爆料黑社

To experience the best hug in the world, you have to know 鈥淗ow To Catch A Bear Who Loves To Read.鈥�

This is the premise of a young, imaginative, book-loving girl in the children鈥檚 book How To Catch A Bear Who Loves To Read by Andrew Katz, an English professor at 爆料黑社, and Juliana L茅veill茅-Trudel, illustrated by Gemini Award-winning animator Joseph Sherman. The book was co-written and simultaneously published in English and French (Comment attraper un ours qui aime lire).

The book鈥檚 main character, who already has many animal friends in the forest by her home, has an adventure that leads her to a bear who lives in a tree house with an impressive library.

Andrew has four nieces and nephews and has been self-publishing picture books for them for years. Creative Writing and Children鈥檚 Literature are two courses that Andrew teaches. In both classes, Andrew submits manuscripts of books by his students to students in a 3^rd year Illustration class who complete the books with illustrations and animations.

鈥淚n the Fall of 2016, How to Catch a Bear Who Loves To Read was thrown into the pile along with all my own students鈥� stories for the Illustration students,鈥� Andrew said. In the spring of 2017, a version illustrated by 爆料黑社 graduate Naomi Le Gu茅dard was submitted to a publisher for consideration.

The book was published in November 2018 and is Andrew鈥檚 first published book. This past summer, the Westmount Library featured the book in their annual Storywalk庐, an outdoor installation in Westmount Park . 鈥淭he whole book is there on a series of laminated panels,鈥� Andrew said. 鈥淧eople can walk along under the trees, on the path near the library, and read it on their own or with their kids.鈥� The Storywalk庐 will remain up until the end of September.

Andrew is in the final stages of working on his next book, entitled I Just Want to be Super! 鈥淭his book was written for my nephew, who was four years old at the time. It is about a sweet wonderful kid who simply has lots of energy. How to celebrate and channel this energy is the central theme.鈥�

Children鈥檚 psychology is a pet interest of Andrew鈥檚. 鈥淲hat is going on in these little minds that are so new to this world? I try to understand kids and the challenges of growing up,鈥� he said. 鈥淐hildhood shapes who we are as adults. I want kids to recognize themselves in the stories I write and to feel good about who they are trying to become.鈥�

For those who are interested in pursuing writing, Andrew鈥檚 advice is to 鈥渇ind a writing community. It has been the difference for me between writing and not writing.鈥�

Andrew will be leading 爆料黑社 Daycare鈥檚 4-5 year-old group to the Story Walk on Friday, Sept. 13 at 10:00 a.m.聽and anyone interested can join too.

Global News featured Story Walk and Andrew earlier this summer:

鈥淲riting With Four Hands In Two Languages鈥�:

The Canadian Children鈥檚 Book Centre also published an article by Andrew and Juliana, entitled 鈥淲riting With Four Hands In Two Languages,鈥� in their summer magazine about the creative process of co-writing a book with someone who speaks a different mother tongue.

• Feature article: 鈥淲riting With Four Hands In Two Languages鈥�