Paul Coccia is a Toronto author with an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC and an avid home-baker. His debut young adult novel, Cub, is part of Orca’s Soundings Series: short, high-interest novels specifically for teens. Paul lives and bakes with his nephew, three dogs and a little grey parrot. You can find . . .
Nikki Barthelmess is a journalist and author of young adult books. She entered foster care in Nevada at twelve and spent the next six years living in six different towns. During this time, Nikki found solace in books, her journal, and teachers who encouraged her as a writer. The Quiet You Carry is . . .
For more info about Erin Bow’s Prisoner Of Peace series, see this Simon & Schuster page. More info: Donalyn Miller’s #BookADay Challenge – My #BookADay Archives (also see my visual #BookADay archive on Padlet, Flickr and Pinterest).
Click on the image above to see a bigger version of my#BookADay collage review of Kari Maaren’s WEAVE A CIRCLE ROUND. For more info about Kari and her books, visit KariMaaren.com. Also see Kari’s wonderful advice for young writers in an interview on Inkygirl.com earlier this year and listen to some of her music in . . .
Catching up with some of my favourite #BookAday reads over the past few months, starting with HEARTS UNBROKEN by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Candlewick, Oct. 2018). Side note: if you’re not already, you need to follow Cynthia’s wonderful blog, Cynsations. You can find out more about HEARTS UNBROKEN here. More info: Donalyn Miller’s #BookADay Challenge – My . . .
I met Kari Maaren through a filk music convention, and fell in love with her song Being Watson (which almost always makes teary-eyed). She also is cartoonist with a webcomic, West of Bathurst, and an active one, It Never Rains. After being a fan of her other work, I was VERY excited to find out she . . .
I recently finished EVERYTHING BEAUTIFUL IS NOT RUINED by Danielle Younge-Ullman and adored it. I’m not surprised it’s garnered so many rave reviews as well as being a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award. I’ve always been a fan of survival-type stories, and Danielle’s YA novel combines this with beautiful writing as well as . . .
I first met Kate Blair at CANSCAIP’s Packaging Your Imagination conference, when she was helping during my presentation. Her debut YA, TRANSFERRAL, came out from Dancing Cat/Cormorant soon after; I posted about it here. I enjoyed Transferral so much that I couldn’t wait until Kate’s second book came out…and I wasn’t disappointed. TANGLED PLANET is fantastic. Canadians . . .
LOVED Kate Blair‘s debut YA novel, TRANSFERRAL. Such a good read: great pacing, engaging characters, thought-provoking, thoroughly satisfying ending. Love the original twist on the dystopian theme. This would make an excellent holiday gift for a teen reader! For more info including reviews and awards, see the TRANSFERRAL page on the Dancing Cats . . .
Just came back from the cottage. If you are looking for a GREAT summer read (and esp if you enjoyed GONE GIRL or WE WERE LIARS), I *strongly* encourage you to get a copy of psychological thriller BEWARE THAT GIRL by Teresa Toten (Doubleday Canada). Don’t start reading it at night, because . . .