Canadian Review of Materials Recommends The Book of Sam

The Canadian Review of Materials recently reviewed The Book of Sam. If you’re unfamiliar with this website, its mission is to review books for kids and young adults by Canadian authors and/or Canadian publishing houses. It’s an amazing resource for educators and librarians.

Here’s a snippet of what they had to say:

Rob Shapiro has created an action-packed coming of age story that will suck readers in with its charming characters and bountiful plot twists. The true charm of Shapiro’s story, however, is balance. He has managed to write a story that is balanced between character development and plot as well as action and rest. Sam’s development from a scared and shy teenager into a brave person of action is just as important as the action of the story, and the two rely upon each other to advance. In addition to this, the story is exciting and fast-paced, but not without its pauses for the characters to stop and open up to each other. Sam and Hollinshead’s burgeoning relationship is a delight to read, and these pauses are part of what allow the characters to develop in the way they do.

Check out the full review here.

Discussing my YA Novel, The Book of Sam, on Two Podcasts

Want to hear me talk about everything from The Book of Sam to Jules Verne to whether Spice World is actually a good movie?

I was a guest on the Once Upon a Line podcast with the wonderful host, Rosie Fernandez. We talk about the book passage that changed my life in some way. I chose a line from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea by the little known Jules Verne.

Click here to listen to my conversation with Rosie, and be sure to check out future episodes of this very cool literary podcast.

I also had the honour of being a guest on Pandemic Pedagogy with Dr. Samantha Cutrara, a history education strategist who is working to change the way history is taught in Canadian classrooms so that it reflects Canada’s past, present and multiculturalism. It’s an important and inspiring read that I can’t recommend highly enough.

Give a listen to my conversation with Dr. Cutrara here. You can buy a copy of her book here.