On the way!

Nice to see both MINRs2 and GREAT get nods in the Quill and Quire 

Fall Preview.

#WhyWritersMatter

The Writers' Union of Canada has launched a new campaign - #WhyWritersMatter

Wow. That's a tough idea to unpack - because there are so many reasons why we need writers to tell us stories, take us to new places, allow us avenues outside of ourselves and more deeply inside ourselves.

I guess my main response to the campaign is that writers - both of fiction and non-fiction - help us ask the big questions about life. Stories give us ways inside the complexities of our lives as humans, giving us new ways of looking at things. The Great Gatsby helps us ponder what true success means, what identity means... just as much as Where the Wild Things Are helps us understand (and even accept) anger and frustration.

In closing.. here are some of my author photos from my various books.

Can you guess which books?

(A: Neil Flambé 2, 4, 5, 6 - MINRs and Super-Duper Monster Viewer)

Super-Duper Monster Viewer

I use my tablet a LOT to talk to my family. They just live way too far away.

And those chats partly inspired the images from my book Super-Duper Monster Viewer (just out from Groundwood).

So I made a short video thanking the people who designed that amazing tech... even if it can be somewhat "imprecise" at times.

FOREST OF READING!!!!

The Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading is my fave reading award program.

And this year's festivities got underway yesterday in London, Ontario. 

There's even a cool app that let's you take photos like this!

Duncan's mission

You may remember this Hallowe'en picture of one of my fans, an awesome kid named Duncan.



He suffered a loss recently when his best friend Connor took his own life.

Since then, Duncan has been raising awareness and funds for Kids Help Phone. 1-800-668-6868

There was a Walk So Kids Can Talk walk in memory of Connor today. You can still donate through the LINK.

Duncan has also been baking these amazing Star Wars cookies to raise some money.

This is a great cause, and something we are often afraid to talk about. Talk about it. 1-800-668-6868

This is the booth Duncan set up at the kids market a few weeks ago to raise money and pass along the phone number. 

I'll leave you with what Duncan wrote me about his friend.

"Connor was a kind and caring person.  He loved reading, Doctor Who, Star Wars, Dungeons and Dragons, board games and art.  He was creative and really smart. He was in the book club at school and used to be a library helper.   He was a grade 8 student and was going to go to a specialized robotics programme for grade 8. Connor took his own life in February.  He had just turned 14."

www.kidshelpphone.ca

1-800-668-6868

HECK YES!!!!

Just announced.

MINRs is one of TWO Canadian Library Association Honour Books!

And my friends Ken and Jon won for The Nest!

Seems like a good day for a celebration.

I guess I'll open this bottle of wine Simon and Schuster sent me when the book got nominated!

#SLM16

It is School Library Month right now, so I thought I'd share a part of my school presentations that deals with my favorite part of the school.

I loved my school library (Lewiston-Porter in Western New York). It was where I met George Gershwin (we had an audio room where you could listen to LPs), Beatrix Potter and F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was the one part of the school where I felt that I also had a say in what I learned and how I learned.

It was also the place where I learned I was going to be a writer.

This is the story I tell (right after I instruct the kids to bow down to their own teacher-librarian... which they do).....

I walked into my library around 4th grade. My teacher-librarian had set up a movie screen, which was a little odd (back in the stone age).

She said that this was a movie about writing. She said that I would know, when it was over, if I was going to be a writer.

Then I reenact the movie.

You see a scared young girl running through the forest. You only see her, not what's chasing her. 

She looks back and screams, then trips and falls in a puddle.

She gets up soaking wet, looks back and screams again. She begins running again.

Suddenly, right in front of her, in the middle of the forest, there's a door.

The door opens a crack and a light shines through. She runs through the door, closes it.... and that's the end of the movie.

The kids always groan.

Then I repeat what my librarian said to me... What happens next?

I wanted to know what happened so badly that I went home and wrote four different possible endings.

The kids always have some idea in their own heads too... so I point out that they are writing too.

So, if you are in a school that's lucky enough to have a teacher-librarian, make sure you take some time this month to bow down to them!