Home Location: Queens, New York
Creator Type: Author
Genres: Young adult fiction
Website: www.jordynhtaylor.com
Tour Region: Quebec
Target Audience: Grades 7-12
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: NO
BIOGRAPHY
Jordyn Taylor is an award-winning author of young adult fiction and the former executive editor of Men's Health magazine. Her debut novel, The Paper Girl of Paris, won the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People and has been translated into five languages; her second novel, Don't Breathe a Word, was a finalist for the Forest of Reading White Pine Award and included in Bank Street's Best Children's Books of the Year. The Rebel Girls of Rome, her companion novel to The Paper Girl of Paris, releases in July 2025. Jordyn is also the author of the YA thrillers The Revenge Game and Wicked Darlings. She was born and raised in Toronto, Canada and currently lives in New York.
PRESENTATION DESCRIPTIONS
Time Traveling Through Historical Fiction
Target audience: Grades 8 and up
Preferred group size: 15-20 students
Maximum group size: 50 students
Get ready to travel back in time! Jordyn Taylor will lead students on a journey to the past to learn about researching and writing historical fiction, including the incredible people and events that inspired her young-adult novels. Jordyn will start by doing a reading from her novel The Paper Girl of Paris (winner of the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People), revealing how it was inspired by the real-life discovery of a Paris apartment that had been locked since the Second World War. After explaining the difference between primary and secondary historical documents, Jordyn will show students some of the wartime diary entries that shaped pivotal scenes and characters in the book. Participants will then take part in a fun creative writing exercise to craft a fictional diary entry in a historical setting of their choosing. By the end of the session, students will come away with their own budding historical fiction ideas and the knowledge of how to bring them to life.
Required equipment: laptop, projector screen or large monitor
Required materials: paper and writing implements for students (Jordyn will bring copies of primary historical documents to pass around)
An Exercise in Character Building
Target audience: Grades 8 and up
Preferred group size: 15-20 students
Maximum group size: 50 students
What makes a book character jump off the page? Award-winning author Jordyn Taylor will teach students the secrets to writing three-dimensional characters who live on in readers’ memories. Jordyn will start by reading the introductions to various characters in her young adult novels. Participants will discuss the personality traits they immediately pick up on, and why. Jordyn will explain the importance of showing instead of telling in writing, and reveal other surprising tools that have helped her craft her characters—including Pinterest! Participants will then take part in a fun creative writing exercise, where Jordyn will present a series of historical portraits, and students will make up backstories for the people in the images. By the end of the session, students will come away with new character ideas to craft stories of their own.
Required equipment: laptop, projector screen or large monitor
Required materials: paper and writing implements for students
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Paper Girl of Paris (HarperTeen, 2020)
Don't Breathe a Word (HarperTeen, 2021)
The Revenge Game (Delacorte, 2023)
Upcoming
Wicked Darlings (Delacorte, Feb. 2025)
The Rebel Girls of Rome (HarperTeen, July 2025)