Deadly Voyage, my latest novel in the I Am Canada series from Scholastic, will be published this September (2011). It tells the story of Jamie Laidlaw, a boy from Montreal who is returning home from England on the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic. On the night of April 14-15, 1912, Jamie find himself in the freezing north Atlantic as the giant ship sinks before his eyes. Jamie is a fictional character but most of the people he meets on board the Titanic are real. As with my first novel in the IAC series, Prisoner of Dieppe, I’ve made this book as accurate and true-to-life as possible. W
hen I give school talks, my readers always want to know, “Is this story real?” Having worked on so many Titanic books — from Robert Ballard’s The Discovery of the Titanic to Polar the Titanic Bear-– I have a fair bit of detail in my brain about this famous shipwreck. And I also asked George Behe, a Titanic historian par excellence to review it for accuracy. And the result, I hope, is a novel that is engaging and exciting as well as a realistic depiction of what happened on the April night almost a century ago.
Over a year ago, Scholastic asked me if I would be interested in writing a novel for a new historical fiction series they were starting for 9-12-year old boys. It would be similar in style to their Dear Canada series which has been very popular with girls. I’d never written much fiction but was pleased to be asked. Scholastic thought a war book might be a good idea and I instantly said I could write a novel about the Dieppe Raid. I had just done a non-fiction book DIEPPE: Canada’s Darkest Day of World War II for Scholastic and knew there were lots of stories told to me by veterans that I didn’t have room for in a 48-page book. I also knew that kids were fascinated by the stories about prisoner of war camp and how the men dug tunnels and made amazing escapes.
With Ron Reynolds at a Port Hope Book talk in September '09
So I submitted an outline and sample chapter for a book to be called Prisoner of Dieppe. Scholastic approved this and I spent most of ’09 working on it. And I found I really enjoyed doing it. I used a lot of dialogue for which which I think I have a knack. Having done a lot of Dieppe research for the non-fiction book I thought I would have a headstart. But I soon found I needed to do a whole lot more. Invaluable help in this was provided by my Dieppe veterans, particularly Ron Reynolds of Port Hope. I would call Ron several times a week with questions about tiny details (what kind of uniform did Lord Mountbatten wear?, did you have toilet paper in POW camp?) etc. Even at 90 Ron’s memory was crystal clear – and he never exaggerated or embroidered any of the details, he always told it like it was.
I had decided to dedicate the book to Ron but sadly, I had to change the dedication to ‘In memory of Ron Reynolds’ since he died on April 18th. I gave a eulogy at his funeral on the 22nd and read a few excerpts from the book that incorporated Ron’s experiences. Some men were broken or embittered by their POW experiences but Ron retained his kindness, sweetness and irrepressible high spirits through all his 91 years.
Prisoner of Dieppe will be available in September 2010.
To my great relief, Prisoner of Dieppe, a novel I’ve written for Scholastic’s new I Am Canada Series has been receiving excellent reviews. Quill and Quire gave it a starred review and said that it “makes history come alive through an expert mix of fact and fiction.” CM Magazine 
gave it 3 1/2 stars out of 4 and said that “its lively writing style will maintain reader interest throughout.” And Susan Perren in the Globe and Mail on Nov. 6 said it was “very good indeed” and “utterly engrossing.” Whew!
Scholastic Canada has prepared some excellent videos on Prisoner of Dieppe and the I Am Canada series that can be seen on their website.
A sold-out crowd gave a standing ovation to ‘Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose: A Victorian Entertainment in Words, Images and Music’ at the Elora Festival on Saturday, July 23rd. The Elora Festival Singers gave beautiful renditions for everything from selections from The Mikado and The Eton Boating Song to Rule Britannia and The Lost Chord. Actors Brigitte Robinson and Christopher Newton from the Shaw Festival narrated the story splendidly and Sargent paintings and period photos faded in and out on a large screen overhead. ‘Ye Shepherds Tell Me’, the song that inspired the title of Sargent’s painting provided a perfect conclusion to the performance.
‘Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose’ will be presented in a special concert performance in words, images and song at the Elora Festival on July 23, 2011 at 2:00 p.m. in St. John’s Church, Elora, I will be joined (and outclassed) by distinguished Canadian actors Christopher Newton and Kelli Fox in doing the narration and the Elora Festival Singers under the baton of Noel Edison will provide the music accompanied by a multi-media presentation of Sargent paintings and period photographs. In addition to a special performance of the “lost” song from which Sargent titled his masterpiece (and I titled the book) there will favourites by Gilbert & Sullivan and such Victorian rousers as ‘Rule Britannia’, ‘The Eton Rowing Song,’ and ‘The Lost Chord.’
A Victorian afternoon tea will follow the performance.
Elora is just north of Guelph, 1 ½ hrs from Toronto.
For tickets go to: www.elorafestival.com or call 1-888-747-7550
As 2010 draws to a closed it’s exciting to see that my first novel Prisoner of Dieppe has made it’s way onto a number of ‘best of the year’ lists. The Canadian book trade journal Quill & Quire chose it along with Paul Yee’s Blood and Iron, the other title that launched Scholastic’s I Am Canada series, in a list of only five books. And the Globe and Mail‘s reviewer Susan Perren put both books on her ‘Ten Best” List for 2010. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/susan-perrens-top-10-childrens-books-of-2010/article1848068/
In addition, book panelist Ken Setterington chose it as one of his favourites on Shelagh Rodger’s CBC radio show, The Next Chapter.
http://www.cbc.ca/thenextchapter/
But perhaps the best endorsement of all came from a 10-year-old boy at a school in Creemore who told me it was “the best book I ever read.” The teacher/librarian at his school then 
went to Curiosity House, the local bookstore and bought him his own copy.
Dieppe: Canada’s Darkest Day of World War II has been nominated for the 2010-11 Children’s Literature Roundtables of Canada Information Book Award. On Juno Beach won this award in 2005 and both At Vimy Ridge and Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose have been Honour Books so I’m very honoured to be on the nomination list once again for this prestigious award.
