Do you know BiblioVideo?

There’s something new and exciting on the Web!

Bibliovideo is a new Youtube channel created by the CCBC (Canadian Children’s Book Centre). There you you find hundreds of short videos about and made by Canadian children’s book authors and illustrators. Readings, illustration demonstrations, interviews, book recommendations… the list goes on and keeps growing as new videos are added every month!

This year, there’s been a big push to add French content to the channel like the video bellow where authors Simon Boulerice, Marie-Louise Gay, Linda Amyot and myself present one of our recently published books.

Go check it out and subscribe! It’s a Kid Lit lover’s delight!

Authoring Outside

Let’s be honest… Most of my author life is spent indoors – at home, on my computer, in schools, at libraries, on trains… But this Fall has been a little bit different. I’ve had the pleasure of being an author OUTSIDE. And you know what? It was really nice!

 

On September 8th I was invited to present my new picture books Treasure and Sergeant Billy at the Eden Mills Writers’ Festival. The youth stage was abuzz with authors, illustrators, storytellers and singers. Families cam out in droves to listen and participate in our stories. We even hosted a 10th birthday party for Stella, Marie-Louise Gay’s now famous spunky redhead character. It was cloudy, it was a little chilly and it was perfect!

 

 

Then, on September 22nd, I presented Trésor and Treasure in the Rose Garden at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington. This was during Nature Tales – a special day of nature-themed stories by children’s authors and performers organized by the stellar crew of Telling Tales. On this occasion, I was presenting with Irene Luxbacher, illustrator of Treasure. Authors and illustrators don’t often get to present together so this was twice as special. I got to hang out with a talented creators while quite literally smelling the roses.

Thank you all for getting me out of the house.

I would love to do it again sometime soon 😉

 

 

What a Year it Has Been!

Today was my last day of author visits for this school year. And what a year it was! Since September, I have had the pleasure of visiting 50 schools (plus many other schools visited virtually) and of meeting over 7000 students in Ontario, Quebec and Alberta.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the teachers, librarians, principals, parent-volounteers and students who made this possible and amazingly enjoyable.

Special thanks go out to the passionate staff and kids of:

École de la pulperie
(Chicoutimi, QC)

École Saint-Sacrement
(Alma, QC)

École Saint-Félix-d’Otis
(Saint-Félix, QC)

Chinook Park P.S.
(Calgary, AB)

Notre-Dame-des-Vallées
(Cochrane, AB)

Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix
(Calgary, AB)

École francophone d’Airdrie
(Airdrie, AB)

Lycée Louis Pasteur
(Calgary, AB)

St-Dunstan C.S.
(Scarborough, ON)

École Gabrielle-Roy
(Ottawa, ON)

École Carrefour Jeunesse
(Rockland, ON)

École Séraphin-Marion
(Gloucester, ON)

École Le Prélude
(Orléans, ON)

Duke of Connaught
(Toronto, ON)

Cliffwood P.S.
(Toronto, ON)

École Laure-Rièse
(Scarborough, ON)

École Charles-Sauriol
(Toronto, ON)

Victory P.S.
(Guelph, ON)

Arbour Vista
(Guelph, ON)

Huron Christian School
(Clinton, ON)

Manotick P.S.
(Manotick, ON)

Ste-Marguerite-Bourgeoys
(Merrickville, ON)

École Jeanne-Sauvé
(Ottawa, ON)

Beverly Glen
(North York, ON)

Toronto Montessori School
(Missisauga, ON)

École Pavillon de la jeunesse
(Hamilton, ON)

Bishop Strachan School
(Toronto, ON)

École Ronald-Marion
(Pickering, ON)

E.J. James P. S.
(Oakville, ON)

Doncrest P.S.
(Richmond Hill, ON)

Runnymede P.S.
(Toronto, ON)

Perth Avenue P.S.
(Toronto, ON)

École St-Étienne
(Sudbury, ON)

École Alliance St-Joseph
(Chelmsford, ON)

École St-Joseph
(Hanmer, ON)

École Notre-Dame
(Hanmer, ON)

École de la découverte
(Val-Caron, ON)

École Foyer Jeunesse
(Val-Caron, ON)

École Pavillon-de-l’avenir
(Chelmsford, ON)

École Franco-Nord
(Azilda, ON)

Duke of Cambridge P.S.
(Bowmanville, ON)

Bruce P.S.
(Toronto, ON)

Toronto French School – East Campus
(Toronto, ON)

Toronto French School – West Campus
(Mississauga, ON)

John Dryden P.S.
(Whitby, ON)

St-Marguerite-d’Youville C.S.
(Richmond Hill, ON)

Chief Dan George P.S.
(Scarborough, ON)

École Ste-Thérèse-d’Avilla
(Russell, ON)

Thank you again, have a great summer and see you in September!

Fall Means…

Fall had always been a time for new things. New pencils and new shoes? Sure. But also new projects, new challenges and new places! This September is no different. I have a new book coming out and two new events where I will have the pleasure of meeting young readers.

couverture Moi aussiOn September 20th, my new French picture book, Moi aussi! Moi aussi! will be available in stores. Published by the great team at Éditions de la Bagnole and illustrated by the very talented Yves Dumont, this is the story of two new friends… and of one little fib! Moi aussi! Moi aussi! is for readers 3 to 8 and touches on themes like friendship, truth and forgiveness. But mostly, it’s about being able to laugh at ourselves! I hope you’ll enjoy it!

Then, on September 24th, it’s Word on the Street! If you are in the Toronto area, don’t miss this amazing day of all things books at Harbourfront. Toronto-Logo-PNG-optThis year, on top of the hundreds (yes, with an “s”) of authors present, there will be an entire day of French programming for young and old. Swing by the Franco Stage to check it out! I’ll be there presenting Ma branche préférée at 1:30pm and would LOVE to see you there.

logo-salon-300pxFinally, on September 25th, I will be heading out to Lac St-Jean for the Salon du livre du Saguenay where I will tour area schools presenting by books and meeting hundreds of avid young readers. We’re even having a pyjama party! It’s going to by a blast!

All this, and that’s just in September! Wait until you see what I have in store for October! (one hint… it starts with Word and ends with Fest and takes place in Calgary!)

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2016-2017 School Visits

DAwTebfWAAM3sCVEvery year I have the great pleasure of visiting a number of schools to share my books and my love of reading and writing with thousands of students. This year I visited 47 schools across 3 provinces and met over 6000 students!

I’d like to take a moment to thank all the librarians, the teachers, the principals and, or course, the students, who made this possible. These visits are an unending source of inspiration for me and, I dare hope, might spark some budding authors into action.

A special thank you to… Continue reading

The Branch in korean!

C9ua5BGVwAAOVDVIt’s here! The korean version of The Branch is now available. Doesn’t it look cool? Thank you to the team at Kids Can Press who keep finding new and wonderful ways to make my story travel and reach more readers!

Braille Inspires!

braille-amelie-boucherIt is with great honour that I will be the judge of the 2017 edition of the Creative Braille Writing Contest. Organized by the CNIB, this one-of-a-kind competition is open to anglophone and francophone primary and secondary students who are blind or partially sighted and who live in Canada. The stories, essays and poems will be submitted in braille where a panel of experts will rate them on their accuracy. Afterwards, the texts will be translated into sighted text for me to enjoy. I can’t wait!CNIB_Logo_new_tag

The goal of this contest is to encourage kids with vision challenges to write and express themselves in braille while sharing their work with others from across the country. There are many cash prizes to be won in dozens of categories and the winners will be announced this fall during a great awards ceremony with all the finalists.

Here is an interview (in French) with Amélie Boucher, the 7 year old winner of last year’s competition in the poetry category. Impressive, n’est-ce pas?   Amélie Boucher, braille poetry champion!

I am thrilled to be part of this wonderful initiative and wish all the participants good luck!

2017 TD Canadian Children’s Book Week – I’m Going on Tour!

reading-book

illustration Janice Nadeau

More good news! This year, I’ll be taking part in the 40th edition of the TD Canadian Children’s Book Week! It’s an incredible honour to have been selected for this splendid event!

Illustration Janice Nadeau

Illustration Janice Nadeau

From May 6th to May 13th 2017, thirty top-notch Canadian children’s authors, illustrators and storytellers (including yours truly) will be simultaneously zigzagging the country to spread their love of reading and writing from coast to coast. Each of us will meet hundreds of students, teachers, and book-lovers of all kinds.

I don’t yet know which province I’ll be visiting (fingers crossed for somewhere near an ocean, I’ll keep you posted) but one thing is for sure – I will be there with bells on! And I’ll be posting tons of pictures and updates so you can live this wonderful tour vicariously through us. Share the wonder!

Until then I will be honing my presentation skills and dreaming of the road trip in new parts of Canada.

Want to know who else will be on tour this Spring? Click here!

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What’s in a Name? And How Do You Pronounce It?

Living in Toronto with a name like “Mireille” makes for some interesting takes on how it is said. I’ve heard them all: Merell, Muriel, Murray, Merielle… and that’s those who at least try! I often simply get a blank stare meaning “this-does-not-compute” and they then proceed to go out of there way not to say my name. C’est la vie!

I know my name is hard to pronounce! And TeachingBooks.net knows it too! That’s why they asked me to record a fun tutorial on “How To Pronounce My Name”! Have a listen and give it a try. All the Mireille’s in the world will thank you 😉

When you’re nicely warmed up from pronoucing Mireille, have a go at saying Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, Jyotsna Sreenivasan and Tone Pavcek.

And you thought Mireille was tricky! Ha! 😉

School’s Out!

The 2015-2016 school year is almost out. Some will say “FINALLY”, while others (rarer) will say “ALREADY?”. I say “THANK YOU”!

Thank you to all the teachers, principals, librarians and students I had the pleasure of meeting this school year. I’ve been to 32 schools and met over 4000 kids from all across the province (and one school in Quebec too!). A big shout out to:

École Montessori OMS, Ottawa (ON)12891583_10153425073036825_3255106364682066242_o
John Fisher PS, Toronto (ON)
Maple Ridge PS, Pickering (ON)
École Petit Prince, Gatineau (QC)13423737_10153549187201825_4929822774828872608_n
École Étoile de l’est, Orléans (ON)
École Jeanne-Sauvé, Orléans (ON)
Owen PS, Toronto (ON)
Morse Street PS, Toronto (ON)
Dunlace PS, Toronto (ON)
Keswick PS, Keswick (ON)
E J James PS, Oakville (ON)
Max the Mutt College, Toronto (ON)CVTjheNU8AAf4FH
Duke of Connaught PS, Toronto (ON)
Palmerston PS, Toronto, ON
Doncrest PS, Richmond Hill (ON)
Ridgewood PS, Missisauga (ON)
Levack PS, Levack (ON)
Alexander PS, Sudbury (ON)
Ernie Checkeris PS, Sudbury (ON)
Chelmsford PS, Chelmsford (ON)
Lansdowne PS, Sudbury (ON)IMG_6441
Westmount PS, Sudbury (ON)
Walden PS, Sudbury (ON)
Rosedale PS, Sault Ste-Marie (ON)
Francis H. Clergue PS, Sault Ste-Marie (ON)
Toronto French School, Toronto (ON)
École L’Odysée, Guelph (ON)
Ventura Park PS, Vaughan (ON)
École St-Joseph, Blind River (ON)photo groupe Mireille Messier médias
École Georges-Vanier, Elliot Lake (ON)

Thanks to you, my year is filled with wonder, smiles and inspiration. I’m so very glad you have given me the opportunity to share my love of stories and writing with you and I cherish my good fortune. Who knew writing for kids would be so much fun? Truthfully, I had an inkling, but I’m glad to confirm that it’s true!

I wish everyone a splendid, book-filled summer and look forward to doing more school visits come 2016-2017!