Hugh Brewster

Displaying Entries: 1 - 5 of 20.

North to the Yukon for T-D Children's Book Week - Nov-13-09 - 07:41

On November 14th I fly to Whitehorse, Yukon, for a week of school and library talks sponsored by TD Canadian Children's Book Week. I'm just one of the 29 authors, illustrators and storytellers who are fanning out across Canada for this great national reading festival organized by the Canadian Children's Book Centre. I'll be sending updates on Facebook and Twitter so you can check in on my Yukon adventures!

DIEPPE is selected for Forest of Reading 2009/10 - Nov-09-09 - 12:51

DIEPPE:Canada's Darkest Day of World War II has been nominated as one the the non-fiction selections for the Silver Birch Award 09/10. It's always exciting to be selected for one of the provincial 'Tree' Awards and Ontario's Forest of Reading is the biggest award program of all. Sponsored by the Ontario Library Association, the Forest of Reading is an amazing reading motivator where kids vote for their favorite books. Being nominated means that the schools and libraries buy your book and frequently invite authors in to give talks. It's capped off with a big awards ceremony in May where hundreds of kids attend to cheer for their favorite books.

"Quite simply, superb" says Globe & Mail of DIEPPE - Aug-06-09 - 07:24

Just when I was beginning to despair about publishing a book in August, DIEPPE: Canada's Darkest Day of World War II receives its first revew and it's a rave! Toronto Globe & Mail children's book reviewer, Susan Perren, wrote of DIEPPE on August 1st, 2009:

"“[DIEPPE].can be described quite simply as superb. It is superb in the way it sets out the context for the raid on Dieppe…Superb, too, in the way Brewster, using archival photographs, first-person accounts from surviving combatants or memoirs, and the connective tissue of his beautifully crafted text to tell a story that is equal parts horror and valour."

One couldn't ask for a better review! Thank you Susan Perren! Don't ever believe that in the age of blogs and Amazon reader reviews that real, thoughtful reviews in real newspapers don't matter.

DIEPPE: Canada's Darkest Day of World War II–– now in stores! - Jul-28-09 - 5:40

DIEPPE: Canada's Darkest Day of World War II, is now available in bookstores. Similar in style to the award-winning At Vimy Ridge and On Juno Beach, this brand-new book tells the story of "the bloodiest nine hours in Canadian military history" in words and pictures.

"It was a massacre....everyone was being killed, " is how one of the soldiers who was pinned down in withering gunfire on the pebbled beachfront at Dieppe described it to me, Interviewing veterans of that fateful day was one of the most rewarding aspects of working on this book. These remarkable men are all now in their late '80s or early 90s and not only did they live through the disaster at Dieppe, they also endured 2 1/2 years in POW camps. And for 13 months of that time, the Canadians were shackled––on Hitler's express orders. Towards the end of the war as the Russians were invading Germany, the Canadian POWs were rounded up and put on a forced 'death march' through one of the coldest winters on record. And yet many of them survived. And each one I spoke to was eager to help me bring this story to a new generation.

Most young people have not heard of Dieppe. But when I tell them the story they are riveted ––particularly by the amazing stories of endurance ––how the POWs managed to dig tunnels and arrange daring escapes from prison camp, for example.

The disastrous raid on Dieppe is perhaps the most powerful story ever of Canadians under fire and I look forward to speaking in schools and libraries about it.

The book is available in hardcover and softcover from Scholastic. Why publish in August? The 67th anniversary of the Dieppe raid is August 19th, 2009. I will be giving talks about the book in August and then again in November for Remembrance Day. For a complete schedule please see the Presentations page.

"Carnation,Lily,Lily, Rose" by Hugh Brewster is 2008 Information Book Award Honour Book - Nov-19-08 - 09:56

Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose: The Story of a Painting has been named the Honour Book for the 2008 Children's Literature Roundtables of Canada Information Book Award. This award is designed to honour excellence in the publishing of Canadian children's non-fiction. Top honour went to One Well: The Story of Water on Earth by Rochelle Strauss and illustrated by Rosemary Woods which, like 'Carnation, Lily', is also published by Kids Can Press. I'm particularly grateful to the juries for this award, as they selected At Vimy Ridge as the Honour Book in 2007 and made On Juno Beach the winner in 2005.