Our Writers in the Classroom program facilitates free author workshops for students in Metro Vancouver. We have a fantastic lineup of authors meeting students this spring—here are books by just a few of the thirteen participating authors. Click here to view the full list of authors and their books.
The Chandler Legacies by Abdi Nazemian
Award-winning author and screenwriter Abdi Nazemian immerses us into story of five students inhabiting the hallowed corridors of a prestigious prep school named Chandler Academy. We meet Beth Kramer, Sarah Brunson, Amanda Priya “Spence” Spencer, Ramin Golafshar, and Freddy Bello. All five of them come from different backgrounds but are united in their fraught history with Chandler. The school has a reputation of looking the other way when it comes to addressing the serious issues of hazing, bullying, and intimidation that plague the lives of its students. As long as parents keep giving money, the school would rather pretend as if nothing is happening. That is until Beth, Sarah, Spence, Ramin, and Freddy join the Circle, a coveted writing group, and decide to challenge the long-standing culture of abuse at Chandler through their writing. The Chandler Legacies becomes the output of their hard work in exposing the ugliness of this seemingly perfect school and helps the five friends discover whether the pen is, in fact, mightier than the sword. Grades 10-12
Lizzy and the Cloud by Terry Fan and Eric Fan
An immediate and harrowing effect of war is homelessness. As the people of In their picture books, authors Terry and Eric Fan have introduced readers to wondrous worlds full of magic and whimsy. In their Governor General’s Literary Award-winning book, The Barnabus Project, they made our acquaintance with a half-mouse, half-elephant named Barnabus, who was trapped in a bell jar and determined to escape. In Ocean Meets Sky, we met Finn, a little boy who is inspired by the stories told by his grandfather to explore the world. And now in Lizzy and the Cloud, the Fan Brothers tell the story of Lizzy and her pet cloud. Lizzy loves Milo, her pet cloud that is just right for her. She takes it on walks and looks after it by watering it everyday. But soon the cloud grows too big for Lizzy and she wonders how she will continue to keep it as a pet. This picture book includes breathtaking artwork that we’ve now come to expect and love from the Fan Brothers and also conveys a moving and relatable story about keeping pets who become lifelong friends and companions. Grades K-2
In Me Three, critically acclaimed author Susan Juby presents a moving portrayal of how an eleven-year-old boy deals with sudden changes in his life. Rodney’s entire life is turned upside down when he has to move from the life he knew and loved in Las Vegas to a small town in Arizona. His father, a famous poker player and TV celebrity, is involved in a scandal and sent to rehab. To shield Rodney and his sister from public scrutiny, their mother moves them overnight to a small town where no one knows about their father. But life in the new town is difficult for Rodney, who can’t even lean on his old friend Larry for comfort because Larry has stopped communicating with him. Students in the new school are either rude or indifferent and it seems as if nobody cares. Rodney is convinced that the scandal his father is embroiled in is all a big misunderstanding which will get cleared up and then they’ll be able to go back to their old life. But he can only keep the truth at bay for so long. Me Three deals with a difficult subject of a family in the process of breaking apart and the toll that can take on a child, but it does so in a way that is also very moving, funny, and relatable. Grades 5-7