Author: Marsha

All sorts of last minute changes with the launch of this book tour. My husband was originally going to fly me to Montreal, I was going to rent a car, and he was going to fly in to pick me up after the week was over. But we’ve had March weather in May and there was a risk of the wings icing, so he couldn’t fly me. I booked Via Rail, changed the rental car pick-up … but there was the small issue of whether I’d be able to get in to the rental place in time on Sunday before the office closed. It the train was at all late, that was a distinct possibility. So in the end, I drove the 750 or so kilometers from Brantford to Ste Agathe du Monts. The drive was relatively uneventful. Lots of rain but traffic was moving. I listened to one third of Stephen White’s last Alan Gregory novel, Compound Fractures. And Auberge La Tour du Lac is lovely. Looking forward to visiting St. Agate Academy tomorrow morning before I head in to Montreal.

Monday May 5, 2014

I checked out of the lovely Auberge La Tour du Lac and drove to Ste. Agathe Academy, which was about three minutes away.

Librarian Jeanne Marcotte was all ready for the visit!

And soon the students poured in — enthusiastic and full of questions, many about my WWII novels but also about writing and books in general! Here are some of the boys, checking out my books before the presentation. You can see that one of the boys is holding his cherished copy of Prisoners in the Promised Land:

And here are a bunch of students after I had finished both sessions:

Jeanne gave me a bagged lunch (egg salad on brown), I packed up and flew out the door. Drove to Montreal, sandwich on my lap.

Next stop: Sourp Hagop Armenian School, where I spoke to high school students:

The students asked GREAT questions and were particularly interesting in my upcoming novel, Dance of the Banished.

I drove to the Marriott Residence Inn on Lincoln Street and checked in, and was then taken out for a wonderful Middle Eastern dinner with Armenian friends.

Tuesday, May 6th, 2014

My first school of the day was St. John Fisher School in Pointe Claire. Librarian Debbie Poirier had a uniquely cheerful way of brightening her basement library. See the tree in the photo below? That’s actually a pylon. Debbie and her students decorate their learning tree according to the season. The grade four students asked GREAT questions!

My next stop was Kirkland Library, which was just 15 or so kilometers away, but I had a dickens of a time finding it. My car GPS led me to a seniors’ home, and my phone GPS took me to the sports centre. Fortunately, I saw these students walking down the street:

They were going to my presentation! I was a kilometer away! They pointed me to the right direction, and by the time I parked and set up, they had arrived. On my itinerary, it said that these were grade 1 students. They were grade 7-8 students — not a problem! Just call me flexible Marsha!

The final visit of the day was at Selwyn House School in Westmount. It was impossible to know where to park in this extremely busy area so I called librarian Laura Sanders from the car and she sorted me out.

The grade 5 Selwyn students were so bubbling with questions that they nearly sidetracked my presentation. What most interested them was my own learning challenges when I was their age, but also my World War II trilogy.

David from Babar Books came in with books for sale and autograph. Here he is with Laura in the awesome library:

Here’s a pic of me with David:

I had a couple of hours unbooked in the afternoon, but I also hadn’t had lunch and was meeting two fabulous authors for dinner. Carol-Ann Hoyte:

Who is not only an author in her own right, but she also organized ALL of the Quebec tours!

And the awesome Kyo Maclear:

Even with three GPSes, two human beings and a paper map, Kyo and I somehow managed to make a 10 minute trip take an hour. We almost missed Carol-Ann altogether. But I had a wonderful opportunity to chat with Kyo as we sat in traffic. A brilliant writer who delighted many students with her presentations during Book Week.

After dinner, I met with fellow Ukrainian, fellow librarian, fellow writer Vasyl Pawlowsky over a cup of mint tea. I have now strong-armed him into joining kidcrit. Ha!

More later …

After presenting to two FABULOUS groups of OLOL students, Marisa guided me to a lovely restaurant that was between her school in Delaware, and Nette Timmermans’ St Vincent de Paul in Strathroy. Nette had just arrived, and secured a booth…After a tasty lunch (Marisa’s fries were particularly tempting) I followed Nette to her school.

And here’s what welcomed me upon my arrival:

St. Vincent de Paul has a beautifully big and functional library and her students had decorated it with a lot of artwork from lessons about my books. Here is a picture of a giant suitcase display, with students’ thoughts on what Tuyet would pack to come to Canada.

Here are some avid readers from St Vincent de Paul.

And an avid reader teacher!

The young woman on the left, with me and Nette, is about to have her first piece of writing published!

Me and Nette.

More fabulous work from SVDP students.

I am thrilled that Manitoba students have chosen Making Bombs for Hitler as their Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice winner for 2014! Congratulations to Gordon Korman and Joanne Levy, both Honour Book selections. Here’s the link to the official announcement.