Good to hear!

We get a lot of very positive calls and comments on our books from readers, booksellers and librarians and we love hearing what the reaction is to certain titles. A common reaction is usually something like: “Thanks so much for publishing these books. [I, my son, my daughter, a student…etc] loved the book, keep ‘em coming.”

A recent caller though, went a bit further. After commenting on how the students in her library loved these books and kept coming back for more, we asked why she thought they were so popular. She said the stories were great, the writing sharp, but most important? “The stories didn’t feel like they were written by a nun!”

We love to hear your comments. Feel free to drop us a line.

Gotcha!

	Here are a couple of cool photos to get you excited for Shelley Hrdlitschka’s new YA novel, Gotcha!.
Creativity must run in the family—these photos were taken by Shelley’s daughter Cara. Read more about the book and the photos at Shelley’s blog.

School Libraries and Librarians

Just a note from Orca in the midst of our wonderful month of guest blog entries. We couldn’t pass this one up! National School Library Day was this Monday, and in the BC Legislative Assembly, MLA David Cubberley of Saanich South advocated for full time school librarians:

“Today is National School Library Day, a time to honour the role libraries play on the road to literacy and lifelong learning, to honour those whose calling it is to engage young readers. It’s also a time to ask whether, for the sake of literacy and the love of reading, we can’t do more to put a physical library with a skilled librarian within reach of every child in B.C. — not a 0.2 or 0.4 librarian, not a clerk to handle the book returns, but a living, breathing, full-time teacher-librarian.”

Hear hear! School librarians can make a big difference to young readers, whether they’re reluctant or eager. David Cubberley has the right idea; there should be youth librarians around to help every child in BC—every child in Canada—improve their literacy skills and get the chance to read many wonderful books.

(You can read the full text of Cubberley’s speech in the official transcripts of the legislative session.)

Hello, out there!

It’s Monique Polak, Orca’s guest blogger this week. I’m writing to you from my desk in Montreal. I’ve already gone for a run and taught a class at Marianopolis, the college where I teach. This morning, when I walked into my class, I put this quote on the blackboard (green board, really): “We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master” — Ernest Hemingway.
I was about to return my students’ first writing samples, which I’d corrected over the weekend. I thought Ernest Hemingway’s quote would get them in the right mood — help them understand that writing is a process and that making mistakes and revising is an essential part of that process.

Then I said that though I am a professional writer, I’m an apprentice, too. And I told them that today, when I get home (which is now), I’ll be starting the rewrite on my next Orca Currents book.

We discussed how writing doesn’t happen in a vacuum and how important it is to get feedback. It just so happens that last week, I got amazing feedback from Melanie Jeffs, who is the Orca Currents editor. The project we’re working on together is called The 121 Express and it’s about a group of high school kids who go totally wild on the bus after school. (You might be interested to know there really is a 121 Express bus route in Montreal and I’ve ridden it — and met some of the students who are regulars on the bus!) One of Melanie’s comments was that my manuscript has too many characters (she counted 12 in one chapter alone), so my plan for today is to follow her suggestion and combine some of my characters (for example, there are two teachers, but I really only need one in my story.)

So if you’re a student out there, I hope you’re open to your teacher’s comments about your writing, and that the feedback you get makes you feel excited about writing (that’s what Melanie’s comments did for me). Writing is hard work, the hardest thing I do, but I think that’s why I love it. Easy things get boring, don’t they? It’s the second week of school at Marianopolis, but the first week for many Canadian high school students — wishing you all a good start. I’ll be back again tomorrow, telling you a little about the writing life. If there are particular things you’d like to know, send me your questions — or comments. As they say in Quebec — “A demain” — till tomorrow!

Testing!

It’s Orca author Monique Polak, just testing out the technology. I’m going to be doing a week-long guest blog on this site starting August 27 (should be fun!) and I figured I’d do a test run this morning. So far, so good! Thanks, Alyssa Knox, for the technical assistance. “See” you on the 27th!