Yolanda Ridge

Children's Author

Nakusp

The next stop on my KLF tour – Nakusp!  What a spectacular village!  With a beautiful library!  Really – there are not enough exclamation marks to describe it and the kids were wonderful too (thanks in part to their very supportive teachers!)  A huge thank you to Susan and Patty for the warm welcome.  And a special thanks to Helen, the KLF co-ordinator, for arranging the visit for May 21st.  The day greeted me with a sunny two and a half hour drive and enough warmth for a walk along the lake after my library time.
Today it would have been a very different experience with a rainfall warning and road closures due to high winds last night.  Sending hugs to everyone in Nakusp – I hope to be back soon!
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KLF Tour

Today, my tour with the Kootenay Library Federation officially began!  Over the next few months I will be visiting seven different libraries across the Kootenay region of BC, thanks to the KLF and the amazing organization of Helen Graham.

My first stop was Midway where I got to meet with over a hundred enthusiatic grade four and five students who just completed the Reading Link Challenge.

Congratulations to all the participants and thank you to all the students who attended my talk – you were a terrific audience!

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And the winner is…

…WILDSIGHT!

Many thanks to all the students, teachers, and parents who participated in my Authors for Earth Day visit at the Rossland Library!  And thank you to the Rossland Telegraph and the Rossland News for covering the event.  We had a great time discussing rules, reading “Trouble in the Trees”, staging a protest, and voting for our environmental organization of choice.  You can read more about it at A4ED and the Rossland News.

It was so much fun!  I would really like to do it again next year.  Please let me know if you would like to host an Authors for Earth Day visit (schools, libraries…) or sponsor a visit (companies, PTA committees…)  Thanks!

Happy Earth Day!

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Publishers Weekly Article on A4ED

I am so proud to be part of Authors for Earth Day!  Read more about the 2013 international event in this Publishers Weekly Article.

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Here’s a list of the Non-Profit Environmental Organizations on the nominee list for my visit;

The West Kootenay EcoSociety

Wildsight

Bear Aware BC

Stream of Dreams

These are all great, local organizations that are making a difference to the environment of  the West Kootenays.  I hope the students at MacLean are having fun learning all about them!

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Not an April Fools joke!

IMG_4088This photo was taken by my good friend, Jean-Michel Lemieux, near Jervis Bay in New South Wales, Australia.  I can’t wait to take it to my next author visit to show students how silly people can be about following rules… they even left their address!

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Earth Day at Rossland Library!

My Authors for Earth Day visit has been booked!

I will be visiting with grade two and three students from Maclean Elementary School at the Rossland Public Library on Wednesday, April 17th.  One hundred percent of my $250 visit fee will be donated to a non-profit environmental organization of THEIR choice.  Yes, that’s right – the students will be learning about the organizations and voting for their favourite.  I am currently trying to select the nominees.  It’s much harder than I thought it would be… there are so many people out there doing so many amazing things for the planet.
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Bertha Kennedy

Today I met over ninety grade 3-6 students at Bertha Kennedy School in St. Albert, Alberta.  Each group was wonderful – loud (when I wanted them to be), interactive, and full of great questions.  I want to especially thank their librarian who did an excellent job organizing my visit.  Enjoy the books!

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From the Mixed-Up Files… Authors for Earth Day!

New-Oh-MG-critterHere’s a link to my blog post on From the Mixed-Up Files of Middle-Grade Authors about Authors for Earth Day.

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Armchair Activism

My post on the Authors for Earth Day blog is now available for your reading pleasure.  Check it out here and please help me spread the word about this amazing organization.   More information available on the A4ED website.

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RSS Rocks!

Today I had the pleasure of speaking with the grade 6 and 7 classes at Rossland Secondary School.  My visit was organized by Sam, a grade 12 student, who was awarded a grant through the Columbia Basin Trust to develop RSS Reads.  Through this initiative, she has developed a comfortable place for students to read and is currently running a program called “caught reading”.  To further increase literacy, she has brought in several authors to give presentations and talk with various groups of students.  

My presentation “So… what’s it like to publish a book?” outlined the path I took to publish my first two books.  I read a small section from each book and then concluded by talking about the position I’m in now – still searching for book #3.  There were 90 students in the audience – the largest group I’ve ever presented too (which was booked just after my October 16th post about crowd control.  Coincidence?  I think not…)  It is also the best audience I’ve ever had with great attention and excellent questions.  Thank you, RSS!

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