Authors’ Booking Service is pleased to announce that young-adult author René Schmidt of Brighton ON is now scheduling visits to Ontario schools for the coming school year.   

René will be in the GTA from May 10 to 14.

He likes driving (within reason) and enjoys meeting with students of all ages. He would welcome a visit to your school or library at a rate of $275 for one session, $500 for two, $700 for three and $900 for four. There is no travel charge for sessions in the GTA during the week of the Tree awards. Standard kilometrage applies to other times and locations.

Rene is a member of The Writers' Union of Canada, and so schools wishing to invite him may be eligible for a travel and fee subsidy by the OAC Writers-in-the-Schools Program to offset the cost of his visit. Contact us for details of this program. 

Here is what Geoff Said, Teacher at College Street P.S. in Trenton has to say about René’s presentation:

René  kicked off our Education Week celebrations by presenting to an assembly of our Junior and Intermediate students. He had pictures to project on our screen and he dressed one of our students in his old mining equipment to talk about child mine laborers in the 1900’s. René effectively combined readings and stories from his Canadian Disasters books. He talked about adventurous jobs and travel he has done before he taught school. You could hear a pin drop. René also did readings from his new novel, Leaving Fletchville, as well as reading more disaster stories during classroom visits.  He spoke about writing fiction and non-fiction books. René brought Leaving Fletchville bookmarks for the students and he spent time answering questions and signing books. Students from Mrs. Sinclair’s class wrote to him and he answered, including two unpublished pages from a novel he is working on. As soon as he was done students and teachers alike began discussing getting a return visit from him.  I would recommend René Schmidt to any school. 

Here is what reviewers have said about Leaving Fletchville:

CBC Radio's All Points West - December 11, 2008  "Tremendous fun to read... truly heartwarming."   

School Library Journal - February 1, 2009   The author's simple, unadorned style makes it a good choice for reluctant readers."   

VOYA - February 1, 2009  "In his funny and touching novel, Schmidt thoughtfully crafts characters to whom readers will relate.  

The Bookmark (BCTLA) - February 1, 2009  "A rewarding story ….Highly recommended."

 

__________________________________________________________________

Published Works

BOOKS

Leaving Fletchville  Orca Book Publishers 2008,  (Young Adult Fiction)

Canadian Disasters   Scholastic Canada, 2006, (42 Stories)  Non-Fiction

Disaster!   Scholastic Canada Ltd. 1999, 2000  (36 stories)  Young Adult Non-Fiction 

Canadian Disasters  Scholastic Canada 1985, 1986,  (28  stories)  Non-fiction)

ARTICLES

Less is More – A Family Holiday to Remember  Pgs 97-101 Family & Parenting Featured Article,  Canadian Living Magazine. August 2003 (René tells of journeying with his sons all the way through the Trent Severn waterway in a tiny 12 foot boat.) 

Disorganized Sports Family section article pgs. 129-130, March 2001  

Canadian Living Magazine  (René describes some hilarious games he and his sons played in the basement after supper every day)  

various articles  THE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY  Official Bulletin of design and Technology Teachers of Ontario,   ISSN 08455163 

My First Summer   Existere Magazine  Literary Magazine of Vanier College, York University, Feb. 1981

Presentation Details:

My presentations are flexible. As a retired teacher with 27 years in the classroom I understand you may want a specific emphasis, theme or format and if you let me know beforehand I can adjust my readings/presentation accordingly. I also change ‘on the fly’ if necessary. That keeps things exciting. I can present to a large assembly or to various small groups in a classroom or library, or both. (Is there coffee? That matters.) 

My books cover a broad range of interests and topics in both Fiction and Non-Fiction genres. Considering a theme approach I can focus on disasters (natural and man-made) heroes, bullying, racism, industrial diseases, child labour, fatherhood, Fletchville (an interactive Intermediate math program which really works well), Christian themes in literature, writing as a career, writing with reluctant readers, and teachers as authors. My target audience for presentations is Junior and Intermediate students and their teachers.

I can bring props such as my old mining equipment, book-marks, evidence of writing process (such as eleven re-writes of the same story), Fletchville lesson plans, galley proofs, and original photos from my disaster books.

If you have a smart board or data projector I can bring a file done on Corel Presentations 12.  Overhead projectors are fine too…

I can present to grades 4 to 12 and welcome students of all abilities. Please have at least one teacher present per class.

Maximum participants for presentations: 100