancouver City Library, the BC Coalition for School Libraries and CWILL BC present the Fall Book Harvest on Friday, October 16, 2009.

Along with an afternoon of live presentations, free autographs, displays, door prizes, activities and a book sale hosted by Kidsbooks, there is a chance for local schools to win a free author or illustrator visit. Read the full contest details on the CWILL BC blog.

Date: Friday, October 16, 2009

Time: 1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Place: North Vancouver City Library
120 West 14th Street (map)

Admission is free

To date, the following authors and illustrators are scheduled to appear at Fall Book Harvest: Alison Acheson, Dan Bar-el, Fiona Bayrock, Silvana Bevilacqua, Della Burford, Norma Charles, Becky Citra, Rachelle Delaney, kc dyer, Linda Demeulemeester, Claire Eamer, Julie H. Ferguson, Lee Edward Födi, Nancy Hundal, Melanie Jackson, Rebecca Kool, Tanya Lloyd Kyi, Christina Leist, Marian MacDougall, Oliver Neubert, Cynthia Nugent, Sheri Radford, PJ Reece, Gillian Richardson, Margriet Ruurs, Kathie Shoemaker, David Smith, Michela Sorrentino, Crystal Stranaghan, Carol Watterson, Irene Watts, and Kari-Lynn Winters.

CWILL BC Fall Book Harvest 2009 poster

The direct link to the print-size colour letter-format poster is right here.

All the posters, in various formats (letter & tabloid) plus a choice of black & white or colour, can be found here and downloaded in a variety of sizes.

Web Savvy Reminder

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A reminder that there’s still time to catch the last three webcast seminars by Mark Blevis (Just One More Book!!, MarkBlevis.com) and Greg Pincus on how to use social media to promote books, book people and the book industry. While it’s easy to register for the seminars, I’m 0 for 2 so far in catching one. Despite the best efforts of technology to remind me, I read the start time wrong for the first episode and have a double booked myself for the second tomorrow (that one’s about Twitter).

The universities and colleges in my area are jumping on the social media bandwagon, offering social media courses to marketing students. Mark and Greg’s webcasts are free. Not a bad deal.

Full info about this series is here on Mark’s website: Web Savvy For the Book Industry.

An Interest in Backyard Gardening Started Early

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The other day when I was discussing the sad fate of my prolific backyard garden with the sister of another Vancouver tenant who is also losing her backyard plot to one of Vancouver’s new laneway houses, I was reminded of one of my favourite childhood books: Old Macdonald Had an Apartment House.

oldmacdonald

I reread this book over and over, delighting in the concept of an entire apartment building turned into an organic vegetable garden by the building’s superintendent. As a kid raised on a hobby farm and quite unfamiliar with the city, an apartment building was a strange, foreign thing and the city setting of the book was quite unsettling to me. So I found it only natural and right that the hard grey concrete lines should be softened by melon vines and that carrots should poke through the floors.

It’s been probably more than 20 years since I’ve read the book so my memory of the exact vegetables and where they were planted is kind of foggy. I’m not even sure where my copy of the book is! But the overall idea of a structure sustaining a living mass of vegetables has stuck with me all these years.

Published in 1969, this book is still absolutely current with today’s fervor over organic vegetables and interest in local food production. I can’t count how many little plots of tomatoes and beans have sprung up among the dahlias and rhododendrons in my neighbourhood this year.

Green roofs and bee hives? – of course! High-rises with balcony vegetable gardens and atriums filled with grape and cucumber vines? – yes please! Give me half a chance and I’ll grow an espaliered apple tree against that future laneway house.

(I did a little search and found a blog on vintage children’s books [blog after my own heart] where there’s an example of one of the delightful illustrations from this book. )

Web Savvy for Book People

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Mark Blevis (Just One More Book!!, MarkBlevis.com) and Greg Pincus will be generously offering up their social media wisdom in a series of webcasts on using social media to promote books. The series, aimed at “book publishers, publicists, authors, illustrators and enthusiasts”, starts September 10th.

Full info about this series is here on Mark’s website: Web Savvy For the Book Industry.