APPLY TO HOST KIM SPENCER (IN PERSON)
BIOGRAPHY
Kim Spencer is an award-winning, bestselling author. Her debut novel, Weird Rules to Follow, won multiple awards, including a 2024 Pacific Northwest Book Award, a 2023 TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award, and a 2023 Jean Little First-Novel Award. Named to both the USBBY Outstanding International Books list and the IBBY Honour List, the book also received a Kirkus starred review and was a 2023 Governor General's Literary Award finalist. Kim is a proud member of the Gitxaala Nation and resides in Northern British Columbia. I Won't Feel This Way Forever is the sequel to her first book.
Home Location: Prince Rupert, British Columbia
Creator Type: Author
Genres: Middle-grade fiction
Website: www.kimspencerwritesbooks.com
Tour Region: Ontario
Target Audience: Grades 5 - 8
Cost: For one 60-minute presentation: $300 plus 13% HST
NOTE: The fee of $300 (plus tax) will be paid to The Canadian Children's Book Centre (CCBC) upon receipt of an invoice from the CCBC. After Book Week, the CCBC will pay the author their presentation fee of $250 (plus taxes, if applicable).
PRESENTATION DESCRIPTIONS
Dual Worlds (Based on Weird Rules to Follow)
Target Audience: Grades 5-8
Preferred group size: 50 students
Maximum group size: 75 students
Explore and learn from an inside look at Kim Spencer’s novel Weird Rules To Follow. Discuss
challenging themes of identity, systems of inequality, microaggressions, and prejudice from the standpoint of an often-overlooked racialized Indigenous child. And how we can be more comfortable approaching weightier topics with empathy and care.
Required equipment: N/A
Required materials: N/A
Writing Process Workshop (Based on Weird Rules to Follow or I Won't Feel This Way Forever)
Target Audience: Grades 5 - 8
Preferred group size: 50 students
Maximum group size: 75 students
Kim shares her personal writing experience of becoming a writer. Students will learn tips for
finding their writing voice through fun, engaging exercises and by using images and music as memory aids. Students will learn how something as simple as knowing your likes and dislikes goes a long way in storytelling. And how creating/finding a safe space to express oneself is key.
Required equipment: N/A
Required materials: paper and pencil for each student; Sample read: https://www.orcabook.com/Assets/PDFs/TeacherResource/IWontFeelThisWayForever_ChapterSampler.pdf
It's Okay Not to Be Okay (Based on I Won't Feel This Way Forever)
Target Audience: Grades 5 - 8
Preferred group size: 50 students
Maximum group size: 75 students
Sometimes life doesn't go according to plan. You lose your best friend, your summer starts off
boring (boring and summer should never be mentioned in the same sentence!), and then your most favourite person in the entire world gets sick. Sometimes life really stinks! Through a reading of I Won’t Feel This Way Forever, followed by Q&A, students are helped to understand that it’s okay not to be okay. Sometimes, it's through life's greatest challenges (like grief) that we begin to understand ourselves more and gain greater clarity about what really matters—a coming-of-age story about an Indigenous girl coming into her own.
Required equipment: N/A
Required materials: Sample read https://www.orcabook.com/Assets/PDFs/TeacherResource/IWontFeelThisWayForever_ChapterSampler.pdf
BIBLIOGRAPHY
I Wont Feel This Way Forever. Orca Book Publishers, 2025.
Weird Rules To Follow. Orca Book Publishers, 2022.