Margaret and the Moth Tree by Brit Trogen

There’s a fantastic reading series here in Toronto called “ Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids.” It’s exactly as its name suggests: respectable adults - writers and non-writers alike - delve into their closets and basements to find their most entertaining childhood writing, and everyone gets together to laugh at them. To everyone involved in this wonderful program, a million thank-yous.

I really can’t emphasize enough how much this means to fledgling authors, and of course, what it means to over 250,000 book-loving kids. Without that exposure, we would never have had such strong encouragement to keep going and keep writing. There is nothing more inspiring than direct feedback from kids. The year ended right where it began, at the Ontario Library Association conference here in Toronto, and this time, Brit was flown in, too! (Thank you, OLA!) Brit and I were part of a panel of authors talking about what our Silver Birch award meant to us, and I want to reiterate here what we said there: it was life-changing.Īpart from the honour of being nominated for (let alone winning) a provincial award because librarians selected us, the contact we were able to make with young readers was the truly priceless thing about this whole experience. Like a beauty queen contestant waving her last wave, Margaret and the Moth Tree’s reign as the Silver Birch Express Award book of 2013 has come to an end.

Margaret and the Moth Tree by Brit Trogen