Ted Staunton in British Columbia

It’s cool and raining in Burnaby; a good afternoon for a story. I’m crammed into the library at Maywood School with close to a hundred and fifty kids. There are banners up, with my name on them and titles of my books, student art work, a bunch of my novels on little stands. Very cool – except I’m not the only author who’s visiting.

Turns out every student at Maywood creates their own book every year. I’m one small particle of a crowd of writers, illustrators, editors, and publishers. The only way I stand out is I’m taller. That doesn’t help when I sit down. These writers imagine stuff about my own stories I never dreamed of. These folks are goooood.

In fact, my whole week was goooood . What else could you call a tour when you meet a school full of authors, read page proofs of a new book online with fifty Grade Three copy editors, play banjo for 500 Grade Twos bouncing on theatre seats as they imitate chickens, hear a room full of Grade Eights give their best watermelon slurp and get a canvas lunch bag for a giant peanut butter sandwich?

Now that I think of it, you could call it GREAT.