Tag: Virtual Visits

Crawley, Oksanna (Brampton, ON)

OKSANNA CRAWLEY writes in several genres for kids with humour and heart. Her debut chapter book is Katie Crumble and the Case of the Missing Underwear published by Plumleaf Press. Coming soon from Fitzhenry and Whiteside/Sutherland House is Tom Thomson’s Paintbrush, an informational text about one of Canada’s greatest painters. She co-wrote and co-illustrated the picture book, Pirate Glitterbeard, with her daughter, Larissa. Oksanna has also written and illustrated over 30 early readers—the Super Hammy series—from Blueberry Hill Books of Manitoba. She is a retired teacher and former radio journalist. Born in Val d’Or, Québec, Oksanna lives in Kincardine, Ontario with her family.  SCBWI, TWUC, CANSCAIP

Virtual presentation (30 minutes or 1 hour) $100.00

In-person presentation (1- 2 hours)  $250.00 

Katie Crumble and the Case of the Missing Underwear is featured on the CBC Spring Reading List 2025, and on the Telling Tales 2025 Reading List.

Oksanna is the co-author and illustrator of the picture book, PIRATE GLITTERBEARD, published by Rebel Mountain Press.

“My class giggled with delight as I read this book to them. They loved the whimsical characters and the vibrant pictures. Pirate Glitterbeard breaks down all the stereotypes of how a pirate should act and look. This book should definitely be on the shelves of EVERY classroom. Highly recommended.” ~Karen Williams teacher/librarian

Oksanna has also written a non-fiction book for children about her favourite Canadian artist, Tom Thomson, which will be published in 2024 by Fitzhenry and Whiteside.

A series of over 30 books for early readers, SUPER HAMMY’S ADVENTURES, which she wrote and illustrated is available from Blueberry Hill Books.

Oksanna is a retired teacher and would be happy to tailor her presentation to the needs of your students. She loves to talk about how a book comes to life from idea to final product, how to approach illustrating a picture book from thumbnail sketch to final illustration, how to construct or plot a story, how to write a non-fiction book, etc.

School Presentations include a PowerPoint presentation

Contact Oksanna to book a visit:

    McLellan, Stephanie Simpson (Newmarket, ON)

    Writers Union Member. English. Fiction (Picture Book and Mid Grade), Mr. Christie Award winner, Ruth Schwartz Award Winner, 2022 Blue Spruce Award Honour Book. Grades K-4 and Grades 5-8.

    In-Person Visits: $300 plus HST for 1 session, $500 for 2, $750 for 3 and $1000 for 4, + travel (50 cents per kilometre, round-trip for SW ON).

    Stephanie is the award-winning author of six picture books books, a mid-grade novel and a unique picture book-first reader hybrid. She reviewed children’s books for twelve years for Today’s Parent magazine (for which she got to interview the legendary Maurice Sendak!), operated an online bookstore for a few years called Neverending Stories, and wrote several scripts for the gemini-nominated children’s television series Roll Play (on Treehouse).

    Her books have won and been shortlisted for several awards (Mr. Christie Award, Ruth Schwartz Award, Chocolate Lily Award, CNIB Tiny Torgi Award, Crystal Kite Award and Blue Spruce Award) and have received starred and recommended reviews from Kirkus, CCBC, CBC Books, Quill & Quire, School Library Journal, Resource Links, TVO Kids, Chickadee Magazine, The Globe & Mail, Toronto Star, National Post, City Parent, CanLit for Little Canadians and CM Magazine.

    A passionate promoter of literacy, Stephanie has toured twice for TD Canadian Children’s Book Week: to Labrador in 2014 and Northwest Territories in 2018. Surrounding the release of her 2017 picture book, The Christmas Wind, Stephanie worked with almost 1,700 primary students in every province and territory of Canada (plus one school in Australia) on a unique literacy initiative that resulted in over 13,000 student drawings of her characters Jo, Murdock and the wind. Widely profiled by CBC, The Christmas Wind Story Project involved the Canadian Children’s Book Centre in the spring of 2016 and was a top 10 finalist in the 2016 CST Inspired Minds Learning Project Contest.

    Presentation Description

    During Stephanie’s school presentations for grades K-4, she encourages children to look for and understand their own creativity by sharing the stories behind her stories, how these stories/ideas turn into books, and what it’s like to write for a living. Specifically, she has four goals with each school presentation:

    • To entertain students with a dramatic reading of her books so they will come to know and care about her characters and about the value of story
    • To stir the writer/creator inside each student by sharing the stories behind her stories, thus empowering them to see the connection between their own lives and their own potential works of art
    • To create a natural bridge to relevant, valuable and interesting learning (e.g.Hoogie in the Middle – a simile exercise; Leon’s Song – a mini science quiz on how frogs survive the winter)
    • To give students a sense of what goes into the creation of a book (the illustrator, the publisher, the ideas) and what it’s like to write for a living 

    For grades 5-8, Stephanie will focus on her mid grade novel Sully, Messed Up to explore themes of self-esteem, identity, life choices, social-emotional learning and bullying.

    Ahead of each school visit Stephanie creates a school specific page on her website to help teachers and students prepare for her visit.

    Maximum group size: 50-60 for optimum interaction 

    Equipment required: a table, an easel (for presentation boards), water, microphone for larger groups or in the gym.

    Contact Stephanie to book a visit:

      Cohen, Tziporah (Toronto, ON)

      Tziporah Cohen

      Tziporah Cohen. Toronto, Ontario. Writers’ Union Member. English. Grades SK-3 (picture book presentations), Grade 4-8 (novel presentations).

      Virtual rates: $200 per session (45-60 min). In-person rates: $275 for one session (45-60 minutes), $200 each for additional visits up to four. Full day visits can include eating lunch with small group of interested older students. Kindergarten visits can be split into two 25 min visits with different classes. No travel costs within City of Toronto; GTA (excluding City of Toronto) $25 per 30 min car travel, rounded up. 

      Tziporah is the author of three picture books:  ON THE CORNER OF CHOCOLATE AVENUE: HOW MILTON HERSHEY BROUGHT MILK CHOCOLATE TO AMERICA (December 2022), the award-winning wordless picture book AFIKOMEN (March 2023) and CITY BEET (March 2023). She is also the author of the award-winning middle grade novel, NO VACANCY, published in September 2020.

      Middle Grade Novel Presentations

      • Author’s Journey: How do you go from writer to author? Learn the origin story of NO VACANCY and all the steps from beginning to publication: from idea to first draft and revisions, to acquisition, editing and copy editing, cover design and book-on-the-shelf! Includes photos from the entire process and reading of a chapter from the book. (60 minutes, Grades 4-7, in-person or virtual)
      • Revision, Revision, Revision! What are the steps in going from first draft to finished story? Get an inside view on the author’s revisions of NO VACANCY, both before and after acquisition by the publisher. Includes specific examples of revision strategies (using strong verbs; show, don’t tell; adding detail; use of outlines and calendars; eliminating writing quirks, etc) with photos of manuscript. Includes reading of a chapter of the book. This presentation works best if students have read the book, but not required. (60 minutes, Grades 4-7, in person or virtual)

      Picture Book Presentations

      • Let’s Talk About Chocolate! Where does chocolate come from? Learn about where and how cacao beans grow and how they are turned into the chocolate we all love, followed by a reading ON THE CORNER OF CHOCOLATE AVENUE: HOW MILTON HERSHEY BROUGHT MILK CHOCOLATE TO AMERICA. (45 minutes, Grades JK-2, in person or virtual)
      • How Do Picture Books Get Made? Using ON THE CORNER OF CHOCOLATE AVENUE or CITY BEET, we’ll talk about how a picture book gets made, from idea to research, first draft to revision, illustration to printing, plus the various people involved in the process, including the writer and illustrator, editor, book designer, publicist and more.  Includes a reading of either book and Q&A time. (45 minutes, Grades 1-3, can be combined with Let’s Talk About Chocolate for total of 60 minutes, in-person or virtual)
      • Let’s Make a Picture Book Workshop! Why are picture books always 32 or 40 pages in length? What is the author’s job and what is the illustrator’s? Who decides if the characters will be people or animals? We’ll answer these questions and more and then, using one of the author’s manuscripts, the students will illustrate the words and put them together to make their own picture book for the classroom library. Includes a reading of any of author’s picture books. (45-60 minutes, Grades 3-4, in-person only)

      Size limits: 100 for virtual presentations, 30 for in-person visits (60 for Reading/Q&A)

      Equipment: For virtual visits, Skype or school Zoom account. For in-person visits, laptop with Powerpoint, (can bring own laptop if it can be connected to school projector, otherwise will bring USB stick), projector and screen for Power Point presentation, table, microphone if space larger than classroom, glass of water. Teacher or librarian must be present for all presentations, virtual or in-person.

      Contact Tziporah to book a visit:

        Cooke, Stephanie (Toronto, ON)

        Stephanie Cooke. Toronto, ON. Writers’ Union of Canada Member. English. Fantasy, Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Middle-Grade, and Young Adult. Stephanie’s rates for school visits is $300 for one session (local schools only), $500 for two sessions or for a half-day, and $900 for a full school day (maximum four sessions), plus travel if applicable. Virtual visits are $250.

        Stephanie Cooke is an author and editor based out of Toronto, Canada. She is the writer of ParaNorthern and the co-writer of Oh My Gods!

        She loves to speak to people about comics, graphic novels, and writing and devotes a lot of time to helping educate people about creating, understanding, and appreciating the graphic novel medium.

        CREATING A GRAPHIC NOVEL
        Ever wonder how a comic book or graphic novel gets made? How many different people work on one book? What’s the process for creating a story and turning it into a graphic novel? Stephanie delves into all of this and more as she helps people explore the world of the comic book industry and sheds light on the process of writing a story from inception to completion.

        Ages: Any

        Group size: Any, but especially love working with smaller groups of 15-30 kids.
        A/V needs: Projector or anything to present some images to go along with the presentation.

        Collaboration is hands-down the best parts of creating a graphic novel. Working with someone to bring an idea to life is an incredible feeling. Having someone to bounce ideas around with is amazing and inspiring. And getting to see an artist bring what was in your head to life on the page is nothing short of magical! With her experience as a co-writer on Oh My Gods! and a co-creator on an unannounced series, Stephanie has created this presentation to help teach you about the process, what to expect, and provide exercises for you to learn from.

        Ages: Any, but works especially well ages 6 and up (and for students and adults)
        Group size: 15-30

        Other topics are available upon request.

        Contact Stephanie to book a visit…

          Church, Dr. Dana L (Waterloo, ON)

          Dana lives in Waterloo, Ontario, and is a member of the Writers’ Union of Canada. She presents in English to grades 1 though 6, and she also enjoys presenting to adult groups. In-person rates: $300 for one one-hour session, $550 for two on the same day, plus a travel fee of $0.70/km. Travel costs waived in Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, and the townships. Virtual visit rates: $250 for one one-hour session, $200 for two on the same day.

          Dana writes middle grade nonfiction about animals. She has a PhD in animal cognition, which means she is very curious about how animals think, remember, learn, make decisions, and solve problems. Her books also explore habitats, conservation, and the impact of climate change. Dana is passionate about making science fun and accessible for everyone. Although she loves all animals, she gets particularly excited about bees.

          Dana used to teach outrageously large undergraduate classes so she really doesn’t have a size limit for her audience. She finds that her PowerPoint slides are handy for showing photos, so for in-person visits, if she could hook up her Mac laptop to a projector, that would be great. When presenting about Animal Minds, a large table will allow for demonstrations involving her gorilla and raccoon puppet sidekicks. For virtual visits, she can adapt to any platform, and if she can share her screen, even better.

          Contact Dana to book a visit:

            Leatherdale, Mary Beth (Toronto, ON)

            Writers’ Union Member. SCBWI. CANSCAIP.  Mary Beth’s rates are $300 for one session, $500 for two, $800 for three. HST applies to all sessions. No travel costs within Toronto or if I am in your city. www.marybethleatherdale.com

            Mary Beth Leatherdale is the award-winning author and editor of many books for children and youth, including You Can Be an Activist, Terry Fox and Me, and Stormy Seas. Her books have received many starred reviews and have won or been shortlisted for awards including the Silver Birch Award, the Norma Fleck Award, the YALSA Excellence in Non-Fiction for Young Adults Award, the SCBWI Golden Kite Award, and have been selected for readers’ choice awards in Ontario, British Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Texas, and Bangkok. Mary Beth has presented at schools and libraries in Ontario, British Columbia, Missouri, Texas, and Turkey. Her work has been translated into several languages, including Italian, Korean, German, and Turkish.

            2025 CCBC Sharon Fitzhenry Award for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction Award nominee for You Can Be an Activist: How to Use Your Strengths & Passions to Make a Difference

            Before becoming a freelance editor, Mary Beth was the editorial director at Owlkids and the editor of Chirp and OWL magazines. She has a Master of Education from the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education (OISE).

             Ms. Leatherdale’s book, Stormy Seas, and the personal rapport she was able to develop with our students during her virtual visit have made a lasting impact on this next generation.

            Alice McGoldrick, St. Rita’s School, Dallas, Texas

            PRESENTATION STYLE SCHOOL VISITS:

            JK- Gr. 3 – True Stories With a Twist
            Storytelling session with two of her picture books plus Q & A. For older children she shares a PowerPoint presentation, focusing on the challenges of finding a fresh take on a familiar story and showing how an idea turns into a book.


            Gr. 4-8: – When the Water is Safer than the Land
            This social-justice-related presentation focuses on Mary Beth’s award-winning book STORMY SEAS. In an interactive presentation, students are invited to take on the roles of the young boat refugees featured in the book. Through discussion and PowerPoint resources, we explore the factors that force families to leave their home, the difficult choices asylum seekers must make, the challenges of adapting to and the contributions immigrants make in their a new home. Works best in a classroom or library space.


            Gr. 4-8: You Can Be an Activist
            Want to make a positive impact on the world? But not sure how? Drawing from the You Can Be an Activist handbook, this interactive presentation leads students through a workshop on how they can use their own strengths, passions, and interests to create social change that benefits people and the planet in their community and beyond. Practical tips on choosing a cause, setting goals, making a plan and leading a team will be discussed. As well, there will be an opportunity for student-directed learning on human rights and social justice issues.

            *ALL PRESENTATIONS ARE AVAILABLE FOR VIRTUAL VISITS.

            Mary Beth is happy to adapt her presentations to meet the curriculum needs of teachers. Educator’s guides are available online.

            Contact Mary Beth:

              McKay, Sharon (Burlington ON)

              Writers’ Union Member. Sharon travels across Canada several times a year. Sharon E. McKay (Mick-EYE) writes fact-based fiction for young adults. Multi-awards, all ages.

              Flat fee of $900 for a full day, four sessions and includes a free (optional) brown-bag lunch for anyone interested in writing. Flat fee of $600 for an afternoon. Parents and media are welcome in all sessions.

              Virtual Visits: $150, 60 minutes, Skype. Continue reading “McKay, Sharon (Burlington ON)”