I spent last Thursday morning at Gibsons Elementary School for their 2018 Young Writers Festival, "Write from the Heart". I spoke with two great classes, Mr. Rines 5/6 class and Ms. Evans 4/5 class. Their were lots of great questions and even better ideas when I asked them to do some brainstorming around plots for a future Maple Harbour book.

Afterward there was a luncheon provided where myself and the other authors got to hear some of the poems and stories written by students at the school.

Thanks to Melanie Robinson for all her hard working in organizing this event!

I will be in Powell River this Saturday (January 13) for a book signing, I will be doing some readings from Adventure on Whalebone Island and The Mystery of the Missing Mask, and signing copies of the books. If you have a copy already, please bring it in and I'd be pleased to sign it, or you can purchase copies from Coles.

Coles is in the Town Centre Mall at 7100 Alberni Street in Powell River. I will be there from noon until 2 pm.

I was lucky enough to be invited to sell my books at the Langdale Elementary book fair last Friday. Thanks to Ann Chow and Regan for arranging that. I did a reading at Langdale last spring, so many of the kids had read Adventure on Whalebone Island and were keen to read the new one, The Mystery of the Missing Mask. Nice to get so much positive feedback from both kids and parents.

I'm happy to announce that the second book in the Maple Harbour Adventure series is now available. The Mystery of the Missing Mask re-unites Claire, Ryan, Kendra, Nathan and Meg for another adventure in Maple Harbour. This time they're on the hunt for a valuable mask that has been stolen from the local museum.

Thanks to Sheila Cameron for her fabulous editing job, and to Gabriele Knecht, Jane Andersen, Bax, Hannah, and Fergus for reviewing drafts and providing feedback. And of course,  thanks to my most important reviewers and editors, Kylie and Lucy.

The Mystery of the Missing Mask is currently available at Talewind Books in Sechelt and at the Blackberry Shop and WOW in Gibsons, as well as on Amazon. It will be available in other bookstores in the next week or so.

The second Maple Harbour Adventure is complete and has gone to the printers! It should be available by November 24!

Ryan and Kendra have returned to Maple Harbour on the British Columbia coast to visit their cousins Claire and Nathan. But the sleepy little town has been rocked by the news that a valuable Indigenous mask has been stolen, only days after it arrived at the local museum! While museum officials and the police search for answers, the four children and their new friend Tyler stumble upon a series of exciting clues. As they enjoy their summer holidays, not everything is what it seems. Join the four friends on another unforgettable summer of adventure!

Just back from a trip to Vancouver Island where I gave readings of Adventure on Whalebone Island to over 600 kids. Over three days I was at Arden, Robb Rd., Gaglardi Academy, Puntledge Park, and Cumberland Community School in the Comox/Courtenay area, as well as Qualicum Beach Elementary, Oceanside in Parksville, and Cedar Elementary in Nanaimo.

Thanks to all the teachers and librarians for organizing this mini-tour, and to all the kids for being such a great audience.

Adventure on Whalebone Island is now available at Mulberry Bush bookstores in Parksville and Qualicum and Laughing Oyster Bookstore in Courtenay.

I thought I'd better give an update on where I'm at with the second book in the Maple Harbour Adventure series. As promised, it will be released this fall, probably in early to mid November. The new book s called The Mystery of the Missing Mask. Claire, Ryan, Kendra, Nathan and Meg are back for another adventure, this time involving a mask stolen from the Maple Harbour Museum.

First and second drafts of the book have been completed and I just got it back from the editor (thanks so much Sheila Cameron!). Now I'm doing some final edits, while Vadym is working on the illustrations. So it looks like everything is on track for a November launch!

I am very happy to announce that Adventure on Whalebone Island is now being carried by BC book distributor Red Tuque Books. Based in Penticton, Red Tuque provides wholesale distribution across Canada for small Canadian press. Canadian bookstores, as well as libraries, can now order Adventure on Whalebone Island directly from Red Tuque.

www.redtuquebooks.ca
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I am featured today in the BCBookLook Who's Who section. Look in the left hand column of the BCBookLook page for the photo and link. Thanks to Alan Twigg for that!

Check out BCBookLook and BC Book World for all the news related to BC authors.

I will be at the Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts in Sechelt this coming weekend, August 18 - 20. The Festival has a local authors table where I will be selling Adventure on Whalebone Island along with a number of other Sunshine Coast authors. Thanks to Jan Jensen for organizing everything. Hope to see you there!

​www.writersfestival.ca