Dear Readers,

Hope you're all staying cool in August!

I have some very exciting news to announce for September!

I've had the absolute pleasure of working on two Anne of Green Gables series for Tundra Books: a picture book series and an early reader series. (Here's a Publisher's Weekly article about them.)

I was so nervous to take this project on! Anne is one of my all time favourite heroines. She is so imaginative and spunky. I fell in love with her when I was a child and then again when I watched the mini-series. I never imagined that I would have the chance to work so closely with Lucy Maud Montgomery's beautiful stories.

As I worked on the projects, I felt like I was living and breathing Anne. I tried very hard to capture the same voice and tone in both books. To my delight, I was paired with two of my absolute favourite illustrators for the series. Genevieve Godbout for the picture books and Abigail Halpin for the early readers. Abigail actually illustrated by VERY first picture book, The Melancholic Mermaid.

The early reader is called Anne Arrives. It's the first in two books, and chronicles Anne coming to Green Gables and Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert and Rachel Lynde's reactions.

The picture book is called Goodnight, Anne. Instead of telling a specific story, it is meant to capture the spirit of Anne for very young readers. I was SO pleased to receive this starred review from Kirkus for it.

Both books will be available wherever books are sold on September 25th.

It is a different and humbling challenge to bring a classic to younger new audiences, and I really hope I did an okay job, and that those who love Anne like I do feel like I captured the spirit of LM Montgomery's beautiful character. I have a new respect for anyone who loves a piece of work and translates it to a different form (like book to film, or chapter book to picture book, or book to audio). I usually tend to disparage many books to film, but I think I will look at them differently from now on, although of course, my process, being book to book, is different than that process.

On other summer news--and more personal--my husband, son and I have finally signed a contract with a builder to start construction on our house on the Sunshine Coast. My dream of having my very own library (no doubt first instilled in me when the Beast gifts Beauty the library in that classic Disney movie scene), is ACTUALLY coming true! I can't wait to share more news as I have it. It's going to be a good year and a half of construction--but really thrilling to see our home that we've spent 5 years designing finally come to life.

Actually, our house feel a little like a book in that regard--It's taken forever to conceptualize and patience has been key to the whole process :) If you ever want to read some amazing books on house related spaces I suggest this oldie: A Pattern Language (first published in 1977) by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, Murray Silverstein. And I really like The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living.

I also adore this blog of beautiful cozy house images, called, appropriately, Cozy Cottage Love. (In fact, all these images with the lovely flowers seem a little "Anne", don't they?)

Till next month!

xx
Kallie

Extra fun

Featured Activity - Pretty Postcards!

Every month there will be a featured activity here, that comes from one of my books. This one is a repeat, but a goodie: from my Heartwood Hotel book series, illustrated by Stephanie Graegin.

Write a postcard to the Heartwood! Print out the cute postcard--there's even stamps that come with it! Download the postcard here!