APPLY TO HOST MARCUS CUTLER (IN PERSON)
Home Location: Tecumseh, ON
Creator Type: Author/Illustrator
Genres: Picture books
Website: www.marcuscutler.com
Tour Region: Manitoba
Target Audience: Kindergarten to Grade 6
Cost: $300* (for one 60-minute presentation)
*(The author-illustrator 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
Marcus Cutler is the author of I Do Not Eat Children (2024, Little Brown) and The Crayon Stub (2025, Putnam) as well as the illustrator of The Three Canadian Pigs, Travel Guide For Monsters Part Deux: A Canadian Adventure, Lark Holds The Key, Dear Polar Bears, and many more. Other than writing, drawing, or presenting, Marcus enjoys cooking breakfast, watching movies with his family, and practicing kung fu.
PRESENTATION DESCRIPTIONS
Words Vs. Pictures – Who Will Win?!?
50-60 minutes
Target audience: Grades 1-6
Preferred group size: 20-30 students
Maximum group size: 60 students
What’s more important in a picture book, the words or the pictures? Marcus fearlessly tackles this controversial debate head-on in this fun and enlightening presentation that pulls from his unique perspective as both an illustrator and author. Focusing on how artwork can support, expand, and even contradict the text, Marcus will read and discuss a book he illustrated, Do Not Turn The Page! by Jane Blondie as well as his own book, I Do Not Eat Children. Students will then participate in a lively improvisational art and caption game that will finally determine who reigns supreme, the words… or the pictures?
Required equipment: projector and screen
Required materials: chart paper
Making Monstrosities
50-60 Minutes, or two 30-minute presentations for kindergarten groups
Target audience: Kindergarten – Grade 5
Preferred group size: 20-30 students
Maximum group size: 60 students
What happens to all the books that don’t get made? Prepare yourself as Marcus opens his Vault of Monstrosities, and discover that what lies inside is not just monstrous… but also wonderful! Focusing on the themes of creativity and resilience, Marcus will take students on a behind the scenes tour – from manuscript, to artwork, to printed copy, and all the parts in-between, to see how books sometimes do, and sometimes don’t, get made. The presentation will include readings and discussions of Travel Guide for Monsters Part Deux: A Canadian Adventure, and I Do Not Eat Children, as well as a raucous call and response monster-drawing game that will teach students how fun it can be to make monstrosities!
Required equipment: projector and screen
Required materials: chart paper
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Crayon Stub, Putnam, 2025
Do Not Turn The Page, (illustrator) by Jane Blondie, Scholastic Canada, 2025
I Do Not Eat Children, Little Brown, 2024
The Raven Boy, (illustrator) by Rosemarie Avrana Meyok, Inhabit Books, 2024
Travel Guide for Monsters Part Deux: A Canadian Adventure, (illustrator), by Lori Degman & Jocelyn Watkinson, Sleeping Bear Press, 2023
Dear Polar Bears, (illustrator) by Gabrielle Prendergast, Orca Book Publishers, 2023
Gunner's Big Day on Frobisher Bay, (illustrator) by Trevor Taylor, Inhabit Books, 2023
The Three Canadian Pigs: A Hockey Story, (illustrator) by Jocelyn Watkinson, Sleeping Bear Press, 2022
Lark Has the Shivers (illustrator) by Natasha Deen, Orca Book Publishers, 2022
Lark Steals the Show, (illustrator) by Natasha Deen, Orca Book Publishers, 2022
You Might Be Special!, (illustrator) by Kerri Kokias, Kids Can Press, 2021
The Emperor's New Clothes Completely Ruined by Cabbage, (illustrator) by Andy Domek, Salus Publishing, 2021
Goldilocks and the Three Bears Completely Ruined by Cabbage, (illustrator) by Andy Domek, Salus Publishing, 2021
Lena and Ruby, (illustrator) by Kevin Qamaniq-Mason and Mary Qamaniq-Mason, Inhabit Books, 2021
Oleepeeka’s First Hunt, (illustrator) by Elizabeth Ryan, Inhabit Books, 2020
The Walrus and the Caribou, (illustrator) by Maika Harper, Inhabit Books, 2020
Pirate Bill, (illustrator), by Katie Woolley, Franklin Watts, 2020
Lark and the Dessert Disaster, (illustrator) by Natasha Deen, Orca Book Publishers, 2019
The Owl and Two Rabbits, (illustrator) by Nadia Sammurtok, Inhabit Books, 2019
Flat Tire!, (illustrator) by Leslie Kimmelman, Pigman Books, 2019
The School Play, (illustrator) by Katie Woolley, Franklin Watts, 2019
Stanley Manners, (illustrator) by Joanna Nadin, Oxford University Press, 2019
Lark Takes a Bow, (illustrator) by Natasha Deen, Orca Book Publishers, 2018
Lark Hand the Diamond Caper, (illustrator) by Natasha Deen, Orca Book Publishers, 2017
Lark Holds the Key, (illustrator) by Natasha Deen, Orca Book Publishers, 2016