Hello Silver Birch Readers. The Mealworm Diaries is my first published book and I’m thrilled to have it included in this program. It’s a kind of fairy-tale-come-true experience for me because for more than thirty years I was a classroom teacher, and just like your teachers, I read the books on the Silver Birch lists and encouraged my students to read and vote for their favourites. Now, as an author, I’m curious as can be to hear from you, and to find out what you think and feel about the books you’re reading this year.

When I wrote The Mealworm Diaries I tried to remember all the things that happened at school: the indoor recesses, the clubs and activities, the science experiments, and the schoolyard games.

I included the mealworms because they were part of our science curriculum and we spent a lot of time watching them wriggle about as they grew and changed.
When I’m not writing novels, I’m often out telling stories or teaching students how to tell their own stories. That actually involves a lot of writing because much of what I tell are personal tales, or retellings of old stories. One of those is called Icarus and the Fates. It was published by Scholastic so you may find yourself reading it in your classroom one day.

If you like The Mealworm Diaries, you may also like my next book, called The Gnome’s Eye, which is due out in the spring.

Looking back on things, I think life is pretty funny. For as long as I can remember I loved to read, but I was never keen to write, mostly because I was a terrible speller. On my December report card, my grade four teacher wrote: Anna has never managed to get a perfect dictation in spelling. She didn’t congratulate me on the good mark in reading. Because my spelling was so poor I always kept my stories short. That way I was less likely to make mistakes. As for speaking in public! Ha! I would just as soon have had a dentist pull a tooth. But here I am: an author and storyteller. Who knows what surprises life still has in store for you.