Greetings to all the students and educators involved with the Forest of Reading awards! I know you’re busy reading books nominated for various awards (including my young-adult novel Stowaway, part of the Red Maple nominees for 2020) despite your physical classrooms being shut down.
The awards decisions have been pushed back to mid-June to give you more time to finish reading and voting, and meanwhile, some of us authors have offered short video readings for you (see above; I chose to read from my Orca Book Camp Wild at the request of a teacher-librarian in Alberta).
We’d also like to encourage you to keep buying from Tinlids, the wonderful bookstore that supports the event.
As for classrooms that booked me for the May tour, like most authors on the circuit, I look forward to doing those presentations virtually.
By the way, have you seen the trailer for Stowaway?
Or information on how the story came about? (On this page, click on “Click here to learn about the story behind the book!”)
Stay safe and healthy, and keep on reading.
Pam Withers, Vancouver, www.pamwithers.com
P.S. I’m spending my self-isolation time sewing (including medical face masks to donate), learning to bake bread and play cribbage, riding my stationary exercise bike, and having daily ping-pong tournaments with my husband on an old warped ping-pong table in the garage. Also, creating a one-minute video for the Forest of Reading awards. AND anticipating TWO NEW YOUNG-ADULT NOVELS (my 20th and 21st) coming out this fall. Stay tuned!
