APPLY TO HOST YOLANDA RIDGE (IN PERSON)
Home Location: Rossland, BC
Creator Type: Author
Genres: Middle-grade fiction, non-fiction
Website: yolandaridge.com
Tour Region: Edmonton Metropolitan Region
Target Audience: Grades 3 - 10
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
Yolanda Ridge is the author of fiction and nonfiction books for young readers, including Elliot Jelly-Legs and the Bobblehead Miracle (shortlisted for the Chocolate Lily Awards) and What Poo Can Do: How Animals are Fighting the Climate Crisis. She has a master of science degree and is adept at making complex concepts understandable, a skill she uses in her science writing and author visits. Yolanda lives in Rossland, British Columbia where she enjoys skiing and biking with her family.
PRESENTATION DESCRIPTIONS
Elliot Jelly-Legs and the Bobblehead Miracle
Target Audience: Grades 3 to 7
Maximum Audience Size: 40
Required equipment: None
Join Yolanda for a fun and interactive session focused on her middle grade novel about believing in yourself (even when you’re the worst hockey player on the ice!). Yolanda will introduce the novel’s characters with blown up versions of the hockey cards featured in the book. Using other props, she will read action-packed excerpts in a way that encourages audience participation. Yolanda will share how Elliot’s story was inspired by her son’s hockey experience in hopes that students come away from the session with a new appreciation for how life’s most challenging moments can connect us through story.
Finding the Truth in Nonfiction and Fiction
Target Audience: Grades 7 to 10
Maximum Audience Size: 100
Required equipment: Screen and projector
During this interactive session, Yolanda will lead participants through a slide show with a series of true and false questions. Each question, drawn from one of her books, introduces a new idea about the difference between fiction and nonfiction. Yolanda will talk about what inspires her writing and how she strives to present both sides of every topic. At the end of the slideshow, Yolanda will lead a discussion about spotting the truth in fiction and the lies in nonfiction. Participants will be encouraged to question what they read and explore how they can add more truth to their own writing.
Bibliography
Microbes to the Rescue: Using Bacteria, Algae and Fungi to Clean Up the Planet (Orca Book Publishers, 2025)
What Poo Can Do: How Animals are Fighting the Climate Crisis (Orca Book Publishers, 2024)
Evolution Under Pressure: How We Change Nature and How Nature Changes Us (Annick Press, 2023)
Elliot Jelly-Legs and the Bobblehead Miracle (Orca Book Publishers, 2023)
CRISPR: A Powerful Way to Change DNA (Annick Press, 2020)
Inside Hudson Pickle (Kids Can Press, 2017)
Road Block (Orca Book Publishers, 2012)
Trouble in the Trees (Orca Book Publishers, 2011)