The official launch party of all the new fall titles from Gumboot Books takes place on Sunday, November 8th at Once Upon a Huckleberry Bush book store in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Both Gumboot Books and Once Upon a Huckleberry Bush are unique in the children’s and young adult literature world. Gumboot Books is an eco-friendly publishing house that specializes in “Books with a Conscience”. Besides encouraging people of all ages to read and write, they aim to foster a sense of social responsibility and respect for our planet; and guarantee that all the books they publish are responsibly produced. They are printed in North America, inks are child-safe, and the paper is old-growth-fibre free.

Once Upon a Huckleberry Bush is a special, independent book store, which aims to:

nurture the world through storytelling, reintroducing myths that will promote a strong sense of local community and global involvement. This company endeavors to promote tolerance, love and compassion. Dedicated to young readers in the hopes of cultivating a lifelong love for books, Once Upon a Huckleberry Bush [...] offers many special events and activities, including regular story time, organized book clubs to help develop reading skills and interests, and contests to cultivate kids’ imaginations and storytelling abilities.

Unfortunately I won’t be able to attend this Fall Book Launch as I will be out of town. But for those of you in Vancouver, drop on by the book store! Book readings will be held throughout the day and the line-up includes:

Fly Catcher Boy by Rebecca Kool, illustrated by David Namisato;

When Chickens Fly by Kari-Lynn Winters and Izabela Bzymek;

aRYTHMetique by Tiffany Stone, Kari-Lynn Winters and Lori Sherritt-Fleming, illustrated by Scot Ritchie – this book has two versions: English and French; the launch will be conducted in French.

Ready for R by Marian MacDougall and Silvana Bevilacqua – a special book written by experienced speech language pathologists and designed to spark speech, language and literacy development; inspire story-telling; and encourage ESL students.

It’s All Greek to Me, Jack by Dan Bar-el;

The Midnight Blue Marble by Melanie Jackson.

Author Michelle Mulder will be launching her new book After Peaches this coming Saturday, October 31st, at Once Upon a Huckleberry Bush, 4387 Main Street, Vancouver, BC.

“Silence is not always golden”. Ten-year-old Rosario Ramirez and her family are political refugees from Mexico, trying to make a new life in Canada. After being teased at school, Rosario vows not to speak English again until she can speak with an accent that’s one hundred percent Canadian. Since she and her parents plan to spend the whole summer working on BC fruit farms, she will be surrounded by Spanish speakers again. But when her family’s closest friend Jose gets terribly sick, Rosario’s plans start to unravel. Neither Jose nor Rosario’s parents speak English well enough to get him the help he needs. Like it or not, Rosario must face her fears about letting her voice be heard.

Michelle says that this launch will be particularly special as it will be her first time meeting Erika del Carmen Fuchs from Justicia for Migrant Workers. Erika played a critical role in Michelle’s research for After Peaches. She answered Michelle’s many questions about migrant workers, read the manuscript twice and offered to help promote the launch. Michelle says “I’m both touched and grateful and really look forward to meeting her.” It promises to be an extra special book launch.

Well, we knew it would be a success and it was! Check out Grace Lin’s blog to read and see photos of her recent book launch party for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. Congratulations, Grace!

Also, be sure to check out Grace’s charity project, Small Graces: A Painting a Month for the FCB. Each month this year, she is auctioning off a piece of her artwork to benefit the Foundation of Children’s Books, a small, non-profit organization in Boston that makes a big difference in the lives of young readers by bringing children’s book authors and illustrators into under-served schools in Boston for visits and residencies. This month’s auction takes place June 15th – 19th and features a lovely original painting by Grace depicting the Chinese proverb “Flowers leave their fragrance on the hand that gives them”.

Congratulations and best wishes to award-winning author and illustrator Grace Lin on the upcoming launch of her newest novel Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. The launch takes place today, Saturday, June 6th at 5:30 pm at the Porter Square Bookstore in Cambridge, MA. Grace will be there reading and signing her books as well as giving away some very unique goodie bags! Amongst other things, each bag will contain a homemade, boxed cupcake and one of these cupcakes will have a coin baked inside it. Grace says that the person who has the cupcake with the coin in it will win their name or likeness in an upcoming book. How exciting is that!

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is a Chinese folktale-inspired fantasy novel geared towards kids in Grades 3 -6 and is being printed in full color, which is very unusual for a novel. An overview of the book states:

In the valley of Fruitless mountain, a young girl named Minli lives in a ramshackle hut with her parents. In the evenings, her father regales her with old folktales of the Jade Dragon and the Old Man of the Moon, who knows the answers to all of life’s questions. Inspired by these stories, Minli sets off on an extraordinary journey to find the Old Man of the Moon to ask him how she can change her family’s fortune. She encounters an assorted cast of characters and magical creatures along the way, including a dragon who accompanies her on her quest for the ultimate answer.

This is a wonderous novel with an epic journey and memorable characters in the tradition of The Wizard of Oz. From the beautiful design and the breathtaking full-color illustrations throughout, to the gentle humor and touching prose, this book is truly a gem.

To get a sneak preview of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, click here. Check out Grace’s blog to read about her book launch preparations!

(Author photo taken by: Alexandre Ferron)