Second School Visit

I had a great school visit with Grade 6,7 & 8 students today at Rothesay Park Middle School . What a wonderful group of kids! Everyone was very attentive and responsive showing lots of insight and compassion.They asked excellent questions and I enjoyed the sessions very much. I felt very priviledged to go in to their classrooms as a visiting author and get such a warm welcome. Thanks to the staff and students of RPS.

First Official School Visit

On Thursday I made my first school visit through the WISP in New Brunswick. I visited my old school Macdonald Consolidated where I went in Grade seven, eight and nine. It is the school where I met the boy that would become my husband and wrote Sue Loves Burton on a beam in the grade nine room. Years later I taught in that same room the beam having since been covered with many layers of paint. I taught there for twenty three years after teaching at Rothesay Elementary for six years. On Thursday I returned as a published author and was able to tell the kids that not only can you be anything you dream of being but you can dream more than one thing . As a young girl I had dreamed of being three things; a mother, a teacher and a writer. I stood there proudly claiming to have acheived all three things.I enjoyed the visit very much. One class had read my book as a class novel and they had so much to offer and such good questions to ask. The other classes each had a few kids that had read the book and they all offered so much insight and interest in the book and the overall process. I conducted a writing workshop for 16 kids in the afternoon and was so impressed with their creativity and excitement. I found the experience so rewarding, very emotional and exhausting. It made me miss a bit about being in the classroom but made me even more thankful for the chance I have been given to pursue my next career.

My new Grandbaby

I just realized that I wrote on September 27th while I was waiting for my new grandchild to be born but have not written again to tell the news. Paige Louisa was born on October 4th. She is a beautiful little girl and Emma is thrilledto be a big sister. I had to leave two days after she was born and I look forward to seeing her again in December. I wish my granddaughters (and Meg and Cody)did not live so far away.

Book Signing at Fredericton Chapters

It is a beautiful crisp cold November day and I just returned home after a nice drive to Fredericton with my friend Kathy. Again my daughter has reminded me that I do not post enough. Oh well! I had a signing at the Chapters in Fredericton this afternoon and enjoyed it very much. The first person I saw was Amy, Zac's good friend, her husband and her two adorable children. She and her husband are expecting again and this time , twins! She is a special girl and was very special to our family when Zac died. My little eight year boy ( who will turn 21 tomorrow) adored her and clung to her in those days ,laying his head on her lap to get through the strangeness of a funeral for his big brother.She will always hold a special place in my heart and I am so pleased to see her so happy.I also saw a former principal of mine and was pleased to share my book with her. I had the pleasure of talking to some other very nice, supportive people. The mananger and other staff at Chapters were very welcoming and I appreicaited the opportunity to visit their store.

Cross Canada Trip

My friend Kathy and I headed out on Sept 6th for a cross Canada driving trip. We drove as far as Jasper, Alberta then took the train to Vancouver and then flew to Whitehorse. 21 days of touring. We had lots of laughs, saw lots of beautiful scenery, met lots of interesting people and ate lots of good food. I left a copy of The Year Mrs. Montague Cried in three libraries, gave away a few copies and even sold a couple. I am now at my daughter's waiting for my new grandbaby to arrive. I will be home by Thanksgiving and am anxious to begin the work on the editing and revising of my next book due to come out in the spring. Can't wait for those crisp fall days to be in my writing room between harvesting chores, putting in the winter's wood and cooking fall meals for friends and family. Being away has just made my love of home that much stronger. I can't wait to enjoy my Walton Lake home.My only regret is that by the time I get home the temperature will probably not be warm enough to tempt me in to taking another lake swim in 2011. I will have to wait for the warm weather to arrive next year. I did have a beautiful swim in the Georgian Bay and one in a cove on Manitoulin Island.Now I wait patiently to hold my new grandbaby and to see the look of wonder as Emma meets her new brother or sister. I will keep you posted.

Rainy Monday Morning

It is a rainy Monday morning and I will take it as a gift that allows me to stay inside instead of spending my day , weeding, picking hundreds of green and yellow beans , picking peas, squashing potato bugs, weeding some more and mowing my rapidly growing lawn.I will spend the day reading ,revising,and thinking about writing. My mind is never far from the story of Rachel and the home she comes to in my second book. The characters are with me as I take the summer off from writing to devote my days to the endless tasks our gardens , turkeys , pigs ,and chickens provide me along with the delightful moments of swimming and kayaking in my beloved lake. The lake is a main character and every minute I spend in it's waters makes that character stronger. Today I will let it's waters swell with the steady rain and I will visit the story looking forward to the days ahead whether rainy or filled with brilliant sunshine.

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A story of loss and moving on
Retired teacher crafts fine debut novel
By PAM SWORD | BOOK COVE
Sun, Jul 3 - 4:54 AM




















The Year Mrs. Montague Cried by Susan White (Acorn Press, 164 pages, $12.95, 11 and up)

The year Mrs. Montague cried is the year her son Zac died in a car accident. It’s also the year that the book’s main character and narrator, Taylor Anne Broderson, learns her little brother Corey has terminal cancer.

How they deal with their tragedies unfolds through Taylor’s daily journal that she writes in class.

Her musings can be both precocious for a nine-year-old (she loves to read and write stories) and utterly typical for her age (lots of Top 10 lists). White gives Taylor’s writings a lovely voice — open, intelligent and empathetic.

Yes, there’s major sadness in this very touching first novel by New Brunswick author Susan White, who won the young adult category of the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia 2010 Atlantic Writing Competition for this book.

But it’s transcended, ultimately by the powerful capacity we have to heal (or sometimes not quite), and go on. And on.

For, as Taylor learns, we can let someone go and keep them at the same time "and no one and nothing can take them away from us."

As Taylor’s family struggles through Corey’s radiation and chemotherapy treatments, a journey that ultimately ends with the boy’s death, Mrs. Montague is struggling to put her own life back together as best she can after Zac dies.

Sometimes, Mrs. M. is absent from school. Or cries in class and has to go home. But in January, after reading aloud to her class about Aslan’s death in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, she shares the story of Zac’s death with her students.

And they share their own stories of loss with her. It’s not a panacea for her grief but is another important step forward in her journey to heal.

White, a retired teacher, dedicates this very fine first novel to her own son Zac, who died in a car accident in 1999, at age 20. While Mrs. Montague isn’t autobiographical, it’s clear White

has drawn on her own feelings and experience to craft such a genuine, moving account of love and loss.

At the end of the book, there’s a very nice touch — White has put together the Taylor Anne Reading Challenge, a list of all the books that Taylor read during the course of the story. They’re impressive novels: you should read them if you already haven’t.