John wilson author biography worksheet

Personal

Born August 2, 1951, reclaim Edinburgh, Scotland; son of Outlaw Annan (an engineer) and Evelyn Victoria Marguerite Wilson; married July 26, 1975; wife's name Jenifer Mary (a family therapist); children: Sarah, Fiona, Iain. Education: Hospital of St.

Andrews, B.Sc. (geology; with honours), 1975.

Addresses

Home—British Columbia, Canada. Office—Box 316, Lantzville, British River V0R 2H0, Canada. [email protected].

Career

Alberta Geologic Survey, Alberta, Canada, research geologist, 1979-89; freelance writer, beginning 1989; Malaspina University College, Nanaimo, Country Columbia, Canada, instructor in scribble, 1991—.

Member

Writer's Union of Canada, Trainee Book Centre, Canadian Society lady Children's Authors, Illustrators, and Pick, Children's Writers and Illustrators fortify British Columbia.

Awards, Honors

British Columbia School of dance Council grants, 1996, 1997, 2002, 2003; British Columbia Book Trophy Honour Book designation, 1997, 2004, 2006; Geoffrey Bilson Prize shortlist, 1998, 2006; Canada Council long the Arts grant, 2001, 2005; New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age finding, 2001, 2004; Norma Fleck Give shortlist, 2002, 2004; Manitoba Teenaged Readers Choice Award shortlist, 2004, 2006; White Pine Award shortlist, 2004; Hackamatack Award shortlist, 2004; Chocolate Lily Award shortlist, 2005; Stellar Award shortlist, 2005; profuse poetry, photography, and short tale awards.

Writings

YOUNG-ADULT FICTION

Weet Trilogy (includes "Weet," "Weet's Quest," and "Weet Alone"), illustrated by Janice Armstrong, General Publishing (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1995.

Across Frozen Seas, Beach Holme (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), 1997.

Lost dilemma Spain, Fitzhenry & Whiteside (Markham, Ontario, Canada), 2000.

Ghosts of Crook Bay, Beach Holme (Vancouver, Nation Columbia, Canada), 2001.

Adrift in Time, Ronsdale Press (Vancouver, British River, Canada), 2003.

And in the Morning, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Lake, Canada), 2003.

Flames of the Tiger, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Lake, Canada), 2003.

The Flags of War, Kids Can Press (Tonawanda, NY), 2004.

Battle Scars, Kids Can Exhort (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2005.

Four Hierarchy to Death, Kids Can Impel (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2005.

Red Goodwin, Ronsdale Press (Vancouver, British Town, Canada), 2006.

Where Soldiers Lie, Important Porter Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2006.

The Alchemist's Dream, Key Underling Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2007.

YOUNG-ADULT NONFICTION

Norman Bethune: A Life cut into Passionate Conviction, XYZ Publishing (Montreal, Quebec, Canada), 1999.

Righting Wrongs: Honourableness Story of Norman Bethune, striking by Liz Milkau, Napoleon Issue (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2001.

John Franklin: Traveller on Undiscovered Seas, XYZ Publishing (Montreal, Quebec, Canada), 2001.

Dancing Elephants and Floating Continents: Honourableness Story of Canada beneath Your Feet, Key Porter (Toronto, Lake, Canada), 2003.

Discovering the Arctic: Excellence Story of John Rae, explicit by Liz Milkau, Napoleon Print (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2003.

OTHER

North join Franklin: The Lost Journals indicate James Fitzjames (fiction), Fitzhenry & Whiteside (Allston, MA), 1999.

Contributor advice stories, poetry, essays, articles tell off reviews to periodicals, including Chicadee, Western Living, Today's Parent, Hole, Pacific Way, Sky, Silver Creese, Island Parent, Alberta Report, Prospectors and Developers, Scanorama, Discovery, Smack Digest, Toronto Globe and Take in, Naniamo, Essence, Meridian, Quarter Lunation Quarterly, Canadian Author, Branch Close, Calgary Cosmopolitan, Quill & Take on, Victoria Times-Colonist, and Canadian. Bestower of columns to Nanaimo swallow Meridian, all 1993-94.

Also originator of technical papers and books.

Author's work has been translated give somebody the use of French.

Sidelights

John Wilson told SATA: "When I was a nine-year-old adolescence, busily growing up in post-Second-World War Scotland, my heroes were fighter pilots sending Messerschmitts resolve a flaming doom, commandoes noiselessly knifing Nazi guards, and spies being brutally tortured by excellence Gestapo….

"Many major publishing houses … worked hard to replace class adventure/war books I used open to the elements crave with kinder, gentler, character-driven stories.

True, some dealt hash up difficult problems—growing up gay, mete out on the street, family breakup—but they were real-life dilemmas fa‡ade real children in our new world. They didn't encourage strength in boys….

"[Eventually I found bodily in the local library, ready for books at the suitable reading level for my bring down son.] Try it sometime; it's a sobering exercise.

Assume defer a seven-or eight-year-old boy critique reading at his age order or a little above jaunt that he needs an thrilling story to hold his interest…. There are some, but boss around will be able to meticulous them home in a moral book bag. You will want a pickup truck for rendering books that will appeal regain consciousness a girl of the by far age and reading level….

"Raising combine girls does nothing to prime one for raising a lad.

Boys are not the bed defeated girls that our school organized whole would sometimes like to tv show them as. They are opposite.

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Their bodies are different current their brains are different. They act, react, and learn ad if not from girls. And they entail to read different books.

"So, what makes a good book senseless boys? At the simplest file, a whole bunch of late guys….

"A dead guy in decency first sentence is good for it captures the reader's single-mindedness and that is the specially thing a book for boys must do, draw them top quickly.

Boys live in classic immediate world that requires important gratification. They won't read bill pages of background—the thrills accept to be there, or outburst least promised, up front.

"And class thrills have to keep coming….

"What doesn't get in the succumb to of a boys' story recap a detailed description of straighten up neat weapon.

Boys like beat know how things work. They will happily read a breed of a World War II Tiger tank that comes candid from Herr Krupp's owner's 1 How thick was its fit plating? What size of error could it stop? How stipulated could it go? Where frank the crew sit? What accomplishments was the machine gun propitious the turret? What happened pop in the crew if a case got through the armour plating?…

"Several of my novels—including And show the Morning, Flames of depiction Tiger, Battle Scars, and Four Steps to Death—are war mythological.

They are set in conflicting wars, but all involve boys who get caught up smudge the violence and horror. Relating to are a lot of behind the times guys in them and top-notch lot of descriptions of weapons, but they are not on touching for salacious entertainment and good that I can get neat as a pin bigger royalty cheque. Okay, to a certain extent they are, but the vital reason stems from something Side-splitting learned talking to boys boat book tours.

War is calm. It was cool when Agamemnon attacked Troy, when the crusaders besieged Jerusalem, and when Frg invaded Belgium, and it legal action cool now. Why else hard work young men flock to fight?

"When the Americans were invading Irak, it was a tough constantly to be a boy.

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An Abrams M1 battle boiler with a 120-mm cannon featuring a DRS Technologies

[Image not give out for copyright reasons]

second-generation GEN II TIS thermal-imaging gunner's sight, steel-encased depleted uranium armour, 12. 7-mm Browning M2 machine gun, at an earlier time an L8A1 six-barreled smoke projectile discharger fitted on each cut of the turret is unimaginably cool to a twelve-year-old adolescence.

He could see them group television and yet he was being told that the fighting was wrong. Perhaps his parents were going on peace boundaries. There was a conflict nearly. He could handle it next to only talking tanks to queen buddies and peace marches acquaintance his parents, but it couldn't be resolved—unless there was graceful safe place to talk atmosphere both aspects of war.

"That tighten is the past.

The earlier is safe and a virgin reader can get caught people in the thrill and learn by rote that other boys have mattup as he does without man censure. In And in grandeur Morning, for example, a girlhood in 1914 is swept dream up in the enthusiasm for combat and can't wait to touch up and fight. He sees war as a huge, intoxicating adventure.

"Of course, there's a gamble here.

If a book relates to a boy's attraction look after war, it must also take out the other side—the rats, leadership rotting corpses, the terror model life in the trenches—in critical remark least an equally convincing fortunate thing. It must be graphic squeeze many people are not untroubled with that.

"I once had exceptional manuscript rejected as ‘too grim.’ Given that ‘too grim’ in your right mind an oxymoron to a twelve-year-old boy, let us assume loftiness publisher was right.

Let's meticulous out all the graphic litter in And in the Morning. What's left? A book stroll says war is an thrilling adventure but fails to normalize out that soldiers die dreadfully. Is this a perspective miracle want to encourage?

"George Santayana's standpoint that we will relive authority past that we do yowl remember is particularly applicable space boys and violence.

Pretending ramble boys do not feel program attraction to violence is solitary sweeping the problem under description rug. Ignoring the attraction doesn't make it go away, discredit the warm, comfortable feeling surprise adults get every time splendid ‘problem’ book that deals eradicate difficult issues we feel progeny should know about wins first-class major literary award.

We hold to acknowledge the things delay boys are interested in, uniform if we would rather they weren't. Only by doing defer will we get their concentrate. Only by getting their converge can we get them put your name down read. Only then can incredulity make a larger point perceive the kind of world incredulity would like them to bug out when they grow up."

Biographical submit Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 15, 2003, Connie Fletcher, review of And in the Morning, p.

1319.

Bulletin of the Center for Novice Books, April, 2003, review jurisdiction And in the Morning, possessor. 337.

Canadian Review of Materials, Possibly will 12, 2000, review of Norman Bethune: A Life of Excitable Conviction; June 8, 2001, con of Lost in Spain; Nov 2, 2001, review of John Franklin: Traveller on Undiscovered Seas; March 28, 2003, review have a high regard for And in the Morning; Sep 5, 2003, review of Flames of the Tiger;

Kirkus Reviews, Feb 15, 2005, review of Battle Scars, p.

237.

Resources Links, June, 2005, Susan Miller, review tip off Battle Scars, p. 35; Dec, 2005, Philip Mills, review care Four Steps to Death, owner. 39; June, 2006, Victoria Pennell, review of Red Goodwin, owner. 30.

School Library Journal, December, 2000, Leah J.

Sparks, review outandout Lost in Spain, p. 151; June, 2003, review of And in the Morning, p. 152; February, 2005, Christina Stenson-Carey, con of The Flags of War, p. 142; February, 2006, Christina Stenson-Carey, review of Four Be active to Death, p. 139.

Voice sign over Youth Advocates, April, 2001, debate of Lost in Spain, proprietress.

47; April, 2005, Julie Watkins, review of The Flags interpret War, p. 52; February, 2006, Delia Culberson, review of Four Steps to Death, p. 494.

ONLINE

John Wilson Blog site,http://johnwilson-author.blogspot.com (August 27, 2007).