e-Book on Kobo
An e-Book of Paislee and the Talking Tree is now available on Kobo for $5.00. You can view it on any device with the Kobo App. Thanks to Laura Brady it includes my voice narrating the text and adding page descriptions. These features make the book more accessible for anyone with limited vision or dyslexia.
My Kingdom for a Pencil
I collaborated with the talented Toronto artist Sue Todd to make a video for my song My Kingdom for a Pencil. Little acts of kindness get big rewards in this song. Click on the image to watch the video!
Missing Cow Comic
Simone Heath, a talented illustrator, is making my story Missing Cow into a comic! This first page reveals the main character Verna, her parents, their neighbour Mrs. Whisper with her dog Palomar and a newspaper reporter.
LSQ Paislee et l’arbre parlant
The Canadian Hearing Services did a wonderful job translating Paislee et l’arbre parlant into LSQ (French-Canadian Sign Language). This video includes voiceover that includes the sounds of birds and Paislee laughing! Click on the photo to watch the video.
Imagine in the Park Festival
The Imagine in the Park Art Festival takes place in Hamilton on the first weekend in June. I am a virtual performer this year. Click on the image to the left and see a video of me reading Paislee and the Talking Tree and singing some songs!
Printbraille Edition
There are two copies of Paislee and the Talking Tree available through CELA. The Centre for Equitable Library Access has over 750,000 titles available. Thanks to the team at the CNIB who worked to make this happen! I am also thankful for the funding of the project through the CNIB.
Satellite Radio
On Tuesday March 15th I was on the program Canada Now! on satellite radio station Sirius XM (channel 167) to talk to host Jeff Sammutt about the ASL translation of Paislee and the Talking Tree. Radio stations used to be local but now they are North American and worldwide!
A Literary Agent
I am thrilled to be represented by Westwood Creative Artists in Toronto. WCA, Rae and I are hoping to get a deal with a publisher this year!
CBC News Article
Aura Carreño Rosas from CBC News online wrote an article about the need for more children’s books to be translated into ASL. Click on the image to read the article.
Author Read Aloud
A homemade E-Book video of the author reading Paislee and the Talking Tree!
ASL Song
Canadian Hearing Services produced an ASL video of Dawn Jani Binley interpreting The Tree Said Hello. A song that I wrote about Paislee and the Talking Tree.
ASL Translation
Canadian Hearing Services produced an ASL video of Dawn Jani Binley interpreting Paislee and the Talking Tree. You can watch it by clicking on the image to the left. She is a super talent!
Sweet Tweet
Ms Sotra’s grade 2/3 class at Viscount Montgomery School in Hamilton read Paislee and the Talking Tree and then the students wrote their own version with a Christmas twist!
Sault Ste. Marie Library
A librarian at the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library chose to read Paislee and the Talking Tree for a YouTube storytime! Click on the link (photo) to hear her read it to Rags the Dog!
Finalist for a Book Award
I have been selected as a finalist for the Kerry Schooley Book Award by the Hamilton Arts Council. This is overwhelming and encouraging as a first time author. Congratulations to all the nominees and thank you to the Arts Council for recognizing Paislee and the Talking Tree.
En français
I have a PDF version of Paislee in French now! I will be asking a few teachers to try it out with their classes this fall. No plans to print any paper copies at this time!
First Sheet Music
My friend Naomi McCarroll-Butler transcribed the song The Tree Said Hello into sheet music! It was the first time I have ever seen one of my songs with notes, chord charts and lyrics all on a page. It would be possible for a beginner student to find the notes on a piano or strum it on the guitar!
Paislee and Sugar
Every child draws Paislee and Sugar differently. I love seeing how they are interpreted! We purposely planned on Paislee being dressed in a gender neutral way with shorts and a T-shirt.
We Love the Library
Bellmoore School has had a magical librarian for many years! Jennifer Angle loves her job, loves books and loves students! Jennifer Schneidersmann, DECE, collaborated to make this celebration of our librarian happen. Copies of We Love the Library are part of the school library and help students learn to read!
Local Newspaper Article
Here’s an interview from the Glanbrook News by Tamara Botting. This newspaper covers the local news for Binbrook which is the community where I usually teach. I have been teaching Kindergarten there for over 16 years! Click on the photo to read the article!
Our School Garden
My friend Pete Goindi’s mom has spent years working on a garden at his childhood school in downtown Hamilton. Her generous gift of gardening became the subject of my second photo book. Central school is one of the oldest public school in Hamilton. It opened in 1853! Mrs. Goindi is passionate about gardening but lives in an apartment. She has spent countless hours over more than twenty years growing a pollinator garden for the students to engage with, learn from and enjoy! I was thinking about making a book to celebrate her story when I bumped into a friend and kindergarten teacher, Suzy Sebeslav, at our local public library. I remembered that Suzy worked at Central and asked her if she would want to help me make a book about Elke and the garden. She told me that she loved Elke and the garden! It didn’t take too long to put this keepsake together.
Children’s Art
I love to see how children draw and respond to the book! This Kindergarten student wrote “My favourite part was when she said What?!” Look at how that stick figure is turned toward the tree!
My First Podcast Interview
Bernadette Rule interviewed me for the ArtWaves Radio program at Mohawk College Radio Station. The interview aired on 101.5 FM TheHawk and can be found in the archives for the show.
In The Spec
Jeff Mahoney wrote about local books that would make great holiday gifts and included Paislee and the Talking Tree. Thanks Jeff!
My First Book
Back in 2015 I noticed something wonderful happening at Bellmoore School that I wanted to document. In our Kindergarten program there was a classroom, Mrs. Brooks and Ms. Dean’s, that was making school an incredibly inclusive experience for a student named Zach. He was included in so many thoughtful ways that I asked Mrs. Brooks to partner with me to make a photo book. We ended up with 15 pages of examples for other schools so we had our book included on a website called The TeachAble Project. We also had a book launch and gave a copy to all the students in the book! I learned that to get a project done it was important to collaborate. Ms Dean helped us find the photos!