Fire on the Mountain
This is a guest blog post that I wrote for Orca Books describing my inspiration for writing my new book, Fire on the Mountain. What comes to mind when you think of fire? Do...
Five Fast Facts for Friday: Cougar kittens
Quick trivia question: what animal is born with a moustache? Yup, you guessed it – cougar kittens are born with a distinctive black moustache that they will keep for their entire lives. Here are...
Five Fast Facts for Friday: Things you may not know about cougars
A cougar named Elvis plays a starring role in my book, Cougar Frenzy. Cougars are cute and beautiful and scary all at the same time. They are an animal you hope to see but...
Five Fast Facts for Friday: Weird Grizzly Grub
Grizzly bears are omnivores, and a very small percentage of their diet is actually meat. An adult grizzly needs to consume about 30,000 calories a day (compared to 2,500 calories for an average man) and...
Five Fast Facts for Friday: Waterton-Glacier Peace Park
At the moment, tensions between Canada and the United States are a bit high, but in 1932 the Waterton – Glacier International Peace Park was created to celebrate the peace and friendship between the...
Searching…..in Waterton
When I visited Waterton in September, something was missing. Actually, a few somethings were missing, the most obvious of which were the mountains. Berries were nowhere to...
Five Fast Facts for Friday: About the Kenow Fire
I visited Waterton Lakes National Park last fall, walked the Lakeshore Trail all the way to Montana and climbed the Bear’s Hump for the very first time. It was lush and green. We hiked...
Victoria students go Batty!
My mom is waiting for me to write the next ‘great Canadian novel’, which is weird because I’m sure she knows I write for kids. But I’m also pretty sure she doesn’t know why. If...
Enter to Win a Copy of Bats in Trouble!
Today is the last day of International Bat Week 2017 and to celebrate, I am offering 10 free copies of Bats in Trouble in a Goodreads giveaway! This story is great for young readers, aged...
Batty for Bat Boxes
I’ve gone a bit batty recently, but I’m happy to say I’m not the only one. Bats seem to make the news almost every week and more people are aware of the perils they...
How Do Wind Turbines Work?
In Bats in Trouble, Tyler explains wind energy in a very simple way: “It’s the opposite of a fan,” he says. “A fan uses energy to make wind, but a turbine uses wind to...
Batty Recipes to Celebrate Bat Week
Why are people so worried about bats? Well, do you like strawberries, mangoes, almonds, carrots, bananas, oranges, sunflower seeds, cashews, or avocadoes? Do you like chocolate? Bats help farmers, growers and harvesters bring these foods to...
Five Fast Facts for Friday: Wind Energy
My new book for young readers, Bats in Trouble, is about the conflict between bats and wind turbines. I had to learn a lot about wind energy before I started writing the story...
It’s a Dangerous World
It’s not easy being a bat – there are dangers everywhere. Bats are often eaten by hawks and owls, and sometimes by raccoons and weasels that sneak up on them when they’re sleeping. There...
Blind as a Bat?
We’ve all heard the description ‘as blind as a bat’ – but how blind is a bat, really? I mean, bats hunt insects with better accuracy and success than I have with a fly...
It’s Bat Week!
What’s better than a day to celebrate bats? How about an entire week to focus on these tiny superheroes! To get the week started, here’s a short video with some cool facts (and great...
Five (More) Fast Facts for Friday: Bats
Bats exist on every continent except Antarctica (just like ospreys!), and there are many amazing different species. One quarter – yes, 25% – of all known mammal species are bats. There are 1293 species...
Five Fast Facts for Friday: Bats
My enthusiasm for bats always seems to raise a few eyebrows. Most people don’t see them as the misunderstood, hardworking heroes of the ecosystem, like I do. Are you a skeptic, too? Here are...
A Canadian Safari
A few weeks ago I went on a safari. Not a giraffe, lion, elephant safari – a grizzly bear safari in the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Sanctuary, one of the few places in the world where...
Five Fast Fact for Friday: Exterminator
Exterminators provide a service that you might not think about or value much – until your deck has been eaten by termites or bats have made a home in your eaves. Here are five...
Five Fast Facts for Friday: Henry Ford
Henry Ford used his imagination and skills to change the automobile industry. Here are five fast facts you may not know about Henry Ford: Ford’s first working automobile was a quadricycle that he couldn’t...
