Event photos: Robert Munsch in Rigolet, Labrador

The heroine of Robert Munsch’s latest picture book, Give Me Back My Dad! (Scholastic Canada), was inspired by a young girl named Cheryl Allen whom Munsch met nearly two decades ago while on a fishing trip in Rigolet, on Labrador’s northern coast. Recently, Munsch returned to Rigolet to reconnect with Cheryl and her family, and to tell stories at a local school.

Above: Munsch, with Cheryl Allen and her daughter, Megan. (Photo courtesy of Scholastic)

Daily book biz round-up, May 19

Your mid-week round-up:

• Amazon launches imprint to publish translated works
• You’re in the jungle, baby, and you’ve got a vook?
• “The Situation” of TV offshoot publishing is so much more dire
• Fans will love Robert Munsch forever
• Short fiction website Joyland launches e-book imprint

Daily book biz round-up, May 17

Your Monday links round-up:

• Scholastic issues statement of support for Robert Munsch after he admits to struggles with addiction
• Mount Allison profs continue to protest honorary degree for Indigo’s Heather Reisman
• Cursor admits it will be selling those gorgeous worthwhile dead-tree books after all
• U.K. publishers told they must be “in control” of agreements made with Apple
• Kobo’s Michael Tamblyn offers his Bookcamp 2010 summer wine picks

Event photos: Robert Munsch, Beth Powning, and a Dundurn YA three-fer

Robert Munsch – despite being very nearly silenced by a stroke last year, and having one of his new stories delayed because of an attempted terrorist bombing, of all things – is clearly very much back in the swing of things. On Saturday, Jan. 16, Munsch launched the French and English versions of his newest book, Put Me In a Book! (Scholastic Canada) at Chapters Scarborough. The event was in support of the literacy foundation ABC Canada, of which Munsch is an honorary chair – perhaps as a result of his little-known earlier book, Make Me an Honorary Chair! (Photo courtesy of Scholastic Canada)

Author Beth Powning launched her new novel, The Sea Captain’s Wife (Knopf Canada), at the Royal Canadian Legion in Sussex, New Brunswick on Jan. 15. The launch featured Powning and friends in period costumes, the singing of sea shanties, a miniature lighthouse, artificial fog, and the author herself reading from the book (in front of a reported 500 attendees) on the prow of a mock ship. (Photos courtesy of Dave Nickerson/Knopf Canada)

You thought we were kidding about the mock prow of a ship, didn’t you…

There were no costumes, lighthouses, or fake ships at the launch of three Dundurn Press Spring YA titles at Indigo Yorkdale on Jan. 16, but there was cake. Three cakes, in fact, in the form of the three books being launched: Girl on the Other Side by Deborah Kerbel, The Silver Anklet by Silver Birch Award-winner Mahtab Narsimhan, and Ghost Ride by Marina Cohen. Above: Kerbel, Narsimhan, and Cohen get out the knives. (Must… resist… “have your cake and read it, too” joke….) (Photo courtesy of Dundurn Press)

Robert Munsch’s latest grounded by terrorist threats

After the Christmas Day terrorist threat aboard a Detroit-bound plane, the public has had to deal with longer wait times, intrusive full-body scanners – and now the delay of the latest book from Robert Munsch.

According to the Toronto Star, the Canadian children’s author was planning to release his next book, Temina’s Dolls, at the end of 2010. However, newly heightened airport security and carry-on restrictions seem to have rendered the story inappropriate for the time being. From the Star:

“We were going to do a story on a little girl who smuggles all these dolls onto a plane, but then that thing happened in Detroit,” said Munsch. “Scholastic calls me up in a panic saying, ‘Hold everything, that kid couldn’t smuggle anything onto the plane, she’s lucky to get onto the plane herself.’”

Munsch said he had no problem with the change, and even chuckled about the coincidence of a story of his clashing with a real-life situation. He is now in talks with the publisher on his next project.

The book tells the story of a little girl with 27 dolls, who learns the value of sharing. You can see where the problem lies after reading the book (which you can do, since Munsch posts his unpublished stories online):

“NO!” said Temina, “You may not look in my backpack. My backpack is top secret. Even my mom does not know what is in my backpack.”
“Right,” said the man. “But if I do not look in your backpack, then you do not get on the airplane.”
“Well,” said Temina, “OK.”
So the man unzipped the backpack and all the dolls unscrunched and uncrammed and went flying all over the airport.
“AHHHHHHHHHHH!” yelled the man, “HELP!!!”
All sorts of policemen and soldiers came running and pointed guns at Temina and her dolls.
“IT’S JUST DOLLS,” yelled Temina.
“WE’RE JUST DOLLS,” yelled the dolls.

Robert Munsch to join Canada’s Walk of Fame

Prolific children’s author Robert Munsch will join Margaret Atwood and Pierre Berton to become the third author among the 124 members of Canada’s Walk of Fame in September. The announcement from Canada’s Walk of Fame and Canwest describes Munsch’s contribution to Canadian culture:

From the first time he stood in front of a group of children as a student teacher at a nursery school in 1972, Munsch’s animated presentation grabbed hold of the imaginations of his listeners and he’s been telling stories ever since.

To qualify for induction to Canada’s Walk of Fame, candidates must have been born in Canada or have spent their formative or creative years here. Munsch, a Pittsburgh native, falls under the latter category. Although Munsch, 64, suffered a stroke last August and has yet to return to writing, the author’s editor at Scholastic Canada, Diane Kerner, assured fans in a recent comment on a Toronto Star article that there are many more Munsch books to come:

As Robert Munsch’s editor, I want to let readers know that while he may not be writing new stories right now, he has dozens of stories ready for publication and Scholastic continues to publish two books a year. His most recent book, Down the Drain!, came out this spring, and Roar! will be published in September.

Munsch partners with eight-year-old publishing dynamo

A chance encounter between an eight-year-old schoolgirl from Guelph, Ontario, and mega-selling kids’ author Robert Munsch has led to the publication of Braids, a new book by the beloved storyteller. According to a report in The Toronto Star, Munsch met Grade 3 student Taya Kendall at a reading last January at the Guelph Public Library:

The famed Canadian children’s author was struck by the girl’s resemblance to a character in one of his unpublished stories, about a girl who reluctantly allows her hair to be braided but is ultimately pleased with the result. Munsch granted Taya permission to use the story in the school newspaper she had launched earlier that month at Sir Isaac Brock Public School.

Now, a new edition of the work, published in partnership with New Internationalist magazine, and featuring 28 illustrations by Taya’s classmates, is being sold for $10 through the magazine’s web site and at select retailers across the country, including Mabel’s Fables, Parentbooks, Ella Minnow, and Treasure Island Toys. Proceeds are going to the Children of Bukati, a charity that supports more than 650 AIDS/HIV orphans in Kenya.

The Star goes on to suggest that Braids could be the only new title from Munsch for some time. The 64-year-old author suffered a stroke last August and has yet to return to writing.

(Thanks to Canadian Magazines for the tip.)

Literacy organization eyes Guinness World Record

Family Literacy Day isn’t officially until next Tuesday, but to help draw attention to the cause, the literacy organization ABC CANADA is boldly attempting to set a new Guinness World Record. Beginning at 2 p.m. today and running for the next 24 hours, people from across the country have been reading aloud from Robert Munsch’s Munschworks 2 (published by Annick Press) with the aim of toppling the current record for “Most Children Reading with an Adult, Multiple Locations.” From the release:

To date, over 900 events, with an estimated 158,000 participants at locations across the country, have been registered online in the attempt to break the current U.S. record of 78,791 adults and children reading together.

Hope for school libraries (in Ontario, anyway)

Heather Reisman can take a bow today. The Indigo CEO appears to have shamed Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty into promising a major funding boost for the province’s cash-starved school library system.

As The Globe and Mail reports, Reisman has commissioned a short documentary on the crisis in school libraries, and after a press screening of the film this week, McGuinty appeared at a Toronto Indigo store and promised $120-million for Ontario school systems: $80-million to buy books, and $40-million to hire new librarians. The Globe story also notes that Indigo will be supplying the books at cost.

No word on where the documentary might be seen online, but according to the story,

The documentary, which profiles Ms. Reisman’s foundation and the trials of two Ontario schools that applied for grants, includes shots of battered books with broken spines and children forced to share aging texts.

There are interviews with students and children’s author Robert Munsch and tearful scenes with school principals describing the need for more and newer reading materials for their students.

Globe columnist Margaret Wente also writes about the issue in today’s paper. And here are some related stories from the Q&Q archives.

• “Indigo directs another $1.5-million to schools” (May 2007)
• “Ontario lieutenant-governor begins a new book drive for First Nations kids” (January 2007)
• “Indigo commits $250,000 for school literacy program” (December 2004)
• “Scenes from a school library” (February 2004)
• “Library coalition takes fight to provinces” (February 2004)
• “The crisis in school libraries” (February 2002)
• “Industry group fights for school libraries” (April 2002)

Family Literacy Day

This Saturday, Jan. 27 is Family Literacy Day, a national event created by ABC CANADA Literacy Foundation in 1999 to promote the importance of families reading together. According to the official website, the program celebrates through “literacy-themed events, such as special reading circles, story-writing contests and read-a-thons.”

Robert Munsch is this year’s honorary chair. The children’s author did a public reading in Toronto on Tuesday, and on Saturday he’ll be attending a party at the home of a Port Moody, B.C. family, who won a contest run by the foundation. Munsch will follow that with a visit to the Port Moody Public Library, also part of the package.

Events are already occurring in various locations across Canada. See the website for a list of events in your area.