My Books
Broom for Two
Coming Soon!
Momma’s Going to March
The Go-Between
While You Sleep
Moose’s Roof
Until Niaraga Falls
When the Cherry Blossoms Fell
The night before her birthday celebration, the police arrest her father. Within days he must leave for labor camp in the mountains.
Michiko’s mother, with the help of a stranger, moves her family to a farmhouse in the country. Michiko, her Grandfather, Aunt Sadie, and baby brother Hiro all endure hunger, hardship, racial taunts and the worst Canadian winter in forty years.
Throughout it all, Michiko is uncertain of her origin. Should she be proud or hide it?
Cherry Blossom Winter
The men are sent to work on the railway, so the women and children are left to make the trip on their own.
After a former Asahi baseball star becomes her new teacher, life gets better. Baseball fever hits town, and when Michiko challenges the adults to a game with her class, the whole town turns out.
Then the government announces that they must move once again. But they can’t think of relocating with a new baby coming, even with the offer of free passage to Japan. Michiko pretends to be her mother and writes to get a job for her father on a farm in Ontario. When he is accepted, they again pack their belongings and head to a new life in Ontario.
Cherry Blossom Baseball
When the Government announced all Japanese must now move west of the Rockies, her father and mother take jobs on a flower farm in Ontario. Here, on second base, Michiko must once again adjust to a new life. finds it difficult to make friends being the only Japanese student at school. Until Eddie Adams, seeing her amazing baseball skills encourages her to try out for the all boys local team. When the truth comes out, there are consequences to face. She has to make a decision. Play ball amid all the harassment, or pitch like she’s never pitched before.
Warbird
At the crack of dawn Etienne, not the orphan, paddles out into the St. Lawrence with the famous voyageur, Médard des Groseilliers right into the heart of the land of the Huron.
At Sainte Marie, Etienne meets a Huron youth named both Tsiko and Thomas. From him, Etienne learns true wilderness life and how to respect nature.
From Father Francesco Bressani, Father Antoine Daniel, and Father Jean de Brébeuf, he learns the life of piety, although other priests engage in shocking practices of conversion.
After escaping the Iroquois, witnessing the destruction of the village of Teanaustaye and death of Father Daniel, those at the mission waited for a second attack. Etienne decides he must take his fate into his own hands before the shadow of the cross falls across him as well. He breaks his vows of dedication and leaves the mission with his Huron friend, Tsiko. But first, the boys must get past the raiding Iroquois.
At the trading post, Etienne and Tsiko part ways. Unsure of what waits for him at home, Etienne returns to Quebec.
WARBIRD, a historical fiction for readers 8-12 years of age, is about life at Sainte- Marie. It is also about the relationship between Etienne and a Christian Huron youth named Thomas. From him, Etienne learns true wilderness life and how to respect nature. From the Jesuits, Etienne learns to lead a life of piety. When the Iroquois attack a nearby village and kill Father Daniel, Etienne learns about war.
Today, one is able to stand in the midst of Sainte-Marie’s replicated buildings and get a true sense of the age.
Totem
After a truck load of firewood lands on top of him, Jonny wakes in the infirmary to find an old man beside his bed. Jonny has seen this man with the long flowing hair before watching from the woods but the other boys claim he’s a ghost. He tells Jonny a strange story and gives him an arrow head. Jonny hopes the man is a long-lost relation, until he also realizes no one else can see him.
The unwanted companionship and too-friendly advances of Father Gregory over the summer holidays disturb Jonny, as does his strange dream of a wolf. He joins Ernie, the only other boy at school for the summer, in an escape to a mountain cave. When Jonny and Ernie leave the cave the next morning, the world they knew no longer exists.
Kalaku, no longer a ghost, takes Jonny and Ernie to the winter village of the native people across the bay They witness the raising of a totem pole in honour of a new chief; a pole Kalaku has carved and they take part in a potlatch ceremony. Jonny follows the old man to his house in the forest to apprentice. There he becomes skilled in the art of carving and discovers his animal spirit.
When a steamship enters the cove, the party of sightseers includes a photographer, government surveyor and an old miner looking to homestead. With them come a priest, two nuns, and a disease that annihilates most of the people in the village.
Jonny and Ernie return to the cave in the mountain to wait for and warn Kalaku of the deadly disease. But after a night of thunderstorms, they find themselves back in the present.
To their surprise Redemption Residential has been hit by lightening and burned to the ground. Both boys are now free to follow their own path of life.
To honour the people of the ancient village, Jonny carves a totem pole for their lost burial grounds. His talented reputation draws a girl to his side. A girl who holds the key to his true parentage.
Kid Soldier
Mr. Black, the baker that lives up the street, also hires Richard to help with deliveries. Military man, like Richard’s deceased father, he entertains him with army stories and teaches him Morse code. Mr. Black invites Richard to attend the opening ceremonies of the 1939 military camp in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
The monotony of Richard’s existence ends the day the Canadian Army demonstrates its efficiency and strength. Infatuated with army life, he takes part in training camp under an assumed name. When war looms on the horizon, Richard makes the most impulsive decision in his life. He enlists.
Richard travels to England with the newly formed 1st Canadian Division, witnesses the Battle of Britain, the death of a German pilot, an unwarranted animal massacre and gets caught in the London Blitzkrieg. When his true age is discovered, Richard faces court-martial.
Returning home, Richard learns Mr. Black is dead, his bakery in disrepair, and Mr. Vogel’s farm up for sale. No longer a boy, he uses his deferred pay and a loan from a bank to buy his farm.
About the Author
DREAMER, DABBLER and DETERMINED AUTHOR.
Dreamer![]()
The first time I saw myself as a writer, I was in grade 3. My brother and I had so many comic books we kept them in a wagon and rolled about the neighbour hood reading in blanket-over-the-clothesline tents reading and trading. I identified with Supergirl until my mother brought home an Underhill typewriter and I changed my secret identity to Lois Lane. I typed up stories for the newspaper, using the Niagara Falls Evening Review as my guide. Using the typewriter, I wrote captions to baby pictures and won all kinds of gift certificates. The biggest win of all was my entry into the Bick’s Pickle Contest. I won a year’s supple of pickles, a tour of the Bick’s Pickle plant and the green pickle bike. I eventually stopped riding it because all the kids called me Pickle Girl. From then on I wrote stories that teachers read out loud and excelled at essays. But there was no avenue for me to learn about writing as a professional.
Dabbler![]()
Part two of my writing career started as Jennifer Travis, teacher. I thought every lesson should begin with a story – even mathematics. I began collecting picture books based on mathematical concepts. At the National Association of Teachers of Mathematics Conference in Detroit, I spoke about this method of teaching and was invited to join the Addison-Wesley Explorations K- 2 author team. These instructional programs, that began with a story sold across the USA and Canada.
TV Ontario approached me to write school resource material for Mathica’s Mathshop. But once I became principal the only time I had to write was for the weekly school newsletter.
Determined Author![]()
Once I retired from education, I enrolled in the Institute of Children’s Literature. But the magic moment for me was meeting Freda Wishinsky at the Humber College School for Writers. Freda taught us the importance of a being a member of a writers group. My first story, How the Stepmother Got Ugly, was published in the next issue of Crows Toes Magazine. One magazine story led to another and eventually I had the courage to try to write a novel. When the Cherry Blossoms Fell came out in the spring of 2009 Sometimes people ask me why didn’t you turn to writing fulltime? The answer is simple. I wasn’t ready. I didn’t have the knowledge of the process, the patience to revisit and edit and I didn’t have the time or the courage. Now I have it all.
Bookstores I Love
A Different Drummer
Located in a renovated turn of the century brick home, A Different Drummer Books has a magical top floor. That’s where they keep the children and young adults books.
Ian Elliott cares about books, authors and reading. Ask him for a book and he will have it in your hand no matter what.
Renowned for author readings, the store is a perfect venue for book launches. Cherry Blossom Winter and Kid Soldier both made their debut here.
It also has a magical garden.
513 Locust St., Burlington, ON, Canada L7S 1V3
905-639-0925
diffdrum@mac.com
differentdrummerbooks.ca
Woozles
Woozles Children’s Bookstore is Canada’s oldest. Besides having the widest collection of reading material for children of all ages, the walls of this bookstore expand into local schools and community events. Woozles sends out three newsletters a year, hosts Book Fairs, Book Clubs and the Battle of the Books!
My first visit was on a rainy day during the Hackmatack Awards and I was welcomed with open arms by Lisa Doucet.
134-A Mill Street, Halifax, NS, Canada B3J 2I6
frontdesk@woozles.com
woozles.com
Mainstreet Trading Company
Located in the beautiful village of St. Boswells, in the Scottish Borders, The Mainstreet Trading Company has received many awards for its collection of books, events and delicious café foods.
2010 – Names Children’s Bookseller of the Year
2011- Scottish Independent Bookshop of the Year
2012 – Independent Bookshop of the Year
2018- Britain’s Best Small Shop
Vivian has been with the shop since it opened.
The Writers’ Union of Canada Authors in the School Program
Find me on Goodreads
