2022/2023 Hatmatack Awards – Authors' Booking Service

Gentile, Leslie (Brentwood Bay, BC)

Virtual and local in person visit rates: $300 for 45-60 minutes.

Leslie’s debut middle grade novel Elvis, Me and The Lemonade Stand Summer won the Victoria Children’s Book Prize, The Jean Little First-Novel Award, and has been shortlisted for ten other awards, including The Washington State Library Award 2025.

Her second novel, Shamus The Urban Rez Dog, P.I. was released in September 2023, and has been shortlisted for the Victoria Children’s Book Prize 2024, The Chocolate Lily Award 2025, and the Langley School District Book of the Year 2025.

Her third book, Elvis, Me & The Postcard Winter, is available as of November 2024.

Leslie is an engaging speaker who very comfortable working with children of all ages. As a musician, she has written songs to accompany each of her books and performs these songs with her readings, which makes for a fun & dynamic visit.

The Elvis series is an excellent choice for Pink Shirt Day, as themes touch on bullying, racism, and family.

With Lemonade Stand, Leslie will lead students through an exercise on kindness and unkindness, and empowering choices we can make.

With Postcard Winter, Truly’s story continues. Leslie will lead students through an exercise on bullying, and what each of us can do in small ways to be allies and good friends.

And always, there’s music!

Shamus the Urban Rez Dog, P.I. is a fun-filled detective story with a twist – it’s told by an urban rez dog, trying desperately to fit into townhouse life while helping his kids solve a mystery to get their mom out of trouble. We learn Shamus’ views on racism and the world around him, and readings and songs such as “It’s a Dog’s Life’ and “Bad Dog Blues”.

Leslie also offers a workshop on writing and getting published for young writers and adults called “Weird Things I Do To Write That Work!” This includes road-tested tricks for developing strong characters, overcoming writer’s block, and some great tips for getting published.

All of these presentations and visits work equally well virtually and in person, and the larger the group the better! Leslie’s record is 420 students so far…

Leslie lives in Brentwood Bay with her husband Dan and her German Shepherd who is convinced he’s a lap dog. Though not connected with a specific nation, Leslie is of Salish, Tuscarora and Scottish heritage and lives on Vancouver Island the traditional territory of the W̱SÁNEĆ people.

Contact Leslie to book a visit:

Sherrard, Valerie (Miramichi NB)

GG nominated, award-winning author. Valerie Sherrard has been named the 2024 Literary Arts Laureate of the New Brunswick Lieutenant Governor’s Award for High Achievement in the Arts.

Virtual Visit: $125.00 for a 45-60 minute presentation.

In school visits: $250 for a single presentation or $400 for two. No additional costs within the GTA – travel may apply beyond that parameter. Please contact Valerie to find out when she plans to be in Ontario.

Valerie is an experienced presenter who uses humour and an interactive style to engage her audience. Feedback from her school and library visits has been enthusiastic.

Presentations: Grades 4 – 8. Signed mementos will be provided for all students at in-person presentations.

Middle Grades/ Young Adult: Engaging and interactive presentation with personal sharing and a focus on literacy as well as issues related to specific titles (as requested). Valerie ends with a short reading and about 10 minutes for Q & A.

Valerie is flexible on audience size but in her experience, groups of 100 or less result in the greatest benefit to students. She is comfortable in all settings, including classroom, library, auditorium or gymnasium.

A sound system may be required depending on audience size and acoustics.

Titles shown above, in brief:

Absolutely No Body Parts: The Gross Busters team, Nick, Khenan, and their eleven-year-old helper Florrie are raking in cash doing icky jobs other people have been avoiding. But when they uncover a secret that shocks the whole town, it stirs up a bigger mess than any of them could’ve expected.

A Bend in the Breeze: An uncharted island, a village’s fate, a mysterious storm, and a small, bewildered visitor. Could Pascale Chardon be the Long Awaited, foretold in island legend? Has she come to decide the island’s destiny?

Birdspell: Corbin’s mom has an illness that causes lost jobs, constant moves, new schools and friendships that never grow. Then a talking bird brings a chance to fill the gap in his life. But when things spiral out of control, Corbin is forced to do the one thing he fears the most.

Random Acts: Good deeds gone hilariously wrong.

More than Words: Non-fiction. Your students will love the fun approach and activities in this comprehensive guide to communication.

Driftwood: A summer full of quirky characters, youthful adventures, and mysterious tales of driftwood.

Contact Valerie to book a visit:

Torres, J (Whitby, ON)

Award-winning Filipino Canadian writer of comic books and graphic novels. Member of Writer’s Union of Canada, Canadian Children’s Book Centre, and Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators, and Performers. Middle grades.

Rates are $350 for one session, $650 for two, $950 for three, plus mileage. Classroom or library setting preferred over gymnasium or auditorium. Limit of 50 students per session (negotiable). Projector and laptop required for slideshow presentation.

Virtual rates: $200 for one session, $300 for two (within the same week).

Best suited for grades 4 to 6, each session is approximately 45-60 minutes consisting of a brief intro, a reading (excerpt or short comic story), presentation on how graphic novels are made, and a Q&A at the end. Book sales and signings available upon request.

J. has written for all the major North American comic book publishers including Archie, Dark Horse, DC, Image, and Marvel. He has also been published by Kids Can Press, Owlkids, Scholastic, and Tundra . He currently writes the Chirp comic in Chirp Magazine and the Adventure Comics motion comics for the DC Kids YouTube Channel. His graphic novels include Alison Dare (Eisner Award Nominee), Bigfoot Boy (Junior Library Guild Selection), Brobots (Kids Read Comics Award and Parents’ Choice Award), How to Spot a Sasquatch (Junior Library Guild Selection) , Lola: A Ghost Story (Aesop’s Accolade), Planet Hockey (Forest of Reading Honor Book), and Stealing Home (Forest of Reading Honor Book, Hackmatack Award Winner, nominated for Red Cedar, Bilson Award, and Sakura Medal).