APPLY TO HOST HELAINE BECKER (IN PERSON)
Home Location: Toronto, Ontario
Creator Type: Author
Genres: picture books, early chapter books, middle-grade fiction, young adult fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels
Website: www.helainebecker.com
Tour Region: Newfoundland
Target Audience: Kindergarten – Grade 12
Cost: $300* (for one 60-minute presentation)
*(The author collects $250 of the fee and $50 of the fee covers The Canadian Children's Book Centre's administration fees for coordinating Book Week).
Taxes charged on presentations: YES
BIOGRAPHY
Helaine Becker is the well-known author of more than 90 books for children and young adults, including the international bestseller Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13; and the #1 National Bestseller and “enduring Canadian Christmas classic,” A Porcupine in a Pine Tree. Her books have been recipients of Picture Book of the Year Award, Lane Anderson Award, Silver Birch Award, The Cook Prize, the Giverny Prize, Bank Street Best of the Year, et al. Helaine’s recent titles include Puffin and Penguin (KCP) and The Ode To Underwear (New Edition, Bushel and Peck US); So Long Stress! (Scholastic Cda); The Fossil Whisperer: How Wendy Sloboda Discovered a Dinosaur (KCP); Pirate Queen: A Story of Zheng Yi Sao (Groundwood); Emmy Noether: The Most Important Mathematician You Never Heard Of (Kids Can Press) ; and Alice and Gert: An Ant and Grasshopper Story (Owlkids).
PRESENTATION DESCRIPTIONS
I've spoken at literally hundreds of schools and festivals around the world. With a background in education and lots of experience behind me, I will tailor a professional workshop to meet the needs of school students and the wider community. And did I mention I'm funny? Yeah, I'm funny.
My work and workshops have many curricular links - pretty much ALL of the choices in your previous question: e.g., STEM, Racism, Mental Health, Environment and Nature, Relationships, Writing dems/activities
Get your Funny On!
Target audience: junior grades and up
Get ready to laugh out loud in this fun and funny hands-on workshop on boosting lateral thinking. Using proven techniques used by writers, comedians and cartoonists, you will learn how to unleash creative thinking skills and build upon them for side-splitting results. Association lists, the magic grid, defeating the blank page, doodling, the world’s worst first sentence and more! Lots of hands-on activities. Note: Helaine is well known across Canada as a “sit-down comedian.” She has published more than 30 trade books that include significant humor elements. She also wrote a comic segment on a kids’ TV show, Planet Echo.
Note 2: This workshop can be adapted to suit any “how to write” programming, for young audiences straight through to adult learners.
The ‘She’s a Nut in a Good Way’ Classic
(50 minutes)
Target audience: all grades
Always fun, always educational, always different! The ‘Classic’ includes hilarious poetry (such as the notorious giggle inducer “Ode to Underwear’) dramatic interactive readings like Sloth at the Zoom, done right on the spot science experiments, like turning students into the moon and a rocket for understanding Counting on Katherine, and impromptu story development, mixed with student Q&A and a hearty dose of curriculum linking. Presentations will be customized to your needs in terms of student age range (Kindergarten through High School), group size, and curriculum content. Emphasis will be on my new books but may also include favourite titles and sneak previews of upcoming work.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bushel and Peck
Ode to Underwear (2024)
Mac Kids/Henry Holt and Co.
An Equal Shot (2021)
Counting on Katherine (2018)
Little, Brown
Eleanor Roosevelt: Path to Kindness (2023)
Groundwood Books
Pirate Queen (2020)
National Geographic Kids
Everything: Space (2015)
Scholastic Canada
So Long, Stress! (2023)
We Wish You a Merry Christmas (2021)
You Got This! (2019)
The Canadian Kids’ Guide to Outdoor Fun (2019)
Merry Quizmas! (2018)
Stress Less! (2018)
Do Beavers Eat Poutine? Quiz Book (2017)
Deck the Halls (2016)
Don’t Stress! (2016)
Top Secret Quiz Book (2016)
Would You Survive? Quiz Book (2015)
Quiz Book About Me…and You! (2015)
Dashing Through the Snow (2014)
Quiz Book for BFFs 2 (2014)
Do You Dare? (2014)
Ode to Underwear (2013)
Little Jack Horner, Live from the Corner (2013)
A Porcupine in a Pine Tree (2010)
The Haunted House that Jack Built (2010)
The Hilarious History of Hockey (2010)
Quiz Book for Boys (2010)
Quiz Book for Girls (2011)
Quiz Book for Spies (2012)
Quiz Books for BFFs (2012)
Looney Bay All-Stars Fiction Series:
Vol. 1 Pirate Power Play (2006)
Vol. 2 Attack by Knight (2006)
Vol. 3 Vikings Have a Field Day (2007)
Vol. 4 Explorers out of Bounds (2007)
Vol. 5 The Emperor Strikes Out (2007)
Vol. 6 Egyptian Slam Dunk (2008)
Vol. 7 Final Faceoff (2008)
DK Books
Our Great Prime Ministers (2017)
DCB/Dancing Cat Books
Gottika (2014)
Orca Book Publishers
Meet Your Robot Overlord (2025)
You Can Read (2017)
Dirk Daring, Secret Agent (2014)
Dirk Daring 2: Let Sleeping Dogs Lie (2016)
Owlkids Books
Alice and Gert (2020)
Sloth Goes to the Zoom (2018)
Worms for Breakfast (2016)
Kids Can Press
Puffin vs. Penguin (2024)
The Fossil Whisperer (2022)
That’s No Dino! (2021)
Emmy Noether (2020)
Megabugs! (2019)
HuBots (2018)
Lines, Bars and Circles (2017)
Monster Science (2016)
Zoobots (2014)
Alphabest (2012)
The Big Green Book of the Big Blue Sea (2012)
Green Bean Books UK
Gottika YR Edition (2020)
The Fabulous Tale of Fish and Chips (2021)
Mapletree Press/Owl (Non-fiction)
Magic up Your Sleeve (2010)
What’s the Big Idea? (2009)
The Insecto-files (2009)
Science on the Loose (2008)
Tundra Books
Juba This, Juba That (2011)
Fitzhenry and Whiteside
Trouble in the Hills (2011) (Young Adult)
How to Survive (2012) (Young Adult)