My publisher from Vancouver arrived today with a box of my books! I plan on having a book launch in Victoria but I haven’t picked a time or place. I’ll keep you posted when I do. 
 

Coming soon…

I’m excited to announce the publication of Scrappy Jack by Midtown Press in Vancouver. As far as I know it should be in book stores, schools and library’s this month. A French version is also in the works! 

The original version on this blogspot was self published in 2007 for my dad’s 100th Birthday. At the time I set out to write and illustrate this book I was determined to get it done and present it to him on his Birthday, not knowing if he’d live to see it… happily he did. 

In this 2024 version I have adapted the writing for a younger audience and added four new double page illustration's to enhance the story. My dad was a great story teller and as a result I was inspired to tell them, through words and pictures based on what I remembered while growing up. 

That’s me and my brother on the back cover, my two sisters on the front.

 I've been working on a story off and on over the last two years, hoping to finish it soon. Everything takes longer than you think. 

This story is about the jobs we take for granted when we order a meal at a fast food burger joint. Who's the guy that works the night shift as a cleaner? This is a story about that guy.

 

Last summer I had the pleasure of meeting with Margaret Atwood! Her wit a charm was inspiring and I like her taste in hats!!

DCAF

I was in Halifax in August at the DCAF comic arts festival. Great show, manageable size!

 

 Above is me in a French book store in Ottawa last summer. Also an article in BC Book World last fall, sorry for the late post but I thought I already posted it.

 

 Lurelu, the main children’s literature magazine in Quebec did an article on my Tommy Douglas book.

Here is the translation.

“You don’t measure your life by what you accumulate, but by what you give.” This meaningful message will guide the actions of Tommy Douglas, an empathetic and dedicated man. As a precursor to the Medicare program in Canada, Tommy Douglas has long fought for the accessibility of health care for the citizens of Canada, having suffered a serious knee injury in his youth. The presence of a chronology of Tommy Douglas’s life at the end of the book, as well as a few words about the author and the illustrator, offers an interesting complement. This album draws a true portrait of Tommy Douglas throughout the years. The reading of this pleasant biographical account goes to the essential. A story that we gain to know and to make known, to better appreciate what makes up our current heritage. With a nod to Huckleberry Finn, the cover page highlights the style used to illustrate this story. The detailed illustrations by Joan Steacy, full of emotion, proposes a comic book style. The images, preponderant, install a proximity with the reader. The expressions and the emotions are palpable. The text written in capital letters and inserted inside yellow bubbles, completes the illustrations. The whole becomes accessible even for young primary school readers.

 

KARINE SAINT-CYR, conseillère pédagogique

 

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)