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Celebrate Nature!
Invite Jan to Your School or Library
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 A young boy in Nain, Labrador, who has
never seen a live hummingbird (too far north), inspects a dried one in a jar. |
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One of the joys of being a children's book author and illustrator is being invited for school and library visits. The interaction with kids is wildly rejuvenating and inspirational. Over the past 15 years, I've been lucky enough to speak to more than 8,000 children all over Canada - from St. John's to Vancouver Island, from Weyburn, Saskachewan to Cambridge Bay in Nunavut.
These fun and informative presentations are generally structured around a slide show during which I discuss wildlife, my illustrations, the hidden picture puzzles I put in some of my books, and the book-making process. Since my most recent books, The Rumor and Over in the Meadow were done primarily on computer, I also explain the digital techniques I used (The Rumor Step-by-Step; Over in the Meadow Step-by-Step). If requested, I will do short readings as well.
My presentations are a bit longer than an hour (shorter for Kindergarten) and include a 20-minute hands-on segment where I first describe and then pass around items from what I call my "museum-in-a-bag" - animal skulls, dinosaur bones, mounted insects, feathers, shed snake skin, mummified hummingbirds, etc. - a great favorite with the kids! My talks can be adapted to suit any age group and I'm always happy to focus on requested curriculum tie-ins.
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