Authors and Illustrators Sharing Stories for Children
If you’re like me, you’ve been hearing the word “unprecedented” a lot to describe the time that we’re in. These are unprecedented times, with many children missing their friends and the routine of school.
One great thing I’ve been reading about is a number of authors and illustrators sharing videos and workshops online for children. Some authors are sharing pre-recorded storytimes, while others have been sharing them live via Instagram or Facebook. For the young reader, this is an excellent way to stay engaged with stories and storytelling from home. It allows us to connect with familiar favourites, and get to know some new authors too!
Here are some of our favourites.
Dav Pilkey
Dav Pilkey is the author of series like Captain Underpants and Dog Man. Visit his online portal Dav Pilkey at Home for activities, videos and more! Updated every Friday.
Debbie Ridpath Ohi
Debbie Ridpath Ohi is the author of the hilarious Naked! and the thoughtful, I'm Sad. Debbie has recorded some of her favourite titles on her YouTube channel. You can also find Debbie reading her books on Authors Everywhere. Her website DebbieOhi.com also has a variety of free downloads for children.
Grace Lin
Grace Lin has written and illustrated a number of books, such as the Ling and Ting series and a number of beautifully illustrated stories. Enjoy YouTube videos of her reading some of her favourites on GraceLin.com.
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon series.
Mo Willems
Join Mo Willems for his Lunch time doodles, playfulled called #MoLunchDoodles, and learn how to draw some of your favourite characters from his books!
Oliver Jeffers
Oliver Jeffers reads one of his books every weekday, and talks about some of the things that went into making the book on his Instagram Live. He also records them and shares them on his website in a series he has dubbed Stay at Home Story Time with Oliver Jeffers: Stay Home Together (but Apart).
Virtual Storytimes
Many publishers are sharing storytimes from authors on their websites. Groundwood Books has started a reading series called Reading Apart Together. Tundra Books is hosting Virtual Storytimes and Singalongs with many different authors on tundrabooks.com. Visit the publishers of your favourite books to find out what they are hosting for children and families during this time.
Toronto Public Library has also started our own Virtual Storytime series called Storytime at Home where library staff read their favourite stories for you. There's even a special guest, our own Mayor John Tory reads a story for you!
Wizarding World
For the Harry Potter fans out there, Wizarding World introduced an initiative called Harry Potter at Home. Their site has a variety of activities for children online. Right now you can borrow the first Harry Potter book from Overdrive, available in many languages, with no wait time!
Read or listen to the first Harry Potter book using Overdrive, our largest eBook collection. Overdrive includes current, popular fiction and non-fiction, videos and audiobooks. You may download or stream to read, view and listen on your device.
Don't have a library card? We've got you covered! This week, Toronto Public Library launched it's new Instant Digital Card. Torontonians who don't have a Toronto Public Library card can now access OverDrive with this temporary card until September 1, 2020. It is available to people age 13 and older with a Toronto cell phone that can receive texts. Exciting stuff!
If you have a young reader interested in Comics, along with Overdrive, Hoopla is a great way to access comics from our collection. Here are a couple of our favourite comics from Hoopla.
Garfield comics by Jim Davis.
New Kid by Jerry Craft.
We hope you enjoy these stories from some of our favourite authors. Do you have any favourite authors or illustrators that you have been enjoying online? Please share them in the comments below.
And for your littlest readers, don’t forget about the great ways you can have storytime at home. Find some helpful tips from our blog post Ready for Reading Storytime at Home or watch our storytime videos on the TPL YouTube channel!
Stay safe and keep sharing stories with one another!
Edited May 25, 2020. Added additional publisher activities to Virtual Storytimes.
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