SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: One Kiss
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.marthejocelyn.com/
CITY: Stratford
STATE:
COUNTRY: Canada
NATIONALITY: Canadian
LAST VOLUME: SATA 357
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born 1956, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; married Tom Slaughter (an artist; divorced); children: Hannah, Nell.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and illustrator. Worked variously as a cookie seller, waitress, sailor, and photo stylist; Jesse Design (toy and clothing design firm), owner, since c. 2000.
MEMBER:PEN International, International Board on Books for Young People, Authors Guild, Writer’s Union of Canada, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators & Performers.
AWARDS:Canadian Governor General’s Award finalist, 2000, for Hannah’s Collections; Book of the Year for Children finalist, Canadian Library Association (CLA), 2001, and Hackmatack Award finalist and Red Cedar Award finalist, both 2002-03, all for Earthly Astonishments; Best Books for Young Adults designation, American Library Association (ALA), CLA Book of the Year for Children shortlist, and TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award, Canadian Children’s Book Centre (CCBC), all 2005, all for Mable Riley; Norma Fleck Award shortlist, 2005, for A Home for Foundlings; Top Ten Young-Adult Fiction Books designation, Ontario Library Association, 2007, and ALA Best Books for Young Adults designation, 2008, both for How It Happened in Peach Hill; CLA Book of the Year for Young Adults finalist, 2009, for Would You; Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People, Writers’ Trust of Canada, 2009; CCBC Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People finalist and CLA Young-Adult Book Award finalist, both 2011, both for Folly; CCBC Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s Nonfiction finalist, Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Awards finalist, and Nautilus Silver Award, all 2012, all for Scribbling Women; Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award finalist, 2014, for Where Do You Look?; Amy Mathers Teen Book Award, 2015, for What We Hide.
WRITINGS
Contributor of short stories to anthologies, including On Her Way: Stories and Poems about Growing Up Girl, Dutton Children’s Books (New York, NY), 2004.
Would You was adapted for audiobook, Listening Library, 2009.
SIDELIGHTS
A versatile Canadian author, Marthe Jocelyn has produced works of nonfiction, short-story collections, picture books, and novels for young adults. Jocelyn has received numerous honors for her literary efforts, including the inaugural TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award for her historical novel Mable Riley: A Reliable Record of Humdrum, Peril, and Romance and an Amy Mathers Teen Book Award for What We Hide.
Jocelyn’s chapter book The Invisible Day centers on ten-year-old Billie, a girl who is frustrated by the lack of privacy in the tiny loft apartment she shares with her mother, a librarian at Billie’s school. When Billie discovers a jar of powder that makes her invisible, she has a chance to experience life out of her mother’s sight. Calling The Invisible Day “a fun book,” Mary Thomas added in Canadian Review of Materials that the tale boasts “a strong female protagonist and an interesting, without being harrowing, storyline.” A Publishers Weekly critic also praised the book, predicting that Jocelyn’s “whimsical, high-spirited novel” will be “a sure-fire crowd-pleaser.”
Mable Riley was inspired by a diary kept by Jocelyn’s grandmother, Mable Rose. Like her real-life counterpart, Mable Riley records her experiences as a teacher in a turn-of-the-twentieth-century one-room school near Stratford, where she sometimes entertains herself by writing about love. Along the way, Mable also gets caught up in the budding suffragist and labor movements through her eccentric neighbor Mrs. Rattle. Although Jocelyn’s book clearly has a message, it “is never strident,” commented Booklist contributor Hazel Rochman, “because the funny, poignant diary entries show family and neighbors without reverence.” Horn Book reviewer Anita L. Burkam wrote of Mable Riley that “social issues are given a realistic shades-of-gray treatment, the diary format is handled adroitly, and the diarist herself is engaging and many-faceted.”
A work of nonfiction, A Home for Foundlings also has roots in Jocelyn’s family history, in this case the experiences of her grandfather. As a child he lived in London’s Foundling Hospital, where poor and pregnant women abandoned infants they were unable to support. Tragically, the hospital had limited resources and many of the “rescued” foundlings perished. Jocelyn records the appalling conditions of the foundling home through brief biographies of several actual residents as well as through her archival research, which included photographs and official documents. Detailed information helps “create drama in this history,” Rochman commented, while Lori Walker concluded in Canadian Review of Materials that A Home for Foundlings “provides a rich opportunity to explore poverty and the plight of children throughout the ages and the continents.”
Jocelyn’s published works include several self-illustrated picture books, among them Hannah and the Seven Dresses and Mayfly, both of which she illustrates with unique mixed-media collages. In Hannah and the Seven Dresses a little girl cannot decide what to wear on her birthday. “Wallpaper, carpets, accouterments, and Hannah herself all have an eye-popping three-dimensional quality,” Ilene Cooper noted in Booklist. Mayfly, a simple story about children spending time at their family’s summer cabin, features double-page spreads that Resource Links reviewer Carolyn Cutt called “whimsical … bright, colorful and imaginative.” In School Library Journal, Shelley B. Sutherland commented that the author’s “interesting multidimensional collages” in Mayfly “capture the exuberance of the narrative.”
On occasion, Jocelyn has collaborated with family members, joining ex-husband and artist Tom Slaughter to create ABC x 3: English, Español, Français, an alphabet book in which each term is presented in three languages. Writing in Booklist, Jennifer Mattson suggested that “this introduction to basic cognates may help children build confidence before undertaking further study,” and School Library Journal critic Mary Hazelton described ABC x 3 as “a stimulating and interesting approach to learning about languages.”
Slaughter’s cut-paper illustrations can also be found in Eats, which describes the feeding habits of such animals as giraffes, anteaters, and pandas. In School Library Journal, Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan called the work “a good choice from both an artistic and scientific point of view.” Transportation and navigation are the focus in Which Way?, another collaborative work, and “as a teaching tool this book is a standout,” according to Lorie Battershill in Resource Links.
In Ones and Twos, a concept book featuring illustrations by Jocelyn’s daughter Nell Jocelyn, two young girls cross paths with a family of robins during a busy day of play. “Marthe Jocelyn’s text is perfect in its simplicity, the short phrases and vocabulary just right for toddler audiences,” wrote a Kirkus Reviews critic, and Jennifer M. Brabander predicted in Horn Book that the mixed-media artwork in Ones and Twos “will have young viewers poring over the busy details and reaching out to touch the pages.”
Where Do You Look?, another work by the mother-daughter duo, offers an introduction to homonyms. In School Library Journal, Mary Elam described Where Do You Look? as “a playful language game and a vocabulary stretcher for young children.”
Jocelyn’s self-illustrated picture book Sam Sorts: (One Hundred Favorite Things) revolves around a young brown-skinned boy’s highly orderly efforts to sort out the heap of belongings in his room. He starts off with a unique robot, a pair of dinosaurs, three boxes, and four fake foods, and from there he orders things not just by numbered groups but by distinctions of shape, texture, color, smell, rhyme, and more. In one clever set of permutations, there are things that fly with wings (paper airplane), things that fly without wings (superhero), and things with wings that do not fly (penguin). A Kirkus Reviews writer praised the book as “a deceptively simple, joyous introduction to set theory, with lots of other concept practice as a bonus.” In Horn Book, Nell Beram called Sam Sorts an “entertaining higher-order concept book” that “soars because of Jocelyn’s invitingly detailed hand-cut paper collages.”
Collage is again Jocelyn’s medium in a set of wordless board books that take a familiar item and use it as an element of a wide variety of scenes. In One Red Button, the title object falls off a jacket to become a ladybug’s body, a piece of pepperoni, and more. The subject of One Piece of String becomes wool on a sheep, a birds’ nest, a piece of spaghetti, a clothesline, and even a rabbit. Concerning the latter title, a Kirkus Reviews writer admired how Jocelyn’s “ingenious collage-style illustrations effectively combine patterns and strong, bold blocks of color into highly textured results,” making for a “fun and thought-provoking” book. Hailing the bonding experience for child and caregiver in searching together for button and string, Resource Links contributor Chloe Humphreys called the pair of titles “delightful books that lay the groundwork for children to blossom into thorough and thoughtful readers.”
Added to the series are One Yellow Ribbon and One Patch of Blue, with a girl’s ribbon in the former becoming a lion’s mane, crops on a farm, and a dancing woman’s dress, while a boy’s jeans patch in the latter becomes a shovel, a ferris-wheel car, a stained-glass pane, aquarium water, and other everyday sights. A Kirkus Reviews writer affirmed that “the images are beautifully rendered, and, in both books, the double-page spreads are breathtaking.” Resource Links writer Elizabeth Brown proclaimed, “One can almost feel the roughness of the sandpaper beach.”
Set in upstate New York during the 1920s, Jocelyn’s young-adult novel How It Happened in Peach Hill concerns fifteen-year-old Annie and her mother, Madame Caterina, a self-proclaimed clairvoyant. The pair travels from town to town, with Annie posing as a dim-witted fool the better to overhear information about local residents that her mother can use in her act. Upon arriving in Peach Hill, Annie decides to end the charade and put down roots, a choice that upsets her scheming, narcissistic parent. According to Booklist critic Heather Booth, Jocelyn’s “blend of coming-of-age, adventure, and intrigue … will appeal to fans of spunky female characters,” and a Publishers Weekly reviewer suggested that How It Happened in Peach Hill “will engage young readers as they root for Annie to break free and become her own person.”
Would You is based on a tragic incident from the author’s teen years, when her sister was severely injured in an automobile accident. The relationship between Natalie, a high-school student, and her older sister Claire, is dramatically altered when Claire is hit by a car and suffers massive brain trauma. “Natalie reacts honestly, neither beautifully nor nobly,” wrote a contributor in Publishers Weekly, and a Kirkus Reviews critic described Would You as “a realistic and very credible account of how one family’s life is inexplicably and unexpectedly shattered.”
Jocelyn was inspired by the story of her grandfather’s childhood in writing Folly. Set in Victorian England, the work concerns Mary Finn, a country girl who is cast out of her home and travels to London, where she finds work as a maid. When a romantic encounter with a young soldier leaves her pregnant, Mary loses her job and faces a momentous decision about her baby’s fate. In an alternate plotline taking place several years later, readers follow the story of James Nelligan, a foster child who returns to the Foundling Hospital where he was once placed by his mother. Although some readers may guess the connection between Mary and James before the novel’s end, it “will not lessen the impact of this poignant story,” noted a Kirkus Reviews contributor. In School Library Journal, Wendy Scalfaro also praised Folly, remarking that “Jocelyn’s characters are richly drawn and fully developed, and the setting of late-1800s London is vividly detailed.”
Another historical drama set in the 1960s, What We Hide examines themes of self-discovery, discrimination, sexual identity, and the meaning of family. When her older brother enrolls at a British university to avoid the Vietnam draft, Jenny joins him in England, enrolling at a Quaker boarding school. Using the experience as an opportunity to reinvent herself, she fabricates a story about an army boyfriend, the first of many lies she tells. Through Jenny, readers meet the other residents of Illington Hall, all who have secrets, from the closeted gay couple to the son of a raunchy memoirist to the working-class girl on scholarship. Each story is told in a narrative, with styles ranging from a movie screenplay to a series of letters. This technique “effectively brings readers into the respective corners of [Jocelyn’s] characters,” observed a Kirkus Reviews contributor. In a Quill & Quire review of What We Hide, Nathan Whitlock stated that the author “shows an ease with the vagaries of the teenage mind and a willingness to depict some very uncomfortable situations without blinking.”
Coauthored by Richard Scrimger and featuring artwork by Claudia Davila, Jocelyn’s middle-grade tale Viminy Crowe’s Comic Book blends a straight narrative with action-packed graphic panels. While visiting a comic-book festival, geeky Wylder Wallace and plucky Addy Crowe are magically transported into the pages of a “Flynn Goster” comic, which was written by Addy’s uncle, Viminy Crowe. As the preteens attempt to return to their world, their presence in the story changes the way events play out; instead of a happy ending, they soon find themselves at the mercy of criminal mastermind Aldous Lickpenny. A “wholly imagined fantasy,” Viminy Crowe’s Comic Book “is well-fleshed-out and keeps the pages flying with its extremely clever story within a story,” observed a contributor in Kirkus Reviews.
Part of the “Secrets” series of multi-author novels, A Big Dose of Lucky offers “a fresh coming-of-age tale with an unconventional twist,” in the words of a Kirkus Reviews writer. Set in 1964, the work introduces Malou Gillis, an orphaned, mixed-race sixteen-year-old living in Ontario. On her own after a fire destroys the orphanage where she lives, Malou follows a clue and arrives at the small but racially diverse town of Parry Sound, hoping to find answers to the mystery surrounding her parentage. “Malou has a clear, clever, and strong voice, with believable emotions that hit the heart,” wrote Jane Gov in her Voice of Youth Advocates appraisal, and in Publishers Weekly a critic described A Big Dose of Lucky as an “important exploration for readers seeking their own identities.”
Jocelyn opens her middle-grade “Aggie Morton, Mystery Queen” series—a children’s-lit homage to British cloak-and-dagger author Agatha Christie—with The Body under the Piano. In 1902 twelve-year-old Aggie has a mind for the macabre and feels fit to get to the bottom of things when a corpse turns up at her dance lesson. Teaming up with young Belgian refugee Hector Perot—a stand-in for Christie’s famous fictional sleuth Hercule Poirot—Aggie overcomes the obstructions of the constables, a journalist, and even her mother as she tries to clear her favorite people of suspicion. A Kirkus Reviews writer affirmed that “myriad little touches keep this both exciting and enjoyable,” as “the protagonist makes a remarkable, cool, and likable detective.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
ALAN Review, summer, 2012, Judith A. Hayn, interview with Jocelyn.
Booklinks, March, 2005, Gwenyth Swain, review of Mable Riley: A Reliable Record of Humdrum, Peril, and Romance, p. 16.
Booklist, January 1, 1998, Hazel Rochman, review of The Invisible Day, p. 813; November 15, 1998, Ilene Cooper, review of The Invisible Harry, p. 590; July, 1999, Ilene Cooper, review of Hannah and the Seven Dresses, p. 1951; September 15, 2000, Denise Wilms, review of Hannah’s Collections, p. 236; June 1, 2002, Gillian Engberg, review of The Invisible Enemy, p. 1723; December 1, 2002, Ilene Cooper, review of A Day with Nellie, p. 675; March 1, 2004, Hazel Rochman, review of Mable Riley, p. 1201; April 1, 2004, Carolyn Phelan, review of One Some Many, p. 1366; August, 2004, Carolyn Phelan, review of Mayfly, p. 1943; March 1, 2005, Hazel Rochman, review of A Home for Foundlings, p. 1151; December 15, 2005, Jennifer Mattson, review of ABC x 3: English, Español, Français, p. 48; January 1, 2007, Heather Booth, review of How It Happened in Peach Hill, p. 104; July 1, 2008, Ilene Cooper, review of Would You, p. 65; March 1, 2009, Abby Nolan, review of Same Same, p. 53; April 15, 2011, Patricia Austin, review of Ones and Twos, p. 51; June 1, 2011, Ilene Cooper, review of Scribbling Women: True Tales from Astonishing Lives, p. 72; December 15, 2012, Ann Kelley, review of Sneaky Art: Crafty Surprises to Hide in Plain Sight, p. 44; April 15, 2014, Courtney Jones, review of What We Hide, p. 60.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, May, 2010, Elizabeth Bush, review of Folly, p. 384; April, 2014, Deborah Severson, review of What We Hide, p. 410.
Canadian Review of Materials, March 27, 1998, Mary Thomas, review of The Invisible Day; March 3, 2000, Jo-Anne Mary Benson, review of The Invisible Day; February 4, 2005, Lori Walker, review of A Home for Foundlings; December 18, 2009, Ruth Latta, review of Folly; March 28, 2014, Todd Kyle, review of Viminy Crowe’s Comic Book; September 4, 2015, Tara Stieglitz, review of A Big Dose of Lucky.
Horn Book, May-June, 2004, Anita L. Burkam, review of Mable Riley, p. 329; March-April, 2007, Betty Carter, review of How It Happened in Peach Hill, p. 194; July-August, 2008, Christine M. Heppermann, review of Would You, p. 449; May-June, 2010, Christine M. Heppermann, review of Folly, p. 82; September-October, 2011, Jennifer M. Brabander, review of Ones and Twos, p. 67; May-June, 2013, Christine M. Heppermann, review of Where Do You Look?, p. 64; March-April, 2014, Nina Lindsay, review of What We Hide, p. 121; July-August, 2017, Nell Beram, review of Sam Sorts: (One Hundred Favorite Things), p. 106.
Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2002, review of A Day with Nellie, p. 1392; February 15, 2004, review of Mable Riley, p. 180; June 15, 2004, review of One Some Many, p. 578; March 1, 2005, review of Over Under, p. 288; August 15, 2007, review of Eats; June 1, 2008, review of Would You; April 15, 2010, review of Folly; April 15, 2011, reviews of Ones and Twos and Scribbling Women; February 15, 2013, review of Sneaky Art; February 15, 2014, review of What We Hide; June 1, 2014, review of Viminy Crowe’s Comic Book; July 15, 2015, review of A Big Dose of Lucky; January 15, 2017, review of Sam Sorts; January 1, 2018, review of One Piece of String; May 15, 2019, review of One Yellow Ribbon and One Patch of Blue; December 1, 2019, review of The Body under the Piano.
Kliatt, March, 2007, Claire Rosser, review of How It Happened in Peach Hill, p. 15; May, 2007, Stephanie Squicciarini, review of Mable Riley, p. 25; July, 2008, Claire Rosser, review of Would You, p. 16.
Publishers Weekly, October 27, 1997, review of The Invisible Day, p. 76; June 21, 1999, review of Hannah and the Seven Dresses, p. 66; February 28, 2000, review of Earthly Astonishments, p. 80; February 23, 2004, review of Mable Riley, p. 77; March 19, 2007, review of How It Happened in Peach Hill, p. 64; June 2, 2008, review of Would You, p. 47; April 19, 2010, review of Folly, p. 55; February 3, 2014, review of What We Hide, p. 59; July 13, 2015, review of A Big Dose of Lucky, p. 66.
Quill & Quire, March, 2010, Gwyneth Evans, review of Which Way?; March, 2013, Micah Toub, profile of Jocelyn; April, 2013, Carrie Snyder, review of Sneaky Art; March, 2014, Nathan Whitlock, review of What We Hide.
Resource Links, June, 1998, review of The Invisible Day, p. 7; February, 1999, review of The Invisible Harry, p. 9; October, 1999, review of Hannah and the Seven Dresses, p. 4; October, 2000, review of Hannah’s Collections, pp. 2-3; April, 2002, Joanne de Groof, review of The Invisible Enemy, p. 23; April, 2004, Carolyn Cutt, review of Mayfly, p. 4; April, 2005, Gail de Vos, review of Over Under, p. 4; October, 2005, Kathyrn McNaughton, review of ABC x 3, p. 4; December, 2005, Rachel Steen, review of Secrets, p. 13; February, 2007, Claire Hazzard, review of How It Happened in Peach Hill, p. 37; October, 2007, Linda Berezowski, review of Eats, p. 5; December, 2007, Myra Junyk, review of First Times, p. 39; April, 2008, Susan Miller, reviews of Ready for Spring, Ready for Summer, Ready for Autumn, and Ready for Winter, all p. 3; February, 2010, Lorie Battershill, review of Which Way?, p. 21; April, 2013, Lara Chauvin, review of Where Do You Look?, p. 4, and Elizabeth Ford, review of Sneaky Art, p. 21; February, 2014, Patricia Jermey, review of What We Hide, p. 30; June, 2014, P. Sharon Armstrong, review of Viminy Crowe’s Comic Book, p. 9; October, 2015, Karyn Huenemann, review of A Big Dose of Lucky, p. 35; April, 2017, Catherine Bellany, review of Sam Sorts, p. 4; June, 2017, Chloe Humphreys, review of One Red Button and One Piece of String, p. 4; February, 2019, Elizabeth Brown, review of One Patch of Blue, p. 6.
School Library Journal, April, 2000, Carrie Schadle, review of Earthly Astonishments, p. 138; October, 2000, Meghan R. Malone, review of Hannah’s Collections, p. 128; May, 2002, Alison Grant, review of The Invisible Enemy, p. 154; January, 2003, Be Astengo, review of A Day with Nellie, p. 97; March, 2004, Kimberly Monaghan, review of Mable Riley, p. 213; May, 2004, Shelley B. Sutherland, review of Mayfly, p. 116; June, 2004, Rachel G. Payne, review of One Some Many, p. 128; October, 2005, Mary Hazelton, review of ABC x 3, p. 116; February, 2006, Alison Grant, review of Secrets, p. 132; April, 2007, Kim Dare, review of How It Happened in Peach Hill, p. 138; November, 2007, Robyn Zaneski, review of First Times, p. 126; December, 2007, Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, review of Eats, p. 92; July, 2008, Amelia Jenkins, reviews of Ready for Spring, Ready for Summer, Ready for Autumn, and Ready for Winter, all p. 76, and Heather E. Miller, review of Would You, p. 100; July, 2010, Wendy Scalfaro, review of Folly, p. 91; May, 2011, Anne Beier, review of Ones and Twos, p. 98; August, 2011, Jess deCourcy Hinds, review of Scribbling Women, p. 129; March, 2013, Carol S. Surges, review of Sneaky Art, p. 140; April, 2013, Mary Elam, review of Where Do You Look?, p. 150; May, 2014, Leah Krippner, review of What We Hide, p. 132; October, 2014, Elly Schook, review of Viminy Crowe’s Comic Book, p. 105; November, 2015, Jodeana Kruse, review of A Big Dose of Lucky, p. 116.
Teaching Children Mathematics, March, 2000, Betsy J. Liebmann, review of Hannah and the Seven Dresses, p. 470.
Voice of Youth Advocates, June, 2005, review of A Home for Foundlings, p. 159; October, 2010, Ria Newhouse, review of Folly, p. 353; June, 2011, Judith A. Hayn, review of Scribbling Women, p. 200; June, 2014, Valerie Burleigh, review of What We Hide, p. 59; October, 2015, Jane Gov, review of A Big Dose of Lucky, p. 53.
ONLINE
Marthe Jocelyn website, http://www.marthejocelyn.com (January 17, 2020).
Penguin Random House website, http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/ (November 1, 2016), autobiographical essay by Jocelyn.
Writers’ Trust of Canada website, https://www.writerstrust.com/ (January 17, 2020), author profile.*
MJ by Manzo B&W.jpg
I was born in Toronto a long time ago. When I was a kid, I made strange puppets and little creatures and clothes for my dolls. When I grew up, I made little puppets and strange creatures and clothes for my children, as well as collage pictures and stories that eventually became books. I used scissors for all these things. I named my art studio Scissorhouse.
When I got older, I moved from Canada to live in New York City. I had a couple of children and told them stories. We imagined adventures that kids might have in the big, busy city and anywhere else. Eventually I began to write the stories down, and sometimes make pictures to go along with them.
Now I live in Canada again. My daughters live in New York City.
All of us still write stories and make pictures.
I was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1956.
When I was a kid, I loved books and going to the theatre. With my brothers and sister, I performed many plays and circuses in the backyard.
I went to high school in Toronto, but decided to work instead of going to college. I had lots of different jobs before becoming a writer, including a theatre usher, a cookie seller, a waitress, a sailor, a photo stylist and a toy designer. I had my own company, called Jesse Design, for fifteen years.
I lived in New York City for thirty years, but am now back in Canada, in Stratford, Ontario, where my parents grew up.
I have two daughters named Hannah and Nell.
Lois Lenski
Favourite Childhood Books
ELOISE IN MOSCOW
by Kay Thompson
THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE
(and everything else) by Joan Aiken
HALF MAGIC
by Edward Eager
MINNOW ON THE SAY
Phillipa Pearce
MISS MASHAM'S REPOSE
by T.H. White
Favourite Illustrators
Edward Ardizzone
Isabelle Arsenault
Jean de Brunhoff
Elisa Klevin
Hilary Knight
Lois Lenski
Julie Morstad
Julia Noonan
Tom Slaughter
Melissa Sweet
Answers to the most FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COLOR?
Usually blue
DO YOU HAVE A PET?
Not any more...
DO YOU MAKE A LOT OF MONEY?
No
WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR IDEAS?
I find them in the street.
Often when eavesdropping.
Sometimes when I think, 'what if...'
Ideas fly around like dust motes... the tricky part is catching one and turning into words.
HOW MANY BOOKS HAVE YOU PUBLISHED?
More than forty
WHICH ONE OF YOUR BOOKS IS YOUR FAVORITE?
That is a hard question because the answer is always changing. My favorite is usually the one that I've just finished and that you haven't seen because it isn't published quite yet.
DO YOU HAVE A COLLECTION?
I collect lots of things; buttons, little toys, dolls' clothes and old children's books.
WHAT'S THE HARDEST PART OF BEING A WRITER?
Being alone alot of the time and wondering if what I'm writing will EVER appeal to ANYBODY.
WHAT'S THE BEST PART OF BEING A WRITER?
Being alone alot of the time and going to work in the hammock, wearing my pajamas.
ARE YOU RICH?
No
HOW DO YOU MAKE THE SAME PICTURES OVER AND OVER TO PUT IN YOUR BOOKS?
I only have to make the pictures once. Then the pictures are photographed or scanned and can be printed enough times to make thousands of books.
HOW MUCH MONEY DO YOU MAKE?
Let me put it this way. If you buy a paperback copy of one of my books for, say, five dollars. I get what is called a royalty of 6 percent of what you pay. That means when you spend five dollars, I get 30 cents. So, I'm very happy that you bought my book, but everyone in the school will have to buy a book before I can pay for lunch.
IS OUR SCHOOL THE BEST YOU EVER VISITED?
Yes.
Marthe Jocelyn
Marthe Jocelyn is an award-winning author and illustrator who worked for many years as a toy designer before turning her hand to writing. Her picture book, "Hannah s Collections," was shortlisted for a Governor General s Literary Award for illustration. She has written five novels for older readers and five picture books.
Tom Slaughter s art has been exhibited in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Japan. His prints are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum.
Awards: Edgar (2023) see all
Genres: Children's Fiction, Young Adult Fantasy, Young Adult Romance
Series
Invisible
The Invisible Day (1997)
The Invisible Harry (1997)
The Invisible Enemy (2002)
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Aggie Morton, Mystery Queen
1. The Body Under the Piano (2020)
2. Peril at Owl Park (2020)
3. The Dead Man in the Garden (2021)
4. The Seaside Corpse (2022)
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Novels
Earthly Astonishments (2000)
Mable Riley (2004)
How It Happened in Peach Hill (2007)
Would You (2008)
Folly (2010)
What We Hide (2014)
Viminy Crowe's Comic Book (2017) (with Richard Scrimger)
One Kiss (2025)
Anthologies edited
Secrets (2005)
First Times (2007)
Marthe Jocelyn
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marthe Jocelyn
Born 1956 (age 68–69)
Toronto, Canada
Notable awards
TD Canadian Children's Literature Award (2005)
Vicky Metcalf Award (2009)
Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Juvenile (2023)
Spouse Tom Slaughter
Children 2
Website
marthejocelyn.com
Marthe Jocelyn (born 1956)[1] is a Canadian writer of over forty children's books.[2][3] In 2009, she received the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People, an honour bestowed by the Writers' Trust of Canada to a writer or illustrator whose body of work has been "inspirational to Canadian youth".[4][5]
Biography
Jocelyn was born in 1956 in Toronto and was raised in Stratford, Ontario.[1] As a teenager, she attended a boarding school in Great Britain. After living in various areas, she settled in New York City,[1] where she lived for thirty years before returning to Stratford.[6]
She is married to Tom Slaughter and has two daughters: Hannah and Nell.[1] Tom and Nell have contributed illustrations to a number of her children's books.
Aside from writing, Jocelyn owned Jesse Design, a "toy and clothing design firm", for fifteen years.[1]
Awards and honors
In 2009, Jocelyn received the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People,[5][7] an honour bestowed by the Writers' Trust of Canada to a writer or illustrator whose body of work has been "inspirational to Canadian youth".[4]
Five of Jocelyn's books are Junior Library Guild selections: Earthly Astonishments (2000),[8] Mable Riley (2004),[9] Folly (2010),[10] The Body under the Piano (2020),[11] and Peril at Owl Park (2021).[12] Two of her books have been included on USBBY's Outstanding International Books List: Would You (2009)[13] and Sam Sorts (2018).[14]
In 2007, the Toronto Public Library included Eats on their "list of the top 10 books of 2007 for children under the age of five".[15] The same year, School Library Journal named How It Happened in Peach Hill one of the best children's books of the year.[16]
Folly was named one of the Kirkus Reviews' best books for teens in 2010, and Bank Street College of Education included it on their 2011 list of the best Historical Fiction for Children Ages 14+.[10]
Awards for Jocelyn's writing
Year Title Award Result Ref.
2000 Hannah's Collections Governor General's Award for English-language children's illustration Finalist
2005 Mable Riley ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection [17]
TD Canadian Children's Literature Award Winner [18][19][20]
2008 How It Happened in Peach Hill ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection [21][22]
ALSC Notable Children's Books Selection [23]
2010 Which Way? INDIES Award for Picture Books (Children's) Finalist [24]
2011 Scribbling Women INDIES Award for Young Adult Nonfiction (Children's) Finalist [25]
2012 Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children's Non-fiction Finalist [26]
2014 Where Do You Look? Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award Finalist [27]
2015 What We Hide Amy Mathers Teen Book Award Winner [28][29]
2022 The Dead Man in the Garden Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Juvenile Finalist [30]
2023 The Seaside Corpse Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence for Best Juvenile or Young Adult Crime Book Shortlist [31]
Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Juvenile Winner [32][33]
Selected texts
Standalone books
Earthly Astonishments (2000)
Hannah's Collections (2000)
A Day with Nellie (2002)
Mable Riley: A Reliable Record of Humdrum, Peril, and Romance (2004)
One Some Many, illustrated by Tom Slaughter (2004)
Over Under, illustrated by Tom Slaughter (2005)
ABC x 3, illustrated by Tom Slaughter (2005)
How It Happened in Peach Hill (2007)
Eats, illustrated by Tom Slaughter (2007)
Ready for Summer (2008)
Would You (2008)
Same Same, illustrated by Tom Slaughter (2009)
Folly (2010)
Scribbling Women (2011)
Ones and Twos, illustrated by Nell Jocelyn (2011)
What We Hide (2014)
Viminy Crowe's Comic Book, with Richard Scrimger, illustrated by Claudia Dávila (2014)
Aggie Morton, Mystery Queen series
The Aggie Morton books are illustrated by Isabelle Follath.
The Body Under the Piano (2020)
Peril at Owl Park (2020)
The Dead Man in the Garden (2021)
The Seaside Corpse (2022)
Q&A with One Kiss author Marthe Jocelyn
Author Interviews April 23, 2025
One Kiss
In Marthe Jocelyn’s new accessible novel for teens, sixteen-year-old Maya’s life is thrown off-balance when the rock-star father of her best friend kisses her in the back of a limo. Hear from the author on what inspired her to write this story.
What inspired you to write One Kiss?
This story is a mash-up of personal and friend-shared experiences. I know lots of young women, and was one myself a long time ago. Not much has changed. Who doesn’t have a tale or two about awkward, awful, sometimes tantalizing moments gone wrong? The difference for teens today is that they are more likely to speak up for themselves, to tell someone, and get support when needed.
This is your first hi-lo novel. How did the process of writing One Kiss differ from your other books?
I wrote this book while I had a back injury, writing by hand on a clipboard as I lay almost flat. I’d had the idea for a couple of years, and now had the chance to make it real. The narrative unfolds mostly in episodes, because I could only work in short sessions. The first draft was just telling the story. In revision, I paid more attention to who the readers might be. I trimmed sentence-length for pacing and tried to make the dialogue both real and lively. Friends speak in shorthand, which is a useful tool for hi-lo characters.
This book has some difficult (but important!) themes. Are there any specific messages you want to highlight?
I generally avoid messages in my books. I like to think that each reader takes in different moments of value. That said, I do believe that being a trusted friend, and having a trusted friend, are two key aspirations—all the more important when trouble comes knocking. The trouble, in this case, is ugly-disguised-as-cool-and-exciting, which is sometimes a tricky thing to identify or to challenge—and that’s where friends come in. Secrets make for great reading, but can be harmful in real life.
What do you hope readers take away from the book?
I hope One Kiss prompts conversation among friends and family members. Not everyone knows a pervy celebrity, but very nearly everyone—from grandmothers and teachers to classmates and cousins—has had an unwanted kiss. Why not dilute the shame or embarrassment by turning it into a story?
What’s next for you? Any new projects in the works?
I’m in the middle of a middle-grade novel that involves time travel, dystopia, and a TV show being filmed in an urban alleyway. Very complicated! And I have written another hi-lo novel, called Snoop, which is awaiting final revisions and will also be published by Orca.
Marthe Jocelyn is the award-winning author and illustrator of over fifty books for babies, kids and teens. Her illustrated books have been shortlisted for both the Governor General’s Literary Award and the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award. In 2009 she was the recipient of the prestigious Vicky Metcalf Award for her body of work. She now lives in Stratford, Ontario with not enough bookshelves.
Jocelyn, Marthe ONE KISS Orca (Teen None) $10.95 4, 15 ISBN: 9781459840898
The kiss was inappropriate, exciting, and confusing, but it's not what went viral.
Best friends since kindergarten, Maya Delaney and Plum Kenner are both 16 and daughters of single moms. Plum's dad, Ross, is a world-famous rock star; Maya's most definitely isn't that glamorous. Maya has rarely seen her father since he left when she was 12, and Ross occasionally flies Plum to visit him in Berlin. When his band arrives in Toronto to record an album, Ross tells Plum to bring Maya along to dinners with his entourage on successive nights. It's a heady experience--the fans lining the sidewalk, phones out, angling for a glimpse of Ross. Maya enjoys the lavish restaurant setting, abundant prosecco, and Ross' flattering attention until, when he's seeing her home in his limo, he kisses her. Initially thrilled, then alarmed, Maya draws back but lets him walk her to her door and steady her when she trips. When a photo capturing that moment of contact circulates on social media before she can explain to Plum, Maya feels desperate. Is Ross a predator or merely irresponsible? Sorting out what happened, how she feels, and what to do will take time. The straightforward syntax, compelling topic, and appealing, relatable characters make this a strong choice for reluctant readers. Maya and Ross present white, and a reference to Plum's Indonesian grandmother cues her as biracial.
A compact, accessible, and timely conversation starter. (resources)(Fiction. 12-18)
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"Jocelyn, Marthe: ONE KISS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Apr. 2025. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A835106521/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=fb70d1c6. Accessed 3 Nov. 2025.