Kristin Butcher would love to plan a visit to schools or libraries within driving distance of Toronto.  Her rate is $250 (plus HST) per session. A full day (3 sessions) is $650 (plus HST). For travel outside the greater Toronto area, standard kilometre rates apply.  

A former teacher, Kristin has been writing full-time since 1997 and currently has seventeen published works, with another scheduled for 2011. Her books are aimed at audiences from seven to eighteen and include fiction as well as non-fiction. In addition to writing, Kristin enjoys visiting classrooms/libraries and offering writing workshops for children and adults. 

Kristin is a member of the Writers' Union of Canada, and so schools or libraries wishing to invite her may be eligible for a travel and fee subsidy to offset the cost of her visit. Contact us for details of this program. 

Brian Russell, Librarian at Royal Oak Middle School in Victoria says,   

      “Kristin’s joy of writing comes through in her presentations. I believe budding writers are able to relate to her descriptions of why she loves to write and how that motivation has been with her since she was a youngster… I have no hesitation in saying that, when choosing a guest author to make a presentation to your group, Kristin Butcher is a wise choice, a strong presenter, and a speaker with a powerful message to share.”  

Lynn Johnson at St. John Bosco School says,  

      “On behalf of the staff and students, please accept our thanks and appreciation for your terrific presentations. Already I have over 7 holds on each title of your books!... The students have expressed their enthusiasm for you, your work and the diversity of the writings. The 'visuals' made quite an impact as well, and clarified some confusion as to the writing process translating ideas into words. Overall, you made them realize that writers are real people with real concerns that everyone can identify with.”

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Published Works

The Runaways (1997) 

Nominated for the 1998 Silver Birch Award 

Canadian Children’s Book Centre Our Choice 1998 selection  

The Gramma War (2001) 

Nominated for the 2004 Red Cedar Award 

Winner of the 2003 Chocolate Lily Award (3rd place) 

2002 OLA Best Bet Book 

Canadian Children’s Book Centre Our Choice 2002 selection 

Canadian Library Association’s Book of the Year Notable in 2002 

Nominated for the 2002 IODE Violet Downey Book for Children  

Cairo Kelly and the Mann (2002) 

Nominated for the 2004 Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award 

Nominated for the 2004 Chocolate Lily Award 

Nominated for the 2003 Canadian Library Association’s Children's Book of the Year Award 

Canadian Children’s Book Centre Our Choice 2003 selection 

2003 OLA Best Bet Book  

The Hemingway Tradition (2002) 

Canadian Children’s Book Centre Our Choice 2003 selection 

Selected for Resource Links’  List of Best Books of 2003 

Named to the 2002 PSLA YA Top Forty Fiction Titles  

The Trouble with Liberty (2003) 

Canadian Children’s Book Centre Our Choice 2004 selection  

Zee's' Way (2004) 

Winner of the 2006 Chocolate Lily Award 

Nominated for the 2005 American Library Association’s Quick Picks 

Nominated for the 2005 Sunshine State Young Reader's Award 

Named to the 2004-2005 PSLA YA Top Forty Fiction List  

Chat Room (2006) 

Named to the 2006 (VOYA) Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School Readers list. 

Selected for Resource Links’  List of Best Books of 2006 

Canadian Children’s Book Centre Our Choice 2007 selection   

Zach & Zoe and the Bank Robber (2008) 

Canadian Children's Book Centre Best Books List 2009  

Diamond Willow Award nominee 2011 

Red Cedar Award nominee 2011 

Zach & Zoe Bully and the Beagle (2009)  

Chocolate Lily Award nominee 2011 

Return to Bone Tree Hill (2009)  

OLA 2009 Best Bets Book for Teens 

2010 Sheila Egoff Award Finalist 

2011 MYRCA Finalist 

Pharaohs and Foot Soldiers: One Hundred Ancient Egyptian Jobs You Might Have Desired or Dreaded (2009)  

2010 Silver Birch Nominee 

Resource Links Best Books List/2009 

OLA Best Bets List/2009 

Children's Literature Roundtable Information Book Award nominee 

VOYA Non-fiction Honor List 2009 

CCBC 2010 Best Books for Kids & Teens (starred selection) 

The Last Superhero (2010) 

Cheat (2010)

Kristin's Presentations

Kristin Butcher offers a general talk on the writing process, as well as specialized presentations,  focusing on different books and targeting different age groups.  

For example: Pharaohs and Foot Soldiers takes readers from ages 9 to 12 on a walking tour through the daily lives of ancient Egyptians. The book describes 100 of the jobs people of the time might have done to earn their daily bread – literally. After all, they were generally paid in grain.  

In her presentation, Kristin dramatizes some of these jobs with the help of a mummy, an embalmer, death masks and coffins, brain extractors, and other interesting items from ancient Egypt. Kids are enchanted, AND they learn lots of interesting stuff too.   

Return to Bone Tree Hill is a murder mystery for readers 12 and up that evolved from a recurring dream – make that a nightmare – that Kristin has had several times during her life. The dream forms the first chapter of the novel, and after reading it to students, Kristin escorts her audience through the tunnels of her mind to help them see how a writer crafts a mystery. Without giving away the story, Kristin shares some of the places her ideas came from and invites students to plot the mystery themselves.  

Audience size: 30 - 90 (Smaller groups allow for a more intimate presentation.)  

Workshops available for grades 4 through to adult.    

Maximum number of participants per workshop: 25 for children; 45 for adults   

Venues: classroom, library, theatre (no gymnasiums if possible, please)

Equipment and other requirements:  table, overhead projector