SATA

• Talking to the Moon - September 30, 2018 Red Deer Press,
• A Halifax Time-Travelling Tune - November 1, 2018 Nimbus Publishing,

• Jan Coates - https://jancoates.ca/my-writing-bio/

  Jan L. Coates – "What if…?"
  life as a kids' writer
  SKIP TO CONTENT
  HOME
  BOOKS, ETC.
  JAN COATES – “WHAT IF…?”
  MY WRITING BIO
  PHOTOS
  REVIEWS
  WRITERS IN THE SCHOOLS (WITS)
  My Writing Bio
  JAN L. (Mingo) COATES
  Literary Resume

  24 Minas View Drive, Wolfville, Nova Scotia B4P 2H7

  (902)542-2113

  janlcoates60@gmail.com

  www.jancoates.ca

  PUBLISHED (or forthcoming) WORK (hovering over titles will reveal links to most books)

  THE HERMIT, middle grade novel (2020, Nimbus Publishing)
  DANCING WITH DAISY, picture book (2019, Running the Goat Press)
  A HALIFAX TIME-TRAVELLING TUNE, picture book (2018, Nimbus Publishing)
  TALKING TO THE MOON, middle grade novel (2018, Red Deer Press)
  LOST IN THE STORY (2017, Caramel Tree)
  SKY PIG, picture book (2016, Pajama Press)
  Atlantic Book Awards Winner (2017 Lillian Shepherd Award for Excellence in Illustration)
  Willow Awards Finalist (Sask Young Readers’ Choice Award)
  THE LEGEND OF AVALON; ALADDIN, (2015, Caramel Tree)
  THE KING OF KEJI, picture book (2015, Nimbus Publishing)
  ROCKET MAN, 2014 middle grade novel(Red Deer Press)
  YALSA Quick Pick, 2014
  Woozles Battle of the Books, 2014/15
  THE FLEA MARKET, 2014 storybook app, (Houghton Mifflin)
  BRUNO AND THE BRAZILIAN RUBBERASER, (2013, Caramel Tree Readers -I use pen names for Caramel Tree)
  MR. BEETHOVEN AND ME , (2013, Caramel Tree)
  THE POWER OF HARMONY, middle grade novel (2013, Red Deer Press)
  Ontario Library Association (OLA) Best Bets List;
  Hackmatack (Children’s Choice Awards) Finalist;
  Violet Downey Award Finalist;
  Ann Connor Brimer Atlantic Book Award Finalist
  MR. BEETHOVEN AND ME , (2013, Caramel Tree)
  FIVE CHILDREN AND IT, retelling of classic novel (2013, Caramel Tree)
  FIFTEEN MINUTE FILLERS, Volume 2(2012, Editions de l’Envolee)
  PINOCCHIO LEARNS A LESSON (2012, Caramel Tree)
  TURNING TRASH TO TREASURE (2011, Caramel Tree)
  UNCLE BOBBY AND THE PIRATES (2011, Caramel Tree)
  THE CHEESY MAN GIANT (2011, Caramel Tree)
  IF DOGS COULD TALK (2011, Caramel Tree)
  SARAH SNOW, STAR OF THE SHOW (2011, Caramel Tree)
  THE WITCH’S FINGERS (2011, Caramel Tree)
  QUEBEC STORIES, ESL Comprehension workbook (2011, Editions de l’Envolee)
  A HARE IN THE ELEPHANT’S TRUNK, young adult novel, (2010, Red Deer Press)
  Governor General’s Literary Award Finalist 2011
  starred Kirkus Review;
  IPPY Silver Medal (Independent Publishers Book Awards, US);
  Finalist, Ann Connor Brimer Atlantic Book Award;
  Saskatchewan Young Readers Choice Awards(SYRCA) Snow Willow Award finalist;
  USBBY Honor List of Outstanding International Books 2011;
  Skipping Stones Honor List.
  WHAT WILL MOMMY DO?, e-book, (2010, Story Something)
  THE IMPOSSIBLE DIVE, chapter book (2010, Caramel Tree)
  THE QUEEN AND MR. CUNNINGHAM (2010, Caramel Tree)
  RAINBOWS IN THE DARK, picture book (2005, Second Story Press)
  (Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese and Braille translations with Korean rights sold);
  Our Choice Book, 2006, Canadian Children’s Book Centre;
  IBBY International’s 2007 Outstanding Book for Young People With Disabilities.
  “A Library Cat”, short story, (2011, R.E.A.L. Canadian Kids Magazine)
  Atlantic Writing Competition 2009, Honourable Mention, Writing for Young Adults, for early version of A Hare in the Elephant’s Trunk
  “The Queen and Mr. Cunningham,” (2008, short story) Stories for Children
  “Jacob’s Story,” (2007, article) Acadia Alumni Bulletin
  “Goodbye to Wollypoggle,” (2007, picture book manuscript) 3rd place, WFNB Competition
  “Walking the Wolfville Dykes,” (2002, personal essay, The Chronicle Herald)
  “The Music Festival Revisited” (2001, First Person Singular) CBC Radio,
  “Winter Rhapsody” (2001, personal essay) Canadian Living Magazine,
  “Sam’s Magic Cape,” (2000, picture book manuscript) 2nd place, Atlantic Writing Competition
  EDUCATION/ MEMBERSHIPS/PRESENTATIONS/GRANTS
  Canada Council and Arts Nova Scotia Creation Grants for “Breathless With the Beauty of the World,” a book about iconic Canadian painter, Doris McCarthy
  Jury member, 2015 Governor General’s Literary Awards (Children’s Text)
  August, 2015, Artist in Residence, Fool’s Paradise (former home of artist Doris McCarthy, now an artist’s retreat administered by Ontario Heritage Trust)
  Arts Nova Scotia Grant, 2014 (to work on middle-grade novel, “Across the Spectrum”)
  Member, Writers Union of Canada
  Access Copyright Research Grant, 2013 (“Across the Spectrum”)
  Canada Council Creation Grant, 2012 (to work on middle-grade novel, “The Power of Harmony”)
  Access Copyright Foundation PD Grant to attend Carver/Stinson workshop, September, 2011
  Reader/judge, Atlantic Writing Competition, 2011
  Mentorship through WFNS to work on Lost Boys of the Sudan novel, with Gary L. Blackwood, Winter, 2009
  Presenter, Port Medway Young Readers’ Festival, August, 2008
  Member, WFNS – Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (Writers Council Member involved in school presentations)
  Member, CANSCAIP, Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers
  Participant, workshop/retreat led by well-known children’s author, Kathy Stinson, and Peter Carver, Children’s Editor, Red Deer Press, September 2007, August, 2008, September, 2011.
  PD Grant, Lost Boys of the Sudan novel, NS Department of Tourism, Culture & Heritage (to work on manuscript at Stinson/Carver workshop, as above)
  Judge, Ada Mingo Teen Writing Competition, Colchester East Hants Library 2007-present
  Participant, Children’s Writing Workshop led by Norene Smiley, WFNS, Winter, 2002
  BA (English, 1981), BEd(Secondary, 1986), Acadia University, Wolfville, NS
  EMPLOYMENT
  School Writing Presenter, through the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia’s Writers in the Schools (WITS) program
  Substitute teacher, Annapolis Valley Regional School Board, 2010 – 2013; ESL tutor, 2006 – 2010, AVRSB

• Jan Coats - https://jancoates.ca/jan-coates-childrens-author/

  Jan L. Coates – "What if…?"
  life as a kids' writer
  SKIP TO CONTENT
  HOME
  BOOKS, ETC.
  JAN COATES – “WHAT IF…?”
  MY WRITING BIO
  PHOTOS
  REVIEWS
  WRITERS IN THE SCHOOLS (WITS)
  Jan Coates – “What If…?”
  “What if…?” It’s the beginning of every story. What if you met a blind woman in a used clothing store? What if you were a seven-year-old boy struggling to survive in Africa without parents? What if you had a magic spoon? What if dogs could talk or pigs could fly? Being a fiction writer means constantly wondering, imagining – how does it feel to be somebody else? It’s a lot like being nosy…
  I live in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, and I’m a writer, a former teacher, and a mother.
  P1000991I grew up in Truro, NS (Janet Mingo) and went to Acadia University; I love my bike, travel, France, chocolate, Georgia, picture books and my family (not necessarily in that order). I’ve been writing for young readers since about 2000; it was a long and winding road until the publication of my first picture book, RAINBOWS IN THE DARK, in 2005, by Second Story Press of Toronto. I have three middle grade novels out from Red Deer Press – THE POWER OF HARMONY, (2013); ROCKET MAN (2014) and TALKING TO THE MOON (2018). I’ve also written sixteen illustrated chapter books for Caramel Tree Readers. THE KING OF KEJI, a picture book set in Nova Scotia’s beautiful Kejimkujik National Park, illustrated by Patsy MacKinnon from Cape Breton, was published by Nimbus in 2015. SKY PIG, with intricate Plasticine illustrations by Suzanne Del Rizzo, was published by Pajama Press, 2016. My newest picture book is A HALIFAX TIME-TRAVELLING TUNE (Nimbus, 2018).
  SIX SORT-OF INTERESTING THINGS ABOUT JAN:

  If she could have only one food, she’d be torn between potato chips and apples. She learned to swim (and got over her fear of water – sort of) when she was 55! She loves Craftsman style houses (built in the 1930s and 1940s), and old stuff in general.
  She can watch the sun sparkling on the water, ocean, lakes, rivers – for hours. Even puddles. If she could have one wish granted, by say a fairy dogmother, it would be to see her kids every week, at least once or maybe twice… If she could have two wishes granted, she’d also wish to have a book published with HER name on the cover as author/illustrator!
  My young adult novel, A HARE IN THE ELEPHANT’S TRUNK, (Red Deer Press), was a Finalist for the 2011 Governor General’s Literary Award (Children’s Text) and also a finalist for the 2011 Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children’s Literature (as was THE POWER OF HARMONY). Proceeds from HARE have been shared with Wadeng Wings of Hope, Jacob Akech Deng’s foundation through which he raised money to build a school in Sudan; the first two classrooms in the school were completed in the winter of 2013. Jacob now works as a Minister for Youth and Information in South Sudan.
  Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you’ll get in touch:
  janlcoates60@gmail.com,
  or leave a message here.
  Happy reading and writing!
  Jan

• Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/entity/author/B004FWF2DY?_encoding=UTF8&offset=0&pageSize=12&sort=date-desc-rank&page=1#formatSelectorHeader

  About Jan Coates
  I'm Jan L. Coates - I live in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, and I'm the author of three picture books: RAINBOWS IN THE DARK,(Second Story Press, 2005); THE KING OF KEJI (Nimbus Publishing, 2015); SKY PIG (Pajama Press, 2016); one young adult novel, A HARE IN THE ELEPHANT'S TRUNK, (Red Deer Press, 2010 - Finalist, 2011 Governor General's Literary Awards; USBBY 2011 Honour List of Outstanding International Books); and two middle grade novels - ROCKET MAN (Red Deer Press, 2014),and THE POWER OF HARMONY (Red Deer Press, 2013,OLA BEST BETS, Violet Downey Award Finalist, Ann Connor Brimer Finalist). My forthcoming titles include: 2019 (Dancing With Daisy, picture book, Running the Goat Press); 2018 (A Halifax Time Travelling Tune, Nimbus Publishing); 2018 (Talking to the Moon, middle grade novel, Red Deer Press).

  I've also written sixteen illustrated chapter books for Caramel Tree Readers, a Korean publisher, as well as QUEBEC STORIES, Volumes 1 and 2, and 15-Minute Fillers, Volume 2, (non-fiction ESL comprehension books, Editions de l'Envolee, 2011, 2013).

  You can check out my blog at www.jancoates.ca.

  Happy Reading!

• Pajama Press - https://pajamapress.ca/author/coates_jan_l/

  As a young child, Jan Coates waited eagerly for her first library card. Today, as a critically-acclaimed children’s book writer, she is helping to fill libraries herself. Her young adult novel A Hare in the Elephant’s Trunk was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award and the Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children’s Literature, as well as a USBBY Outstanding International Book. Her middle grade novels have been finalists for the Ann Connor Brimer Award, the Violet Downey Award, and the Hackmatack Children’s Choice Award. In 2015 Jan published The King of Keji, her second picture book. She lives, writes, and teaches in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

• Red Deer Press - https://www.reddeerpress.com/jan-l-coates

  Jan L. Coates
  Jan L. Coates is a writer living in Wolfville, Nova Scotia with her family, and currently working as a teacher as well as giving school writing workshops through the Writer's Federation of Nova Scotia. She grew up in Truro, NS, went to Acadia University, and has been writing for children since about 2000 when her picture book manuscript, Sam’s Magic Cape, placed second in the Atlantic Writing Competition. There followed the publication of her first picture book, Rainbows in the Dark, in 2005, and most recently two middle grade novels: The Power of Harmony (Red Deer Press, 2013), and Rocket Man (Red Deer Press, 2014).

  Her YA novel, A Hare in the Elephant's Trunk (Red Deer Press, 2010), was a finalist for the 2011 Governor General's Literary Award as well as for the 2011 Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children's Literature. Proceeds from HARE are being shared with Wadeng Wings of Hope, Jacob Akech Deng’s foundation through which he’s raising money to build a school in Sudan; the first two classrooms in the school were completed in the winter of 2013.

  For more information on Jan and her books...

  Visit her website: jancoates.ca

• WFNS - https://www.writers.ns.ca/members/profile/50

  BIOGRAPHY
  Jan Coates lives in Wolfville, NS with her husband and their Golden Irish. She has two young adult children and loves visiting schools through the Writers in the Schools (WITS) program. Jan's interest in writing for children grew out of her own love of words and stories and a passion for helping kids become lifelong readers and writers.

  In her free time, Jan can be found on the badminton court, travelling, at the gym, the cottage, or Frenchy's. Her first picture book, Rainbows in the Dark (Second Story Press, 2005) has been translated into Spanish, Catalan, and Braille, with Korean and Brazilian rights also sold. She has also written sixteen ESL illustrated chapter books for Caramel Tree, a Korean-based English Language School, and two non-fiction workbooks for Quebec ESL students. Her debut novel, A Hare in the Elephant's Trunk (Red Deer Press, 2010), was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award (Children's Text) in 2011, as well as an Ann Connor Brimer Award finalist. She has also written three middle grade novels, Talking to the Moon (2018),The Power of Harmony, also a Brimer finalist, and Rocket Man, a YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers (Red Deer Press, 2014). Jan's picture books include A Halifax Time-Travelling Tune (Nimbus, 2018), Sky Pig (Pajama Press, 2016), The King of Keji (Nimbus, 2015), and Rainbows in the Dark (Second Story Press, 2005). Her current passion (other than learning to illustrate) is writing a work of creative non-fiction for young readers about Canadian landscape painter (and all-around interesting person) Doris McCarthy (1910 - 2010).

  PUBLICATIONS
  A Halifax Time-Travelling Tune (picture book, Nimbus Publishing, 2018)

  Talking to the Moon (middle grade novel set in Lunenburg, Red Deer Press, 2018)

  Sky Pig (Pajama Press, 2016) ISBN #: 978-1-927485-98-9

  The King of Keji (Nimbus Publishing, 2015) ISBN: 978-1771082815

  Rocket Man (Red Deer Press, 2014) ISBN: 978-08895-494-6

  The Power of Harmony (Red Deer Press, 2013) ISBN: 978-0889954953

  A Hare in the Elephant's Trunk (Red Deer Press, 2010) 978-0-88995-451-9

  Rainbows in the Dark (Second Story Press, 2005) ISBN: 978-1896764955

  Mr. Beethoven and Me (Caramel Tree Readers, 2014) ISBN: 970-8966298976

  Uncle Bobby and the Pirates (Caramel Tree, 2013). ISBN: 978-8966299058

  If Dogs Could Talk (Caramel Tree, 2014) ISBN: 978-8966299034

  Stop Complaining Chicken Little (Caramel Tree, 2014). ISBN: 978-8966292035

  The Cheesy Man Giant (Caramel Tree, 2014). ISBN: 978-8994231990

  AWARDS
  The Power of Harmony: Finalist, Violet Downey Award 2014; Ann Connor Brimer Atlantic Book Award Finalist; OLA Bets Best Book 2014; Hackmatack Book, 2014/15.

  A Hare in the Elephant's Trunk: Finalist, 2011 Governor General's Literary Awards; Finalist, Ann Connor Brimer Award; starred Kirkus Review; USBBY Honor List, 2011.

  Rainbows in the Dark: USBBY Honor List of Outstanding Books for Young People with Diabilities, 2006.

  Rocket Man (Woozles Battle of the Books, YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, 2015)

  Sky Pig (winner of Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Excellence in Illustration; artist, Suzanne Del Rizzo)

Print Marked Items
Coates, Jan L.: TALKING TO THE
MOON
Kirkus Reviews.
(Oct. 1, 2018):
COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Coates, Jan L. TALKING TO THE MOON Red Deer Press (Children's Fiction) $12.95 11, 1 ISBN: 978-0-
88995-562-2
A foster child on the autism spectrum finds friendship and surprising connection in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.
Katie, 11, doesn't remember Moonbeam, the birth mother who left her the amethyst geode she treasures
along with a message scrawled on a bookmark from a shop in Lunenburg, the picturesque, seaside town
where Katie and her foster mother, Muzzy, are spending a month. Searching for Moonbeam, Katie feels a
bond with another lonely girl, Catherine, whose French Protestant family immigrated here in the 1750s.
Aggie, Catherine's elderly descendant whom Katie helps out, shares her history and memorabilia, to which
Aggie's long-estranged sister, a reclusive carver, and two children with deep local roots add missing pieces.
Along with Katie's and Catherine's, a third narrative thread concerns Catherine's descendants; each touches
on consequences of European settlement to the Mi'kmaw and, later, the Metis peoples. Katie's likable; her
self-aware narration clarifies her challenges. Her uniquely ordered world is believable, as are her bouts of
anxiety and difficulty reading emotions. Bullied in Montreal, in Lunenburg Katie meets only understanding
and kindness. No one's offended when she avoids physical contact or finds her conceited when she
(accurately) enumerates her abilities. Catherine's story is introduced awkwardly, and the novel's resolution
raises unanswered questions, but well-drawn characters (most, like Katie, white), vivid setting, and gripping
history compensate for uneven plotting.
This blend of a contemporary search for roots with finely detailed colonial history rewards patient readers,
especially fans of historical fiction. (author interview) (Fiction. 8-12)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Coates, Jan L.: TALKING TO THE MOON." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Oct. 2018. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A556119032/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=bf2ef190.
Accessed 11 Dec. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A556119032

• CM: Canadian Review of Materials
  https://www.cmreviews.ca/node/274
  Word count: 572

  A Halifax Time-Travelling Tune
  Author:
  Jan L. Coates
  Illustrated by:
  Marijke Simons
  Halifax, NS: Nimbus, 2018
  32 pp., hardcover, $22.95
  ISBN:
  978-1-77108-569-4
  Grades:
  Preschool-grade 1
  Ages:
  4-6
  Review by:
  Crystal Sutherland
  5
  Excerpt:
  Our travelling time was almost through,
  We hitched a ride on a bicycle built for two,
  sang out loud with the twinkling stars,
  the cool nor’easter, and the funny old cars.
  Swish, twinkle, swoosh-beep beep!
  We fluttered back in through my window,
  I smiled, scratched my ear, and hummed myself
  back to sleep.
  The Time-Travelling Tune slept, too.
  Tra-la-la-la: z-z-z-z…
  Whether as part of a scolding or in a moment of reminiscing, everyone has heard a ‘when I was your age’ story. A piano tune and a grandmother’s wish just before bedtime are all that’s needed to send her grandchild back in time.

  Woken by a tune and led by a marching-band baton, the child is transported to 1950’s Halifax, a place that feels both familiar and strange. Well-known locations, including the Public Gardens, Citadel Hill and Pier 21, are easily recognized, and questions about unfamiliar sights, like the ‘funny boats’ in the Public Gardens and the procession for Princess Elizabeth, are explained by the time-travelling tune.

  Whether they live in Halifax or elsewhere, when the time-travelling tune is finished and the child’s asleep in their bed, children will be full of questions about what their home was like ‘back in the old days’.

  Young and not-so-young alike, readers will enjoy this trip back in time. Whether it’s how small the trees were in the Public Gardens, how different cars looked, or how the harbour looked before the easily identifiable MacDonald Bridge connecting Halifax and Dartmouth was built, beautiful, full-colour illustrations throughout make it easy for anyone familiar with Halifax to identify locations while also showing how Halifax has changed. Readers encountering Halifax for the first time will be inspired to find out what their own home towns were like when their parents, grandparents, and other relatives were their age.

  Narrated by a child who is not referred to by a name or pronoun and not clearly gendered in the illustrations, the common restriction of adventures being for boys only is avoided. All readers will be better able to imagine themselves in the slippers of the time-traveler. With numerous opportunities to join in, including quacking with the ducks and melodic clickity-clacking of the trolley down Barrington Street and trot-trot-clippity-clopping with the ponies on Sable Island, readers and listeners become part of the time-travelling tune.

  Teachers and adults will enjoy and appreciate the ‘inspirational images’ with short descriptions at the back of A Halifax Time-Travelling Tune. These images connect the illustrations with history, and the captions will help adults from Halifax and beyond answer questions, perhaps inspiring some to bring out their photo albums and share some new ‘when I was your age’ stories that otherwise would have gone untold at home that could be shared in the classroom. Everyone has a story to tell.
  Highly Recommended
  Reviewer:
  An MEd (Literacy) and MLIS graduate, Crystal Sutherland is the librarian at the Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women and lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

• CM
  https://www.cmreviews.ca/node/139
  Word count: 880

  Volume XXV / Issue 4 - September 28 / 2018
  Talking to the Moon
  Talking to the Moon
  Author:
  Jan L. Coates
  Markham, Ontario: Red Deer Press, 2018
  332 pp., trade pbk., $12.95
  ISBN:
  978-0-88995-562-2
  Grades:
  6-9
  Ages:
  11-14
  Review by:
  Mary Thomas
  4
  Excerpt:
  Rainbows are like the good families in stories. All the colors are separate but together, giving each other just-right personal space. In my two foster families before Muzzy, I was always floating free in my own entire solar system of personal space. Like a falling star.

  My teacher, Miss Matattall, told me I'm on the autism spectrum, which is not something pretty like a rainbow spectrum. It's more a fancy word teachers made up to describe left-out kids like me.

  Muzzy says my brain's just bigger than most people's. That I am marching to the beat of my own drum.

  She says that as if it's a Like, but she's wrong. And I play the piano, not drums.

  Other kids mostly make fun of me; they whisper and laugh at my grouchy old-lady face.

  Whispering and laughing are two of my Dislikes.

  "Ready, Freddie?"

  "Almost. And my name is Katie."

  I finish arranging my folded underwear in my suitcase, a row of black lined up on top of all the white, like piano keys. On top of those I put the bookmark Moonbeam left for me. On the front it says: `Elizabeth Books, Montague Street, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia', and on the back, in messy writing, it says:
  Every time you see the Moon, know that I'll be thinking of you, Katie.
  Take good care of our Lavender Lady.
  I'll tell you her story when I come back for you.
  Love, Moonbeam
  Katie Dupuis Pearson is, as she will tell you on very short acquaintance, very smart, very good at math and playing the piano, very bad at imagining, and on the autism spectrum. This last readers would have guessed by the end of page one anyway as Katie ties together very precisely her birthday, the day of her mother Moonbeam's disappearance, and the birth of Sir Isaac Newton, the first person to unweave the rainbow. This last bit of information is because colours are important for Katie -- she has a subscription for coloured pencils which sends her 25 new precisely named pencils each month. When the subscription finishes, she will have 500 hundred pencils and the vocabulary to describe exactly any colour she encounters. She takes great satisfaction in meeting someone with Touch-of-Gold white hair and getting into her foster mother's Sea-Captain blue car.

  Katie has very strong Likes -- the Moon, because he listens, though she'd like it if he'd answer, peanut butter -- and Dislikes -- hugging, surprises, mean kids -- but what she really would like is Roots because she hasn't any. Her mother vanished on her fourth birthday, leaving her a book mark and a name. Period. She is now onto her third foster mother, the best 'so far', but nothing is for sure, nothing is permanent, and she knows that when Muzzy, an enthusiastic journalist, finally gets the foreign assignment that she has been longing for, she, Katie, will be back on the agency's hands. However, in the meantime, Muzzy has the summer off, and they are going to Lunenberg, where Katie's Moonbeam book mark came from and where Muzzy was raised, to help a friend who runs a café there.

  Adventures are another of Katie's Dislikes, but this one turns out better than anyone, she, in particular, (being bad at imagining) could imagine. Not only does she meet a couple of kids her age who think she is funny rather than weird, but she gets a job helping Aggie, an elderly woman who used to teach her Muzzy and who has bits of never-mailed letters of an ancestor who came to Lunenberg in the 18th century. And some mementos. And some stories. Discovering Catherine's story of being uprooted helps Katie to come to terms with her own lack of roots as does helping Aggie reestablish her family connection with her estranged sister.

  It's hard to pinpoint the charm of this book. Partly it is Katie, herself, her precision and her colour sense, her need for her personal space; partly it is Catherine Marguerite's letters, or bits of them, that we get in fits and starts, finding out about how life was back when, and partly it is the mystery of Katie's background that the reader will probably figure out before Katie, herself, does. All in all, Talking to the Moon is a book with a mystery, an interesting protagonist, and good backround material. It also has a moral: don't despair over information that you have only heard as an eavesdropper; you may have it, or its context, completely wrong!
  Highly Recommended
  Reviewer:
  Mary Thomas lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba, but spends the summers in Bracebridge, Ontario, and would like Katie's palate of pencils to describe the multitude of different greens she sees when kayaking up the Muskoka River.