Author Archives: English

Springtime New Releases!

Look what just sprouted!

Two new children’s books written by me! (And the French version of one of those books, also written/translated by me!)

Fern and Newt and the Lost Loot/Fémi et Lou et le trésor perdu is a chapter book for readers 6 to 10 that’s all about friendship, the importance of biodiversity and metal detecting! It’s published by Orca Book and brilliantly illustrated by Catarina Oliveira.

Next is How To Read a Very Serious Book – a very silly How-to picture book for (not-so) serious readers. This one is illustrated by the very talented Kelly Collier and published by the good folks at OwlKids!

It’s not every season that I get to launch a new book, let alone THREE, so I hope this is a sign of exciting things to come!

Fern and Newt and the Lost Loot

NOW AVAILABLE!
Order this book by clicking here! Or by asking your favourite indie bookseller  🙂

It’s Fern’s birthday, and all she wants is a metal detector.

Instead, she gets clothes and a mysterious long box that turns out to be a gardening tool from her neighbor, Madame Musette, with a note about coming over to pull weeds. Sigh. Fern and her friend Newt lost her older sister Nicole’s jewelry box when they buried it at the beach, playing pirates. If they can just find it before Nicole returns from camp, they’ll be in the clear. But the quest is impossible without a metal detector!

Fern and Newt need to earn the money to buy one themselves. Luckily, Madame Musette offers Fern five cents for every root pulled and Newt agrees to help too. The money adds up—but very slowly—until the friends discover that Madame Musette will pay even more for butterfly eggs so she can let them hatch safely before releasing them outside. With the summer slipping away and Nicole due home at any minute, will the friends be able to earn enough for a metal detector and find the treasure before it’s too late?

Fern and Newt and the Lost Loot
Orca Book, March 2026
Text Mireille Messier
Illustrations Catarina Oliviera
Orca Echos series (illustrated early chapter books)
96 pages
Readers 6-8

ISBN : 9781459841567
Soft cover
$9.95

Themes: life cycle of Monarch butterflies, animal habitat, friendship, collaboration, problem solving, early chapter book, humour, free play
Order this book by clicking here! Or by asking your favourite indie bookstore  🙂

How to Read a Very Serious Book

NOW AVAILABLE!
Order this book by clicking here! Or by asking your favourite indie bookseller  🙂

A light-hearted picture book plays on the idea that reading a book is a very serious business

Reading serious books is a very serious matter. Or so thinks a seriously knowledgeable narrator who guides two young readers as they practice various ways of presenting a Very Serious Reader persona to the world.

For instance, wearing a stick-on mustache, glasses on the tip of your nose, and a pencil tucked behind an ear are all good ways to look studious while you read. And of course, every page should be turned with a flourish.

Humorously illustrated in comic-book style panels, this lighthearted picture book pokes fun at the idea of “serious” books and encourages kids to read what they like—because all books are meant to be seriously enjoyed.

How to Read a Very Serious Book
Owlkids Books, March 2026
Text Mireille Messier
Illustrations Kelly Collier
32 pages
Readers 6-8

ISBN: 9781771476584
Hardcover
$22.95

Themes: humour, reading
Prder this book by clicking here! Or by asking your favourite indie bookstore  🙂
ADVANCED REVIEWS
“This title will be very useful in classrooms and libraries hoping to engage all readers in whatever form of reading best suits them.” – School Library Journal
“A meta look at the acts of reading, pretend, and finding a way to identity, this book works for children across a span of grade levels.” – SLJ
“A playful dose of metafiction for the picture book set … Serious fun.” – Kirkus

Océane et Saute-Mouton

New Release!

Young Océane dreams of adventures on Lake Ontario when suddenly, SPLASH! her family is given a lovely (but very old) sailboat. What will it take to get this “grandfather vessel” shipshape and ready to sail again?

An illustrated story told in short poems and inspired by the true Messier-Partridge family caper restoring an abandonned sailboat. A first mother-child collaboration.

For readers 5 and up. In French.

Océane et Saute-Mouton
Soulières Éditeur, Décember 2025
Poems by Mireille Messier
Illustrations by Vivi Partridge
Collection Petit Fleuve – poésie illustrée
32 pages
5+

ISBN : 9782896078301
Soft cover
$13.95

Order the book by clicking here! Or by visiting your favourite indie bookstore. 🙂

Themes: poetry, dreams, sailing, water, navigation, family, restoration, travel

Where Is Mireille This Fall? EVERYWHERE!

I have a jam-packed fall this year. Hooray! I will be meeting young readers from Nova Scotia, New-Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec. Bellow is a list of the events I will be attending. If you are in the area, swing by or send me a line, I’d love to see you!

Oct. 4 @ 10:30 am – French Storytime at Keshen Goodman Library, Halifax, NS
Oct. 4 @ 2:00 pm – French Storytime at Central Library, Halifax, NS
Oct. 11 @ 11-4 – BooktoberFest at the Central Library, Halifax, NS
Oct. 18 @ 11 – French Storytime at Kingston Library, Kingston, NS
Oct. 23-26 – Salon du livre de Dieppe, NB
Nov. 1 12:30-4 – Kids Day/Journée juenesse at AfterWords, Halifax Central Library, NS
Nov. 13-15 – Salon du livre d’Orléans, École Béatrice-Desloges, Orléans, ON
Nov. 19-22 – Salon du livre de Montréal, Palais des congrès, Montréal, QC
Dec. 5-6 – Salon du livre de St-Rémi, École St-Rémi, Ottawa, ON

I hope to see you there!

Embrouilles à Embrun

When their uncle’s favourite chicken goes missing Vivi and Simon have a slew of rural suspects to investigate. Could the culprit be Tréflé Latrimouille with his bone-chilling sculptures? Or their uncle’s childhood nemesis Ti-Noël Brisson? Or the always in-your-face young neighbour Anne-Marquise? Whoever it is, they must act fast before their uncle returns… Junior gumshoes Vivi and Simon are on the case!

The fifth book in the L.O.U.P.E. series of mini mysteries.

Embrouilles à Embrun
L.O.U.P.E. – Tome 5
Written by Mireille Messier
Éditions David, 2025
168 pages
For readers 9+
17,95$
ISBN 9782898660771

You can order the book by clicking here or by visiting your favourite french indie bookstore!

Also available…

Coupe et soucoup à Sudbury

Le bonnet magique Wins the Trillium Award For Children’s Books

Last week, at a very glamourous and well attended ceremony in Toronto, my picture book Le bonnet magique won the Prix Trillium du livre jeunesse (Trillium Award for Children’s Books). What an incredible honour to receive this prize!

2025 marks my 25th year as an author and Le Bonnet magique/The Magic Cap is my 30th (ish!) children’s book. Needless to say that I had been dreaming of being selected for this award for a long time.

2025 also marks the first time that a picture book wins this award since the category covers ALL children’s books aimed at readers 0 to 18 years old. This year’s finalists in my category included Michèle Laframboise with her sci-fi novel Rose du désert and playwrite Eudes La Roche-Francoeur with Le Roi Poubelle, an environmental-themed play for middle graders.

Le bonnet magique/The Magic Cap is a story of hope, friendship, and magic. And that is exactly what I felt in that room as I addressed the assembled crowd of book lovers, writers and publishers attending the ceremony at the Toronto Reference Library.

By awarding my picture book this award, the jury confirmed the importance of magic, hope and gentleness in children’s litterature as a salve to the harshness of everyday life.

Winning the Trillium award motivates me to keep creating stories for kids for years to come.

I would like to thank the team at Ontario Créatif/Ontario Creates and the members of the jury for their hard work showcasing our local creators.

Lastly, I would also like to thank my editor, Nadie Robert at Comme des géants and the illustrator of Le bonnet magic, Charlotte Parent, without whom this book would not exist.

Here are a few pictures of the wonderful event – a night which will stay etched in my memory for a long time.

Thank you and long life to children’s books!

Another nomination for The Magic Cap!

More good news! El barret màgic, the Catalàn version of The Magic Cap, has been nominated for the XXVI Premi Llibreter (the Librarians’ Award) in the picture book category.
Thank you to the team at Flamboyant for taking out little gnomes under their wing. I love it when my words travel the world.

 

Le Bonnet magique is a Finalist for the French Trillium Children’s Book Award!

Good news! Le Bonnet magique (The Magic Cap) has been nominated for the french Trillium Children’s Book Award! It is a great honour to be nominated with such talented authors and varied stories.

Since 1987, the Trillium Book Award / Prix Trillium encourages excellence in literature by investing in writers from Ontario. Past winners include Margaret Atwood, Timothy Findley and Michael Ondaatje. This year, I have the pleasure of being nominated at the same time and in the same category as sci-fi writer Michèle Laframboise and playwright Eudes La Roche-Francoeur.

⏰ Winners will be announced live in Toronto on June 18th! 

To learn more about the other finalists, click on the picyure bellow. Bonne chance à tous!  

Coup de théâtre à Stratford

Something strange is afoot at the Startford Theatre. During a production of The Merchant of Venice shadows and ghoulish screams heard backstage are terrifying the cast and crew. Could it be the return of the long forgotten curse of Shylock’s ghost? Junior gumshoes Vivi and Simon investigate!

The fourth book in the brand new L.O.U.P.E. series of mini mysteries.

Coup de théâtre à Stratford
L.O.U.P.E. – Tome 4
Written by Mireille Messier
Éditions David, 2025
186 pages
For readers 9+
17,95$
ISBN 9782898660382

You can order the book by clicking here or by visiting your favourite french indie bookstore!

Also available…

Coupe et soucoup à Sudbury