Tim Wynne-Jones in New Brunswick

The book tour gods were clearly on our side! The weather was almost balmy in New Brunswick, which is far from seasonal, I gather, for mid-November, when blizzards have been known to bog down the celebrations and strand authors hither and yon. There was some rain, but nothing to dampen the spirits until the very end of the week when all of the visits were over. Luckily, a plucky librarian from Perth-Andover was willing to risk the downpour to whisk me back down the Trans Canada to Fredericton for my last night before an early plane home, the next morning.

It was a wonderful trip, comprised of thirteen scheduled readings, only one of which was cancelled due to H1N1. Sackville, I’ll come back some time, okay? Otherwise, every reading was a pleasure.

High points? Well, I have to say that the dog-shaped tea-cozy made for me by a Saint John Public Library patron takes the cake. This was inspired by my autobiographical anecdote of running away from home when I was three with a tea-cozy on my head. The new cozy is wonderful…well, cozy. I may have to run away again.

As far as readings go, I particularly loved a group of seventy or so teens at the Moncton Public Library. That’s right – I loved an audience of 70 or so teens. There was not a single look of disdain to be seen in the room; not one adolescent glower; no one slipping on ear-buds to listen to their iPod. What a great, responsive crowd!

Similarly, I’ll never forget a wonderful rowdy crowd of some 120 middle-graders in the Fredericton Public Library, in a sun filled space overlooking the Saint John River. What a fun time.

And then there was the night in Doaktown: a cabin overlooking the fabled Mirimachi, with a fire already lit in the wood stove. How’s that for accommodation? Indeed, everyone was accommodating, none more so that Nancy Cohen, my Book Week coordinator. Thanks, Nancy. And thanks New Brunswick.