Samantha Devotta – Page 3 – Tundra Book Group

February 23, 2015May 7, 2025

Tundra Reading Club: An Armadillo in Paris Reviews

Hi everyone!

Happy Monday!

I’m thrilled to share our five reader reviews for our February reading club pick, Julie Kraulis’ An Armadillo in Paris.

An Armadillo in Paris
Written and illustrated by Julie Kraulis
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 5-9
ISBN: 978-1-77049-526-5
“…Julie Kraulis’s sophisticated oil-and-graphite artwork is chic, with elegant lines and a muted palette…Informative and charming, An Armadillo in Paris is sure to please armchair travelers who will eagerly await more of Arlo’s globe-trotting adventures.” – Quill & Quire

Danielle at This Picture Book Life loves the “unexpected choice of an armadillo as [a] main character” and comments on Arlo’s “sweet, shiny eyes.” She’s also hosting a giveaway!
Tanya at Pass the Damn Ham, Please thinks this is a book “meant to be pored over again and again.”
Jules at curtains for the windows says that “this story is for anyone who longs for adventure and finds wonder in everything.”
Emilie at Not So Impossible Things suggests that “reading the book felt like a mini-adventure prelude to the real thing.”
Jo Ann at The Book Faerie calls it a “charming tale” and a “grand tour.”

If you read the book as well, please let us know what you thought about it in the comments below! Did you guess the Iron Lady’s identity before Arlo? Did the book bring back memories of a Parisian trip? Or maybe it reminded you to add Paris to your bucket list!

I’m also very excited to announce our March reading club book: The Highest Number in the World by Roy MacGregor and illustrated by GeneviÃ¨ve Després. Make sure you check back here next Monday to sign up for your chance to win a review copy.

Thanks for participating and see you next week!

February 19, 2015May 7, 2025

Thursday Travels: Paris

Bonjour!

For our first Thursday Travels segment, we’re taking you to Paris! And our guide is none other than Arlo, the adorable armadillo from Julie Kraulis‘ picture book, An Armadillo in Paris! He was kind enough to share some of his favourite photos from his recent trip.

The first monument Arlo saw was the Arc de Triomphe, at the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle. He was surprised at how fast the cars drove, but he was still able to catch a ride. Before he did, he made sure he visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the vault.

It wouldn’t be a trip to Paris without stopping at a French cafe! Cafe Gustave is on a street corner, so Arlo was able to observe the locals while eating a croissant fresh from the oven. This cafe is named after Gustave Eiffel, the architect who designed the – you guessed it – Eiffel Tower.

Even though macarons are considered a French delicacy, they get their name from the Italian word for meringue. The most famous place to get macarons in Paris is Ladurée, which was created in 1862. The recipe for Paris macarons dates from 1930, but it has its roots in a recipe that can be traced back as far as 791!

Arlo had to stand really far away to take a picture of Notre Dame de Paris – the towers are 226 ft tall! The entire cathedral took over 180 years to officially complete, but it was worth it: it’s one of the most well-known churches in the world.

Like all of us here, Arlo loves to read, so he popped into Shakespeare and Company. The original Shakespeare and Company bookstore was opened in 1919 and served as a gathering place for writers including Ernest Hemingway and James Joyce. It closed down in 1940 during the German occupation and it never re-opened. This “newer” store has been around since 1951 and it specializes in English-language books.

Thanks for joining us on our Thursday Travels trip to Paris! You can read more about Arlo’s adventures in his book, An Armadillo in Paris, out now. It’s also our February pick for our Reading Club!

Thanks Arlo (and Julie) for the photos! Make sure you visit Julie’s website for more pictures and amazing art.

February 13, 2015May 7, 2025

You’ll fall for these angels this Valentine’s Day

Yesterday we brought you Valentines based on Ellie Marney’s Every series, today we have Paula Weston’s Rephaim series!

I’m sure we’ve all heard the “did it hurt when you fell from heaven” line at some point, whether in real life or as a joke, but we couldn’t help ourselves.

Rafa knows that Gaby’s the most heavenly body he’ll find on earth!

And when Gaby first meets Rafa, she can’t tell if he’s an angel or a demon from her dreams.

Heaven knows we picked some punny lines, but we’d love to hear yours! Comment below telling us your favourite line or pick one from our e-cards. Our two favorites will win hardcover copies of both Shadows and Haze, the first two books in the Rephaim series. You have a week to enter, the contest will end on Thursday, February 19, 2015. US and Canada mailing addresses only.

You can even make your own cards using these templates!

Update: Congratulations to Laura S. and mrsmonnandez! Thanks to everyone who participated, you’re all very punny!

February 12, 2015May 7, 2025

Can you feel the Wattscroft love tonight?

As I’m sure you know, Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. To celebrate, we’ve created e-cards using one of our favorite (fictional) couples: James Mycroft and Rachel Watts aka Wattscroft from Ellie Marney’s Every series.

First up, we have tall, dark and handsome Mycroft. He must be made of Fluorine, Iodine, and Neon because he’s F-I-Ne!

We can’t forget Mycroft’s better half, Rachel Watts. He’d offer her one of his cigarettes, but she’s already smokin’.

We had a lot of pun detecting pickup lines, and now it’s your turn! Comment below with the best pick up line you can think of; it doesn’t have to start with “hey girl/boy,” but bonus points if it has some sort of science/mystery-related pun. Our four favorites will win ARCs of Every Breath and Every Word, plus a bookmark featuring both covers (so you can carry Wattscroft with you everywhere!). You have until Thursday, February 19, 2015 to enter! That’s one week. Open to Canadian and US mailing addresses only – sorry international fans!

You can even make your own e-cards using these templates!

Update: Congratulations to Kristen, Jay, Meg and Jenny! It was so hard to choose from all the punny comments, thanks to everyone who participated!

February 4, 2015May 7, 2025

An Intern and a Super Conference

Hello everyone!

It’s Sam the intern and for once, I’m not trying to get you to sign up for my Reading Club (but you should probably check it out anyway!). I’m here to share my experience at the OLA Super Conference.

In my six months working in publishing, I’ve only been to one other conference; all I did was sit quietly behind a table for a few hours while people milled around, glancing at our table but rarely stopping to chat. So I didn’t know what to expect when I stepped into the Metro Toronto Convention Centre last Thursday.

It was a lot more fun than sitting behind a table, let me tell you.

For one thing, there were so many people! Librarians and library assistants and library sciences students and other people who, I guess, work at libraries in some way.

Hundreds of companies were represented in the hall, and there were tons of author signings. We had five of our own authors signing over two days but, since we shared the booth with the rest of Penguin Random House, there was always a line for someone!

We had Frank Viva (Outstanding in the Rain), Charis Cotter (The Swallow: A Ghost Story), Eric Walters (Hope Springs), Susin Nielsen (We Are All Made of Molecules), and Sylvia McNicoll (Best Friends Through Eternity).

I loved the way our booth looked, the brightly coloured picture books made it look super cheerful. And we had DWARFS and disgusting critters decorated all around.

I didn’t really get a chance to wander around the rest of the hall because I was documenting everything on our instagram, though I did pick up a poster and some cute temporary tattoos for me – ahem, I mean for my nieces.

But I got to talk to our authors, which was very exciting! Eric Walters is taller than I expected, which sounds like an odd thing to say, but he can be a little intimidating at 9 am when you haven’t had your tea yet.

I also asked Susin Nielsen to sign my copy of Word Nerd; I recently started reading her books, and I’m completely addicted to them now! If you haven’t read anything by her yet, please do yourself a favour and check her out.

Word Nerd is about a Scrabble player, so Susin used the letters in my name to come up with smaller words. It was pretty impressive how fast she did it (I know it’s a short name, but still!).

Before I knew it, it was time to pack all our books away so that they could be sent to our next destination: Reading for the Love of it, which happens February 9-10. I’ll be popping in to support our authors, Eric Walters, Richard Scrimger, Margriet Ruurs, and Rina Singh and I can’t wait to find out what goes on over there!