Reviewed by Myles, age 8

I just finished reading A Monster Wrote Me a Letter by Nick Blaind, and I thought it was really good.

I really like this story because Cousin Fred lives under the boy’s bed sends the boy a letter, and the boy sends one back.

But I think what’s so funny about this story is that boy got mixed up with the monsters, and he sent a letter to the wrong monster.

The best thing about this story is that it’s funny and interesting. It’s interesting to think that a monster could come all nice and
dressed and bathed to a play date, and that a boy would think that the monster was really scary.

If I wrote a letter to a monster, it would say:

Dear Monster,

Please come and live at my house. We can play baseball, catch fireflies, play soccer and eat rotten slugs.

(Well, maybe not the last part.)

Kids who like a good story that has lot sof funny parts and good pictures would enjoy this book.

Reviewed by Myles, age 8

This book is called Alligator Baby and it’s written by one of my favourite authors, Robert Munsch.

I like this story because it surpises you when the parents come home and there has been a mix-up. Imagine coming home with an aliigator instead of a real baby! Or a seal!  Or a monkey!

Each time, it’s a different animal.  Then Kristen goes to the zoo and finds that a gorilla stole the real baby and she wants it back, so she pinches the gorilla on the nose and she gives back the human baby.

Everyone gets their real babies, and they’re all happy again.

I think people that like weird surprises would like this book. This is a funny book, which is true of most of Robert Munsch’s books.

I highly recommend it!

Reviewed by Logan, age 10

Soccer Crazy by author Gilles Tibo (with illustrations by Bruno St-Aubin) reminds me of my eight-year-old brother, Myles, who is an awesome soccer player.

The story is about Nicholas, who is trying to practice for a tournament that’s coming up, but he keeps bothering everyone and even breaks the kitchen window.

I like the illustrations in this book because they are colourful and active, and they explain what the story is about (even if you don’t read the words).

This is a good book for kids who enjoy soccer. I think kids aged six – 8 would enjoy reading this book.

This book could even inspire some younger kids to become better soccer players!

The author (and illustrator) of this book also published Where’s My Hockey Sweater? which is one of our favourite books.

Now that soccer season is here, I think lots of kids would enjoy reading this book.  Check it out by clicking here!

Reviewed by Logan, age 10

The Wrong Book by Nick Blaind is about a little boy named Nicholas Ickle who is trying to tell the reader what his book is about. (To start with, I think the name Nicholas Ickle is pretty funny, don’t you?)

As Nicholas tries to tell the reader what the book is about, he keeps getting  interrupted (by an elephant, the Queen, some rats, you name it).

He keeps trying to tell you until the book is finished and he never gets to say what the book is about – which is pretty hilarious.

The illustrations of this book (also by Nick Blaind) show just how annoyed Nicholas is getting as the book continues and he keeps getting interrupted. My favourite illustration is the one of the elephant, because it’s big, fat and lumpy.

The cover of the book is pretty great too – the letters of the title are bigger than the cover illustration, so that grabs your attention right away.

This book is pretty funny, all the way through. I think kids who enjoy books that don’t really make sense would like this book (and that includes me!).

Here are a few questions we had for Rene during a recent chat:

Papertrails Family: You’ve had many jobs during your lifetime: miner, construction worker, upholsterer, woodworkers, truck driver; how did these experiences help you gather story ideas?

Rene Schmidt: I would choose ‘strange’ jobs or a variety of jobs when I was younger because I wanted as many experiences as possible. The result is a broad range of things that I never did long enough to get particularly good at!

To answer your question; I always wanted to be able to represent the sensations, the sight, sound, taste and smell of a place or job or occupation.  If I wrote about mining, for example, it was (is) important to me that another miner reading it would see it as authentic – that I got the smell of the place right. Nothing annoys people as much as a poorly researched piece of writing.

PF: What inspires you to write these days?

RS: Stories of heroism and selfless acts always make me feel good about the world we live in. I love to hear them and retell them or to change them around and make up new ones. The disaster stories I researched all seemed to have a hero, or a new law or regulation following them to prevent needless loss of life. I also used to daydream a lot – fantastic stories of stopping time or travelling to distant places in an instant – and sometimes these daydreams become stories I’m working on.

PF: Is there a favourite place you like to write?

RS: I love my desktop computer, so wherever it is, I write. I am old and go back to the dark days of pre-internet and pre-PC, so I used to type on a massive heavy machine called an IBM selectric, (if I could find one for a few hours)  or a clattery old manual typewriter – so for me a computer is still a pleasure.

We’ve just built a house and my wife insisted I get a better view from my office window than our last place, so I have a huge picture window facing outside where my desk is.

PF: That sounds wonderful! Who do you picture reading your books when you are in the middle of writing them?

RS: Usually I’m so immersed in writing them I don’t identify a particular reader, but I consider all the kids I taught and remember the kinds of things they enjoyed reading about.

My target reader is someone who normally doesn’t enjoy reading yet. i want to get them hooked on books. Therefore I want it to read clearly and smoothly so I’ll read my stuff out loud to make sure the tongue doesn’t trip over the words. It always amazes me to find a fan, someone who isn’t a relative or friend and really liked my stuff and read it carefully. It is surreal when that happens.

PF: Do you enjoy reading non-fiction more than fiction?

RS: I love both. I think a great biography is one of the best kinds of writitng, but a big fat fiction book is also something I can sink into. If it is well-written it can be about auto mechanics; in fact a favorite book of mine was an exceptionally well-written book on life and mechanics called Fixing Your Volkswagen For The Compleat Idiot .

PF: Are you working on any books right now, and if so, can you tell us about them?

RS: Yes, but I work very slowly.  I have three fiction manuscripts that are ‘done’ but need work, and a non-fiction book I’m starting.

Last year I finished fiction teen novel about a boy and his girlfriend who sneak into a shaft mine to find out about the disappearance of his father, a mine boss, who was working alone.  It’s been rejected (in a nice way) by some editors I respect so I’m itching to look at it again for another re-write. I’ve never read a decent description of a mine’s unusual atmosphere, and it is important for me to create a readable novel setting in a mine.

I have another, a fantasy fiction work which I don’t want to talk about because I’m getting ready to send it out, and another high interest low-vocabulary novel about a boy who tries out for ‘National Idol’.

If Scholastic is interested I will do another revision of Canadian Disasters — this time including the Titanic, the Franklin Expedition and some others.

PF: Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions, Rene. Good luck with your next book!

As fans of anything vintage, this book struck a chord with our family.

We love the brilliant colour and animated motion through this book — and above all, it’s child-like simplicity.

This Is Silly! is a fun, non-sensical story that reminds us a lot of the work of Dr. Seuss. With text like “bumbling buffoonery” and “tumbling tomfoolery”, there’s a lot of great writing to entertain kids and parents alike.

We enjoyed This Is Silly! and hope your family will too!

The author of such books as Trouble at Turtle Narrows, Treasure at Turtle Lake and The Deep End Gang, Peggy recently agreed to answer a few questions we had about her writing.

Here’s what she had to say:

Papertrails Family: What author or books did you enjoy as a child?

Peggy Dymond Leavey: My dad was the one in the family who read to us as kids, and since he was British, we were introduced early on to books from England. I still have the collection of little books by Beatrix Potter that I used to get for Christmas and birthdays.

Long after I was reading Nancy Drew mysteries for  myself, Dad still read aloud to us, classics like Treasure Island, Heidi and Black Beauty, as well as the poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson and A.A. Milne.

My very favourite book, one I received on my twelfth birthday, was Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott. I strongly identified with Jo March because she too loved to write.

PF: Those are some of our favourite books too! Great classics. When did you know you first wanted to become an author?

PDL: I came first in an essay-writing competition way back in Grade Four, and that was when I began to think that if I practised hard enough, I could be a writer. And that’s what I did over the years; I kept on writing. Now that I am retired, I’m lucky enough to be able to write every day!

PF: How can parents help encourage their kids to read at home?

PDL: The first thing I would say is read to your kids. This is so important. It should be a regular habit that needs to be nurtured from the time kids are toddlers (or even earlier).

It would be lovely if kids could see that their parents enjoy reading too. Library visits can be family outings. Parents can help a child find a book at the public library that speaks to that child’s particular interests. Children’s librarians are always willing to help. It doesn’t have to be a big book to be good, just one that is special to that child.

Another idea is for parents to visit a bookstore with the child, and as a treat, let the child pick out a book of his own.

PF: Are you working on any writing projects right now, and if so, can you share anything about them?

PDL: I am just finishing work on a biography, Laura Secord, Heroine of the War of 1812, for students in high school aged 14 to 17. It will be published in may 2012. It’s part of a series by Dundurn Press called “Quest Biographies”, stories of famous Canadians. I did one for them about Mary Pickford that was published in September 2011. These books are quite a departure from my usual novels for the middle grades. But all the research has provided me with a rich background for future stories!

PF: How do you overcome writer’s block?

PDL: When it happens, I go back to doing free writing, or stream-of-consciousness writing. Every morning I will sit down and write a minimum of three pages of whatever comes into my mind, and I leave it at that. I try not to be too hard on myself when this affliction strikes, because I know it will pass. Until it does, the free writing is enough. I’m confident that one day something magic will happen as the words come spiralling out of the tip of my pen. I will start to see a character beginning to develop or an idea taking shape. Then I’m off again!

PF: Finally, we’re just curious: what’s your favourite flavour of ice cream?

PDL: I’ve never found a flavour of ice cream I didn’t like. But if I have to choose, I’ll say Butter Brickle.

PF: Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us, Peggy. We look forward to reading more of your books in the future!

“There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived so fully as those we spent with a favourite book.” ~ Marcel Proust

Reviewed by Myles, age 8

The Penguin Lady (written by Carol Cole and illustrated by Sherry Rogers) is about penguins and a lady named Penelope who likes them very much.

Penelope loves black and white. She wears black and white clothes, headbands, earrings, shoes and glasses and lives in a black and white house. Her address is 3316 Penguin Place.

People know Penelope loves penguins, so they give her orphaned penguins they come across in their travels.

Unfortunately, Penelope can’t take care of penguins in her house the way she’d like to. So she gives them all away to a zoo. After she gives the penguins away, she is lonely.

Fortunately, she sees that her neighbour has dalmatians for sale (they are also black and white, of course). So she is not lonely anymore.

This book reminds me of my Grade 1 teacher, because she LOVES penguins! I like to think of her as the real-life Penguin Lady!

This is a great book for kids and adults of any age who love penguins. You should check it out!

1. Record yourself reading a story and upload it (for free) to www.youtube.com or another video sharing web site. Your kids can see and hear you reading to them, and can even follow along in the book!

2. Use a computer webcam to read a story in real-time to your kids; you’ll need to purchase two copies of the same book, though, so your kids can follow along from home as you read.

3. Many companies now offer a wide range of recordable books which allow you to pre-record a story and leave it behind for your child to read at bedtime.

4. If possible, set up a time to call your child just before bedtime and read a story over the phone (or via Skype) together. Just make sure you both have a copy of the book you’ll be reading. 

 5. If all else fails, agree with your child to read the same book at precisely the same time, and discuss your thoughts and feelings about the story the next time you’re together.

Happy reading!