Being able to create books about history is a dream job for me since I’ve always been enthralled by history. When I was growing up in Georgetown, Ontario, our house was just around the corner from the town library. And I haunted its children’s section—reading sometimes four or five books a week.

As an editor for Scholastic from 1972 to 1984 in both Toronto and New York, I was involved in the creation of Scholastic’s Canadian children’s publishing program as well as in the selecting of books for Scholastic’s school book clubs.
Between 1984 and 2004 I was the Editorial Director and Publisher of Madison Press Books in Toronto. While there, I helped to create a number of successful books for young readers including Exploring the Titanic, that has sold over one million copies and two award-wining series: “Time Quest” and the “I Was There” series which feature such books as Secrets of the Mummies and In the Time of Knights. Other award-winning books that I edited and compiled include Polar the Titanic Bear, On Board the Titanic, Safari, Attack on Pearl Harbor, Secrets in Stone, First to Fly and Journey to Ellis Island.

The first book that I actually both wrote and compiled was Anastasia’s Album: The Last Tsar’s Youngest Daughter Tells Her Own Story, published in 1996. I had been lucky enough to go to Moscow in 1994 to see the last Tsar’s palaces and when I saw the letters and hand-colored photographs of Anastasia, I knew I had to tell her story. Anastasia’s Album won a number of awards including the Silver Birch and Red Cedar awards in Canada. This made me want to write more books and four more books followed over the next few years. In 2005, I decided to devote myself to writing full-time for young readers. Since then I’ve brought out On Juno Beach and At Vimy Ridge, which have each won several awards. Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose, a Governor General’s Award nominee, The Other Mozart and Breakout Dinosaurs.

Websites: www.hughbrewster.com www.whitfieldeditions.com
Email: info@hughbrewster.com