Celebrating Black History Month
Authors Booking Service
Hello everyone!
February is Black History Month!
As we celebrate this part of our heritage, we hope you’ll enjoy the rich stories featured below. Please contact us to ask about booking any of these members for your special events.
Mella and the N'Anga: An African Tale is a tale of courage and wisdom, bringing to life a mythic time in Africa. The story follows Mella on a magical quest to confront her fears and bring healing to her father. Author Gail Nyoka presents a re-envisioning of this ancient story for students in Grades 4-6. Gail will visit places within about an hour's drive of Toronto, and is available Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays.
Allan Stratton’s Chanda's Secrets is an internationally acclaimed novel about a young woman struggling with the subSaharan HIV-AIDS pandemic; the film version, Life Above All is South Africa's official entry to the 2011 Oscars. The sequel Chanda's Wars is about child soldiers in subSaharan Africa, with an afterword by General Roméo Dallaire; it won the Canadian Library Association's Best Young Adult Book Award. Allan researched his books in Botswana, South Africa, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and can tell personal stories of the young people he met in his travels.
Monica Kulling: All Aboard! Elijah McCoy's Steam Engine, is the fascinating story about the African-Canadian inventor of a lubricating system that revolutionized steam train travel. There were few opportunities for the son of slaves, but Elijah McCoy's dreams led him to study mechanical engineering in Scotland. He learned everything there was to know about engines - how to design them and how to build them. But when he returned to the United States the only job Elijah could get was shoveling coal into a train's firebox. Undaunted, he went on to invent a means of oiling the engine while the train was running, changing the face of travel around the world.
Julie Burtinshaw's historical novel for young adults, The Freedom of Jenny, tells the little known story of the Black migration to Canada in the late 1800s from Missouri to California to Vancouver Island. Follow young Jenny from slavery to freedom, as she and her family struggle to leave hate and discrimination behind. Julie is available February: 1- 10 and 24 - 28.
Frieda Wishinsky: Hurry Freedom. In this touching and fast-paced chapter book, Emily and Matt help runaway slaves escape to Ontario right before the Civil War erupts. The facts at the back of the book give young readers added insight into the dramatic events of the times. Hurry Freedom is a terrific way to introduce kids in grade 2-5 to an important period in North American history.
Canadian journalist J. Timothy Hunt is available throughout Ontario during Black History Month to speak to Grade 7-12 students about environmental activism in Nigeria. Hunt is the author of The Politics of Bones, the tragic story of Nigerian Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Ken Saro-Wiwa who launched a massive non-violent protest against Shell Oil and paid for it with his life.
Rona Arato: Working for Freedom, the Story of Josiah Henson. Josiah Henson escaped with his family to Canada where became a preacher, abolitionist and conductor on the Underground Railroad. He beat the odds to found the Dawn Community and the British American Manual Labour Institute to help former slaves develop skills to live as free men and women. (Josiah Henson's story also appears in Courage and Compassion, Ten Canadians Who Made a Difference.) Also, “Amos' Big Decision" in On a Canadian Day. Amos lives in Buxton, Ontario. When his 15 year-old brother runs away to join the Union Army during the Civil War Amos must decide whether to let him go or alert his parents.
The Children of Africville by Christine Welldon, details living, leaving, and remembering through the eyes of the children of this vibrant community that has become a National Historic site today.
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New Releases
John Wilson: Shot at Dawn. A story set during the First World War, Shot at Dawn charts the disillusion of a young Canadian as he struggles through the horrors of Passchendaele and watches his best friend descend into a mental breakdown. Shot at Dawn is the third book in Scholastic's I Am Canada series for boys and John's thirtieth title.
Rona Arato: Design It! takes a lively look at the basics of design behind the things such as tools and utilities that we use every day.
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NEWS
Valerie Sherrard’s juvenile novel, Tumbleweed Skies, has been nominated for the American Library Association’s Notable Children’s Books for 2010. It has also been selected as a 2010 Editors’ Choice title by Booklist.
Frieda Wishinsky will be speaking at “Reading For The Love Of It” on Feb. 10th and 11th . Her topics are: I Remember: How to Write Fiction (and even non-fiction) Using Personal History and The Power of Stories and How to Write Your Own.
Erin Bow's Plain Kate has been short-listed for a Cybil Award for best science fiction or fantasy book for young readers.
ABS Members at the OLA Superconference:
Marsha Skrypuch will be signing Stolen Child on Friday Feb 4 at 10 am at Another Story Bookshop booth. Marsha will also be taking part in the CANSCAIP mass launch.
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MEMBER AVAILABILITY
Contact us today about booking ANY of our Ontario members for the coming school year!
Rachna Gilmore will be attending the OLA Superconference and is available for readings in the Toronto area on February 3 and 4.
Marsha Skrypuch will be in London on Feb 23 and has availability for up to two sessions in the afternoon.
Jo Ellen Bogart will be in Ottawa and has dates available April 18 and 20, 2011.
Celia Godkin will be in the GTA and is available for bookings May 24 - 26.
Helaine Becker will be in the Ottawa area several times this school year and will waive travel costs for full day bookings (4 sessions).
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OUT-OF-PROVINCE AUTHORS coming your way!
Sorry!!! Arthur Slade’s schedule is now full.
Contact us to be placed on ANY of our out-of-province members’ waiting lists and we’ll notify you when they make plans to visit Ontario.
Sigmund Brouwer will be in Ontario for school and library presentations January 25 – 29, 2011.
Silver Birch Non-Fiction Winner 2010 Larry Verstraete will be in Ontario for the OLA Super Conference in February of 2011 and is available for school visits at that time.
Pam Bustin will be in the GTA for the OLA Super Conference and has availability for school and library visits on February 2, 4 and 5.
Philip Roy (Submarine Outlaw) is available for visits in the GTA, Hamilton and Oakville area in April 2011.
Jacqueline Guest will is available in Toronto at the end of April.
Lois Peterson: Silver Birch Express Nominee for The Ballad of Knuckles McGraw will be in the GTA May 9-15, 2011.
OLA NOMINEE UPDATES
Click here for a direct link to our growing list of nominees: http://authorsbooking.com/2043/2064.html
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Marsha & Valerie