Charis Cotter
Biography:When Charis was a child growing up in downtown Toronto, she wanted to work in a library because she thought that would be a job where she could sit around reading books all day. The Parliament Street library was her favourite place, not only because of all the wonderful books, but because the librarian organized plays for the local children to act in. Charis loved acting almost as much as reading, and soon was writing her own plays and producing them at camp and at school. After university, where she studied English (and read a lot more books), Charis trained as an actor in Toronto and England. Her favourite role was playing a murderer on a transcontinental mystery train with Dick Francis. To earn a living in between acting jobs, Charis worked in a variety of places including a bookstore, a film company, a vegetarian restaurant, a flea market and a kindergarten. In her most ladylike job she wrote invitations by hand for the Ontario Lieutenant Governor’s office. When Charis had her daughter, Zoe, she changed careers and started doing freelance editing and writing. This gave her the opportunity to read lots more books on fascinating subjects: astronomy, canoes, gardening, cooking, human evolution and Toronto’s history. She soon found herself writing about history and she got hooked on the past. She wrote a book about Toronto in the 1920s and 1930s, illustrated with photographs from that time. Toronto Between the Wars: Life in the City 1919–1939 won the Heritage Toronto Award of Excellence in 2005. Charis and Zoe both love reading about kings and queens, and that’s how Charis came up with the idea for Kids Who Rule: The Remarkable Lives of Five Child Monarchs. It tells the stories of five young kings and queens by blending history, biography and fiction. She followed that with another book about exceptional children: Wonder Kids: The Remarkable Lives of Nine Child Prodigies, which was published in 2008. It includes the stories of child prodigies through history, from Phillis Wheatley, poet and slave (1753-1784) to Terry Tao, (1975- ), who started taking university math when he was nine. Charis has written one more book about unusual children which will be released in fall 2009: Born to Write: The Remarkable Lives of Six Famous Authors. This book explores the childhoods of favourite children’s authors like C.S. Lewis, L.M. Montgomery and Philip Pullman, showing how their early experiences influenced their writing. A World Full of Ghosts, with zany illustrations by Quebec artist Marc Mongeau, appeared in bookstores in spring, 2009. This spooky romp takes the reader on an international ghost tour, recounting the stories of 25 multicultural phantoms, interspersed with “true ghost stories” collected by the author. With Kids Who Rule, Charis began a series of lively, entertaining school presentations based on her books. Using her acting background, she has created a character complete with costume and accent to introduce each book: Queen Elizabeth II for Kids Who Rule, 300-year-old child prodigy Maria Agnesi for Wonder Kids, the Silky ghost for A World Full of Ghosts. She involves the kids in games and interactive activities. Her presentations are so unusual and engaging that she has become a hot ticket in schools and libraries from Newfoundland to Ontario. The Forest of Reading featured her as Queen Elizabeth II in a documentary made at Harbourfront during the 2008 Festival of the Trees. Charis divides her time between Toronto and a small cottage in Newfoundland. Presentation Information:Presentation for A World Full of Ghosts
As the children settle into the library, they notice a woman dressed in a long blue dress and a floaty grey veil dusting off books and tidying up. She is humming a Scottish ballad and muttering about how she likes to keep things clean and tidy. This is the Scottish Silky ghost, who tidies up people’s houses while they are asleep. Eventually the Silky notices the children and starts to dust them off with her feather duster. She introduces herself and talks about how there are many different kinds of ghosts in the world. Her Scottish accent is quite strong as she gives examples from the book. Funny, and not at all scary (for a ghost!) she engages the children’s attention immediately. After about 10 minutes, she … disappears! and Charis takes over the presentation. Charis talks about the international aspect of the book and finds out what countries the children’s families come from, matching them up with ghosts from the book. Then she questions the children about their knowledge of ghosts with five key questions:
She fills out the answers with some unusual examples from her book. Then Charis tosses a ball that is also a world globe into the room and the kids that catch it get to choose a country. Charis reads about a ghost from that country. After reading about five different ghosts, the game changes, and whoever catches the ball gets to pick a key word to choose a true ghost story from the book. She reads five different ghost stories. Finally, the ball is thrown to choose kids to tell their own ghost stories. Then Charis talks a bit about her other books and answers question about ghosts and writing. Book List / Discography:Born to Write: The Remarkable Lives of Six Famous Authors (Annick Press, 2009) A World Full of Ghosts. Art by Marc Mongeau. (Annick Press, 2009) Wonder Kids: The Remarkable Lives of Nine Child Prodigies (Annick Press, 2008) Kids Who Rule:The Remarkable Lives of Five Child Monarchs (Annick Press, 2007) Awards:Kids Who Rule Wonder Kids Toronto Between the Wars: Life in the City 1919-1929 Praise for Charis Cotter:What the teachers and librarians say: What the kids say: |
 Craft:author Genre:picture books, non-fiction Ideal Audience Size:50 Maximum Audience Size:60 Grades:3 – 5 Special Equipment:A table and chair. Website:School Reading Fee:$157.50 per reading (includes GST) Public Reading Fee:$250.00 per reading (four readings covered by the Canada Council) Book Week Tour Contact:Carol-Ann Hoyte |