If you happened to pick up the March issue of Owl magazine, you already know what I am late to announce on this blog: Max Finder Mystery has returned to Owl Magazine!

Max and his detective partner, Alison Santos, left Owl about 2 years ago when their series of graphic novels hit bookstores. Since then, Owl readers has repeatedly asked for more mysterious adventures from this pre-teen detective duo.  Their calls have now been answered.

The new Max has a new illustrator too (number 3 for the series): Ramon Perez. Ramon is no stranger to kids books. He illustrated the spooky Fear this Book! and even one of my comics on media literacy appearing in Literacy in Action, published by Pearson. Ramon has given Max and the Whispering Meadows crew a whole new, but familiar, look that totally rocks and I’m sure readers will love. Welcome Ramon to the Max Finder team!

Another twist in this new stage for Max and Alison, is that I am not actually writing the mysteries. That honour goes to Craig Battle, editor of Owl and fine blogger, and a fine writer who has captured the style and tone of the characters perfectly. Although, I’m not actually writing, I am involved in creating the mystery ideas and helping them along the way from idea to print. I’m happy the Max Finder is growing to continue to bring readers the mysteries they love.

So, make sure you grab your new copy of Owl Magazine to see if you can crack the case with Max and Alison!

This just in: Ramp Rats named to the Resource Links Best of List for 2008! This is very cool news for a couple of reasons. First, it’s always nice to have your work linked with the word “best” and second, it’s another sign that educators and book people are welcoming graphic novels into the realm of “stuff that is good for young readers.” Included in the list are some really good titles from fantastic Canadian authors. I’m honoured to included.

I say it’s another sign, because the first book in the Graphic Guide Adventure series, Wild Ride, is nominated for the 2009 Hackmatack Children’s Choice Award. This isn’t new news, but it is to my knowledge the first time a graphic novel has been nominated for one of the “Tree Awards” (Silver Birch in Ontario and more varieties in other provinces.) Sequential art FTW!

All this is a round-about way of saying that I’ll be heading out to Halifax for the Hackmatack Awards ceremony in May. Very excited about that. I’ll also be visiting schools in the run up to the awards, so I’m looking forward to meeting the readers and securing their votes by any means necessary (this stuff makes the US elections look like a tea party, let me tell you.)

Thanks to Resource Links and Hackmatack for including the GGA books and a big thanks to the creative powers of Michael Deas, illustrator extraordinaire who gives the whole serkies its fantastic look. Just check out the cover art for Soccer Sabotage, GGA #3 on the left. Kickin’! (in every sense of the word.)

Apologies for the lame post title and for the long silence of updates around here. My new career as a an elementary teacher is keeping me busier than ever. But that’s not stopping word getting around about the latest book in the Graphic Guide Adventure series: Ramp Rats.

Published in October, it’s receiving great reviews from places like Canadian Materials Magazine who have this to say:

Ramp Rats is a fun graphic novel with a unique storyline which incorporates many attractive features for many types of readers. The characters are believable and well-developed, while the situations are so common that most readers will be able to identify with many of them. Combined with a lot of useful information about skating, as well as helpful guidance about bullying, Ramp Rats is a worthwhile read for young readers.

The September 15 issue of ALA Booklist also thought Ramp Rats was a winner:

Aside from the action-packed story, great characters, and colorful artwork, this graphic novel
adventure includes an array of practical skateboarding tips for beginners. The story also delivers a
deft message about standing up to bullies as it depicts Benny’s growing determination and self-confidence.

Very happy that Marcus and the Ramp Rats crew are being welcomed onto the kids book scene both in Canada and the US. All the Graphic Guide Adventure books are available at your local book store or online at the Orca Book Publisher website.

While I’ve been busy writing Media Makers, Book 4 of the Graphic Guide Adventures series, my illustration partner, the fantastic Michael Deas has been busy drawing the art for Book 3: Soccer Sabotage. Over the weekend, my editors at Orca Book Publishers sent me Mike’s pencils in full colour and they’re looking great! We run a high security facility around here, so I can’t show you the roughs but has put together a very cool Soccer Sabotage banner – it’s the one at the top of the post. Pretty cool, huh?

You’re going to have to wait until 2009 (I know, I know – it says spring 2008 on the banner – we’re working on that!) to get your hands on Soccer Sabotage. But Book 2 in the GGA series, Ramp Rats, hits bookstores in October and is already getting good reviews – which I’ll get up once I have the first draft of Media Makers into Orca – see how it all works in cycles?

A big congratulations to my publishing pal and co-author, Patricia Storms who is taking libraries across Canada by storm (sorry!) this summer as the official artist for this year’s Summer Reading Club.

So far, Patricia has toured Nova Scotia, visiting libraries across the province and now she’s back sharing the love of reading and illustrating to Ontario kids. And that’s where she landed a great profile piece on last night’s OMNI Television’s news. TV time for an author or illustrator is promo gold, so congratulations Patricia. And thanks for convincing them to include a great close up of our book Democracy (it’s the yellow book just to the left of the red one – click the image to make it bigger.)

Visit Patricia’s post about her recent successes at her blog: BookLust.