APPLY TO HOST SYLV CHIANG IN ONTARIO (IN PERSON)
APPLY TO HOST SYLV CHIANG IN NOVA SCOTIA (VIRTUALLY)
Home Location: Pickering, Ontario
Creator Type: Author
Genres: Picture books, middle-grade fiction
Website: www.sylvchiang.com
Tour Region: Ontario (in person and virtually) / Nova Scotia (virtually)
Target Audience: Kindergarten – Grade 8
Cost: $300* (for one 60-minute presentation or two 30-minute presentations)
*(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
Sylv Chiang is a middle-grade teacher by day and a children’s book author by night. She wrote her middle-grade series, Cross Ups, for kids who love video games . . . maybe even more than they love books. Still My Tessa is Sylv’s first picture book. The inspiration for the story came from within her own family. Sylv grew up in Toronto and now lives with her family in Pickering, Ontario.
PRESENTATION DESCRIPTIONS
Allies are Superheroes (30 minutes)
Focus: Allyship
Target audience: Kindergarten to Grade 3
Ideal group size: 25 students
Maximum group size: 100 students
Join Sylv Chiang for an interactive story time with a focus on how we can all be allies. Sylv will introduce her 2024 CBC Kids Reads winning picture book, Still My Tessa, by sharing how the story is based on her own family. After we hear the story and talk about how the main character, Evelyn, is an ally to her non-binary sibling, we will share examples of allyship from the participants’ everyday lives. Finally, to reinforce the concept of allyship, everyone will have a chance to draw their own face on a superhero template and explain how they can be an ally.
Required equipment: projector/screen (only needed larger groups to make sure everyone can see the story)
Required materials: pencils and colouring tools (crayons, pencil crayons, or markers)
*Note: The art template was created by Mathias Ball, the illustrator of Still My Tessa.
What's Your Super Power? (60 minutes)
Focus: Growth Mindset
Target audience: Grades 4 - 8
Ideal group size: 100 students
Maximum group size: 500 students
Join Sylv Chiang in an interactive session that gets kids thinking about their passions and how to use planning and perseverance to achieve their goals. Using examples from the life of Jaden, the 12-year-old gamer in the Cross Ups series, as well as examples from her own life, Sylv will illustrate how people can use a Growth Mindset to change over time. We will also take a look at the video game characters from the Cross Ups series who can all transform into mythical creatures to do their “super” moves. Finally, participants will receive a template for drawing themselves as a video game avatar performing their own “super” move based on their passion.
Required equipment: projector/screen
Required materials: colouring tools (pencils, pencil crayons, or markers)
* Note: This presentation includes a slide show that contains examples of art by Connie Choi, the illustrator of the Cross Ups series. The template for the art activity was also designed by Connie Choi.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Still My Tessa (Scholastic Canada, 2024)
Cross Ups 1: Tournament Trouble (Annick Press, 2018)
Cross Ups 2: Anyone's Game (Annick Press, 2019)
Cross Ups 3: Rising Star (Annick Press, 2019)