OLA’s Super Conference 2012

The Ontario Library Association’s Super Conference starts next week! Librarians will be gathering at the Metro Toronto Convention Center and visiting the exhibits from February 2nd to the 3rd.

Tundra Books will be at booth #720 to tell you about our new and upcoming books. You can come by to pick up catalogs, posters, and bookmarks!

We will also have author signings! Be sure to line-up early, the complimentary books will be available on a first come, first serve basis.

Author signings on Thursday, February 2:

Michael Bedard will be signing ARCs of The Green Man at 10:30 AM
Hardcover | 320 page | Ages 10-14
ISBN: 978-1-77049-285-1
eBook: 978-1-77049-293-6
Teenaged O – never call her Ophelia – is about to spend the summer with her aunt Emily. Emily is a poet and the owner of an antiquarian book store, The Green Man. At once an exploration of poetry, a story of family relationships, and an intriguing mystery, The Green Man is Michael Bedard at his finest.

Nan Forler will be signing Winterberries and Apple Blossoms at 12:30 PM
Illustrated by Peter Etril Snyder
Hardcover | 40 pages | All ages
ISBN: 978-1-77049-254-7
The poems and recipes are perfectly complemented by Peter Etril Snyder’s lovely paintings. Winterberries and Apple Blossoms is a beautifully produced book, perfect for gift-giving, or sharing with anyone who appreciates simple, enduring values.

Heather Hartt-Sussman will be signing Here Comes Hortense! at 1:45 PM

Illustrated by Georgia Graham
Hardcover | 32 pages | Ages 4-7
ISBN: 978-1-77049-221-9
The feisty, irrepressible Nana we met in Nana’s Getting Married is back. And what could be more fun for a six-year-old than having your nana and her new husband take you to a theme park? But the fun is spoiled when Nana and Bob announce that they’ve planned a surprise: they are going to be joined by Bob’s granddaughter, Hortense. A perceptive and hilarious exploration of rivalry, there’s a gentle lesson for readers, young and old.

Karen Patkau will be signing Who Needs a Jungle?, Who Needs a Swamp?, and Who Needs an Iceberg? at 2:45 PM
Hardcover | 32 pages | Ages 7-10
ISBN: 978-0-88776-992-4
In Who Needs a Jungle? we learn about its vital role in providing us with oxygen, food, medicinal ingredients, and raw materials we use every day. Who Needs a Swamp? explores wetlands and their importance in the food chain and in preserving our soil and clean water. Who Needs an Iceberg? talks about the shrinking Arctic Ice Cap.

Author signings on Friday, February 3:

Pam Withers will be signing First Descent at 10:30 AM
Hardcover | 272 Pages | Ages 12+
ISBN: 978-1-77049-257-8
eBook: 978-1-77049-274-5
Montana-born Rex loves nothing more than to take his kayak out on a river, the faster and more powerful the better. When he gets the opportunity to tackle the well-named El Furioso in southwest Colombia, he is thrilled. He anticipates the river’s challenges, but finds himself in a situation where the real danger is human.

Curtis Parkinson will be signing Man Overboard! at 11:30 AM
Paperback | 160 pages | Ages 10-12
ISBN: 978-1-77049-298-1
eBook: 978-1-77049-299-8
During World War II, a German agent landed in Canada from a U-boat. Curtis Parkinson has used this true historical event to tell a fast-paced, exciting story. Sixteen-year-old Scott and his friend Adam find summer jobs as deckhands on the Rapids Prince, a ship that plies the waters between the town of Prescott, on the St. Lawrence River, and Montreal. Scott overhears convincing information that a German agent is actually on board the boat!

Marthe Jocelyn will be signing “Scribbling Women” at 12:30 PM
Hardcover | 208 Pages | Ages 14+
ISBN: 978-0-88776-952-8
eBook: 978-1-77049-230-1
In 1855, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote to his publisher, complaining about the irritating fad of “scribbling women.” Whether they were written by professionals, by women who simply wanted to connect with others, or by those who wanted to leave a record of their lives, those “scribbles” are fascinating, informative, and instructive.

Follow the tag #SC12 on twitter! We’ll be sending out reminders for our author signings. See you there!

Guest Post: Intern Meets Superconference

Hi Everyone!

My name is Alison and I’m happy to introduce myself as Tundra’s new intern. I’m four weeks in and still excited to come into work to find myself surrounded by so many amazing children books! The walls here echo with stories….

Last week I had the opportunity to attend the OLA Superconference at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on February 4th and 5th and help out at the Tundra stand. It was a great exhibition and an opportunity to get a peek at what’s new and exciting in the publishing world. It was also nice to meet so many friendly librarians and people who work so hard at getting the right books into the hands of the right kids!

OLA - the colourful worlds of publishers and libraries collide!

We had a lot of traffic at the Tundra booth for the author book signings. Marthe Jocelyn, Susin Nielsen, Heather Hartt-Sussman, Cyndi Sand-Eveland, Rina Singh, Farida Zaman, Monica Kulling, Ed Butts, and Christopher Moore signed copies of their latest Tundra books and answered questions about their stories and the inspiration behind them. (There were several requests for signed copies of Monica Kulling’s Merci Mister Dash! to be addressed to special friends of the canine persuasion, of which I’m sure Mister Dash would approve.)

I had created little signs announcing the time slots for the author signings. Of course, as a good little intern should, I made sure to double-check the spelling of all of the author’s names. But alas, there was one that slipped through, and I was quite embarrassed to realize at the last-minute that I had spelled Susin Nielsen’s name as “Susan.” Unfortunately, I’m sure she gets that a lot! I quickly turned that “a” into an “i” with a black marker but the mistake was pretty glaringly obvious (even little mistakes are scary when you’re an intern and you’re continually trying to prove your competence!). But, when Susin came around to sign Dear George Clooney, she was very sweet and not at all annoyed about it, and we joked that the now-massive “i” was done on purpose to remind others not to make the likely-common mistake. Oops!

Ed Butts signing copies of Shipwrecks, Monsters, and Mysteries of the Great Lakes

On Friday afternoon, the seventh annual CANSCAIP Mass Book Launch was held at the Expo. Twenty authors and illustrators went on stage to give pretty entertaining “infomercials” and insights into their latest titles. It was interesting to see the wide range of personalities going into the creation of current Canadian children books. From Tundra, Marthe Jocelyn (Folly), Richard Scrimger (Me & Death), Farida Zaman (Nearly Nonsense), and Veronika Martenova Charles (Easy-to-Read Wonder Tales), each did an excellent job giving a teaser snapshot of their books and describing what makes them relevant for young readers.

Marthe Jocelyn reading an excerpt from Folly at the CANSCAIP Mass Book Launch

This week Tundra’s going to another conference – Reading for the Love of It – February 10th and 11th at the Sheraton Centre. I’m looking forward to interacting with another incredibly important part of the kids + books equation: the teachers!

OLA Wrap Up

The expo portion of the Ontario Library Association‘s Super Conference is now over. Another great show and thank you to everyone that came to visit our booth. Here are some photos from the two day show:

Before the show began, all is quiet…

Books on display: OLA Best Bets and OLA Forest of Reading nominees!

Heather Hartt-Sussman came in to sign Nana’s Getting Married on Thursday.

Ann Love came in to sign Talking Tails: The Incredible Connection Between People and Their Pets. Are you dog person or a cat person? Maybe both?

Monica Kulling signing All Aboard! Elijah McCoy’s Steam Engine.

Shane Peacock signing Death in the Air: The Boy Sherlock Holmes, His 2nd Case.

Illustrator Laura Beingessner came in to sign Sail Away with Me by Jane Collins-Philippe.

Rona Arato signing Mrs. Kaputnik’s Pool Hall and Matzo Ball Emporium. She even brought in a giant matzo ball for display!

Not pictured, but Richard Scrimger, Theo Caldwell, Marla Stewart Konrad, and J. Torres also braved the weather to come in to sign their books:

   

Tundra Book Group