Join the Clinton Branch and Huron Early ON for a Teddy Bear Picnic! Meet in front of the library with a stuffed friend as we read a story, decorate wagons play some games and have lots of fun! This program is designed for kids ages 0-6 and their parents or caregivers.
Pre-registration is encouraged by visiting www.keyon.ca
And that’s a wrap on Week 2 of the TD Summer Reading Club! We hope you’re starry eyed and ready to learn, because this week’s theme was “Shoot for the Stars!”. Did you know that if you traveled to the nearest star, it would take 70,000 years?
This week we had a super fun craft planned, where we made stained-glass stars to hang in your windows at home! Together we read the book, Star of the Party by Jan Carr, and played a game with moon rocks – be sure to practice your balancing skills for this one!
Don’t forget to bring your reading log this week, so you can start collecting beads for read-a-bead!
For those who cannot join us this week, we have another colouring sheet that you can print off at home or at the library, and a fun reading list all about stars can be found on the Huron County Library’s catalogue.
Lastly, we have a super fun reading challenge for our friends who are not able to come to the reading club: print off this Rocket Ship Reading Log, and colour in one rocket ship for every book or chapter you read! When the page is full, show it off to your local librarian and win a small prize!
Aim for the stars!
Nadine and Morgan
It’s the first official week of the TD Summer Reading Program—hooray! We are so excited to be visiting all the incredible Huron County Library Branches and cannot wait to read some exciting stories with all of you who are joining us this summer!
This week we met lots of new friends who we will see all summer, so what better theme to kick things off with than “Blast off!” While we enjoyed meeting our new friends, we will also had fun learning about everything in our solar system! Did you know there are eight planets, five dwarf planets, one star, and (at least) 299 moons in our solar system? That’s a busy party!
Together we learned about how the summer reading club works, how to use your book log, how to win prizes, and how to make your nametag! We also read a book together, called, XO, Exoplanet by Deborah Underwood, and decorated our giant reading rocket ship in the library (we can’t wait till you see this, it’s super cool!).
For those who are unable to come to our first week, we still have cool things in store for you! You can print off a very cool colouring sheet at home or at your local library branch. We also encourage you to go to your local library this week and check out some great books to begin your summer reading adventures! For story suggestions based on this week’s theme, check out our online reading list for week 1!
We have liftoff!
Nadine and Morgan
Born and raised in Goderich, Mathias Ball (he/they) is a trans-identified illustrator who draws inspiration from animals, emotions, and warm bright colors. He is a graduate of the Illustration program at Sheridan College and his dream is to illustrate a world depicting cute characters and lots of dogs.
Still my Tessa written by Sylv Chiang and illustrated by Mathias was championed by Gary the Unicorn and won the second edition of ‘Canada Reads for kids’ in 2024. Gary the Unicorn said they picked this title because, “it feels like a warm hug for the heart!”
Other picture books they’ve illustrated include Every Body Is a Rainbow by Caroline Carter, What If Bedtime Didn’t Exist? by Francine Cunningham and These Cookies Are Not for Puppies by local author, Larissa O’Donnell. You can also find his work on their small business website, Sulkypup, where they sell prints, original plush (coming soon), gender neutral clothing and other items.
The Clinton Branch was proud to have Mathias come visit and share their journey to getting published and starting their own business based off their gorgeous digital artwork. The following is a conversation between Branch Assistant, Shannon O’Connor and the local illustrator/artist, Mathias Ball:
Q. How did you get your start in picture book illustration and what draws you to that medium?
Illustrating for picture books is something that I was always interested in! My style of work has always leaned more toward the cute, colourful, and bubbly, so creating illustrations for picture books felt like a natural fit. As for getting started, I went to school at Sheridan College for their Bachelor of Illustration program. After graduating in the lovely year of 2020, I started posting my work online which got the attention of some Art Directors and Literary Agents. In 2022, I teamed up with my agent, Natascha Morris, who has since helped with connecting me to book projects such as Still My Tessa and What If Bedtime Didn’t Exist? along with some more books yet to be released.
Q. Are there any particular subjects/authors/topics that attract you most? If so what and why?
As a queer individual, I’m always drawn to topics having to do with LGBTQ+ themes. A handful of the books I’ve illustrated so far are ones that I would have loved to have as a kid–not only for LGBTQ+ folks, but being able to see stories where you feel represented and shown in a positive light can mean so much to a kid, and really pull out their confidence.
In addition, I love books that feature animal characters or take place in nature. Growing up in Goderich, I spent a lot of time outside in the surrounding forests and trails, trying to befriend critters here and there. It’s always a pleasure when I can pull inspiration from that and bring it into a project.
Q. Do you have any favourite illustrators or artists that inspire(d) your own work?
Always a fan of any artist with blocky shapes and lots of colours. To name a few, some artists are Anoosha Syed, Jon Klassen, and Paige Bowman.
Q. What has been your favourite project to date and what are you most excited about working on next (if you can share anything about that)?
It’s tough to answer, but I think my favourite may be an upcoming book, Little Wolf’s Howl published by Marble Press. Going back to one of my favourite subject matters, this book follows the story of a Little Wolf who gets lost and needs to find her way back to her mother. She encounters some new animal friends who help her along the way. Illustrating this book felt the most natural to me, and it was very easy to picture the illustrations as I did my first read of the manuscript.
For what I’m excited to work on next, it’s a bit up in the air at the moment! I don’t have any book projects on the go at this time, but I have my online business, Sulkypup, where I’ve been designing and releasing gender-neutral clothing on a triannual basis, along with designing some accessories and stationery goods. I have a Summer Update that will be happening in mid-July and I have been prepping some new items for my Fall Update later in October. I’m hoping to release a plush for the Fall Update of one of my original characters as well, which I’ve been very excited about, as designing a plush is something I’ve always wanted to do.
Q. What are you currently reading or what are some of your favorite books?
Some favourite series of mine are the Scott Pilgrim series and anything done by Tatsuki Fujimoto. I tend to read more comics and manga over just text-based books, as I always enjoy seeing what other illustrators are up to and how they share their stories.
Q. What advice would you give to any young aspiring artist/illustrators?
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes; embrace the things you love. To develop your skills, you need to allow yourself the opportunity to draw things that may look quirky so you can know what to do differently next time. The more you draw, the more you will learn. Also, you may eventually look back at your old art and think it’s embarrassing and cringy, but please don’t throw it out. You were just as much an artist as you were then as you are at this moment. Don’t be ashamed to celebrate the growth that you have had between then and now.
As for embracing the things you love, as an artist, you may gradually become more concerned about finding your artistic voice. What I’ve advised mentees in the past is that style is something that grows out of the things that you love about creating. For me, I really like playing with colour and traditional textures, and I like drawing animals and creatures. Meanwhile, others may embrace black & white art with a much more graphic appearance. In the end, what we love can help define who we are as artists.
Ahead of the upcoming Author Talk with Calyssa Erb, Huron County Library branch assistant Shannon O’Connor connects with the author to discuss her book, Maya Plays the Part, the journey to publication, what inspired her to feature an autistic female main character, and more!
What inspired you to write a middle school book featuring an autistic female main character?
I wrote this book for 10-year-old me who loved to dive into stories of characters going for their goals. I read a lot when I was younger, but I never saw an autistic female main character in the books that I read. When I received my own autism diagnosis a few years ago, I decided to revisit my experience at that age with this new understanding and to imagine what might have been different if I had this knowledge then.
Were there any parts of writing Maya’s story you found particularly challenging and if so why?
The most challenging part of writing Maya’s story was my own inner critic and my worries about whether she would be likeable. I wanted her to feel authentic and shed a light on some of the comments I received as a young girl, but I also wanted her to be someone that young readers would want to spend time with as she works towards her own dreams.
What was your journey to publication like? Did it take a while to find an agent or publisher for your story?
I have wanted to be an author since I was very young, and I wrote my first contest winning short story in the 3rd grade. However, I struggled a lot with finishing projects. It wasn’t until I received my autism diagnosis that I was able to recognize the factors that were impacting my writing like autistic burnout and sensory overwhelm. It was around the time that I started working on Maya’s story that Annick Press set up their mentorship program. I received such valuable feedback from them during this mentorship that it gave me the momentum to keep working on Maya’s story. About a year later, I had revised enough that I felt confident in sending the book out to publishers and agents. I received a lot of rejections! But then, serendipitously, Annick reached out and offered to publish the story.
Growing up did you have any favourite middle grade books or characters that you connected with?
As a pretty shy and reserved kid, young girls who were determined and the heroes of their own stories resonated with me. It’s interesting because the way we designate a middle grade book now is different from how children’s books were categorized when I was growing up! These are some of the characters and books that hold a special place in my heart from when I was 10-12 years old: The Dear Canada series, Meggie from the Inkheart series, Mitsuki of the manga Full Moon o Sagashite, Ella of Ella Enchanted and Anne from Anne of Green Gables.
Have you noticed an increase in more #ownvoices autism stories in fiction and do you have any favourites or any authors you admire?
I have noticed there are more #ownvoices stories and stories about autism from a lived experience. There’s still lots of opportunity for more autism stories in fiction because the autistic experience is so varied. My favourites in the middle grade space include A.J. Sass, and Meg Eden Kuyatt. I’m also a huge fan of Elle McNicoll whose A Kind of Spark was adapted into a TV series! It’s really incredible and a must-watch for autistic representation in kids media.
Do you have any plans for more books featuring Maya in the future and if not can you tell us anything about what you’re working on next?
I am interested in returning to Maya in the future! She’s already started whispering that she’s got more stories to share with readers, but right now I’m working on a story about neurodivergence and body image. I’m hoping to create a wonderfully connected universe of characters, so that readers can jump in from any book and feel connected to a larger world.