Presentations
Presentation Description
Lorna’s presentations and workshops are lively and fun and can be tailored to fit the age and the group. She uses the school curriculum to help with her plan her presentation. She can present to all age groups, is open to groups of any size and is definitely open to travel. Lorna’s books deal with relationship choices, bullying, teamwork, family dynamics, resolving conflicts, group roles, understanding and expressing feelings, commitment and perseverance. She can talk about fiction and non-fiction, and she also loves writing workshops.
School Author Visit – Fun, lively and full of inspiration, Lorna will work with the curriculum and discuss all kinds of things about writing and reading. She will discuss where she gets her ideas from, how she puts them into words and, for the older grades, she loves to talk about editing. Her visit will include how she goes from idea to finished product, editing, and some of the tricks and secrets of publishing both fiction and non-fiction, in other words she will give you the inside scoop. She will encourage the students to love reading and writing. Of course, she will read from one of her novels to instill that love of reading. A question and answer period will end the visit!
Breakdown of Presentations according to grades.
Division 1: Grades 1-3
PICTURE BOOK FUN
All of Lorna’s picture books fit in perfectly with the elementary Social Studies units about belonging, connecting and identity. Lorna ties in the ELA curriculum by talking about where she gets her ideas and how she organizes them into a book. And she shows how the illustrator takes her ideas and draws amazing pictures. She has fun worksheets and loves to get the kids drawing.
GOOD MORNING, SUNSHINE! THE JOEY MOSS STORY
Good Morning, Sunshine! (iIlustrated by Alice Carter) is about the legend Joey Moss. Joey proved to the world that people born with Down syndrome can be active in their communities. His story is remarkable, and Lorna will talk about how everyone matters. She will show real photos of Joey! She has fun worksheets for this presentation.
WHAT TO BRING
Lorna’s picture book What to Bring (illustrated by Ellen Rooney) is a story about being evacuated during a forest fire. It is about family and what is important in our lives. Lorna will make the students think about what they would bring in the event of an evacuation from a fire or flood, and even get them to draw pictures. With this story, she will explain about writing a picture book and how she took a real-life experience and made it into a book.
THE GIRL WHO LOVED POUTINE
This is a fun book about Zoey (illustrated by Rachel Qiuqi) who loves to have poutine on her birthday, which happens to be on July 1st. Her family brings poutine dishes to her birthday party, and they are from different parts of Canada, including as far east as Newfoundland, as far west as BC and even north to Yellowknife. The kids can have fun drawing their favourite birthday meal.
Division 2: Grades 4-6
INSPIRATION: WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?
Taking the Ice (Scholastic Canada, 2021), is a novel about leadership, dealing with anxiety, teamwork, being kind, and friendship. Lorna will answer the question: Where do you get your ideas from? All of her middle-grade novels fit in well with the Health and Life Skills curriculum component because they deal with helping others, dealing with stress, and managing time. She ties in the ELA curriculum by talking about the writing process and the planning and plotting that goes into writing a story, as well as editing. Lorna also has a non-fiction series (Amazing Hockey Stories) and the newest book is on Leon Draisaitl (Scholastic Canada, 2023). How does she get information for a non-fiction story? What is important? What does she leave out? She will give info on research techniques for both fiction and non-fiction.
Division 3: Grades 7-9
FROM A TO B: HOW TO WRITE AND FINISH A STORY!
How to start a story? How to finish a story? Lorna will use her One-2-One series to discuss how she researches to develop characters, writes an outline to start and finish, and allows those on-the-spot ideas to find a place in the story. This series works well with the Health and Life Skills curriculum. How do her characters who have high-functioning autism/Asperger’s, Down syndrome, a brain injury, and Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder understand people around them? How do the characters make choices that help them along the way? If requested, Lorna can talk about the difference between fiction and non-fiction. She goes into detail about the editing process. And she loves to read to teens!
Division 4: Grades 10-12
WRITING YOUR PASSION
Lorna’s young adult novel, When You Least Expect It, (Red Deer Press, 2021), has a personal story behind it. This session will encourage students to pull stories from their lives to create a story. Lorna will also talk about how she learned a new writing technique (verse) after fifty published books. And about why she wrote this book? And why did she make the decision to write parts of it in verse? This will tie in with the ELA curriculum. Lorna also writes non-fiction, (Grit and Glory – Edmonton Oilers 40th anniversary book), so either/or both can be the topic of discussion, depending on the needs of the students. How does she research? How does she interview? What are some interesting interview techniques she’s used? How to compile the interviews to make a narrative story.
Workshops / Presentations / Speaking Engagements
Lorna is available for Keynote Speaking for adult and children’s events as well as Workshops and/or her Presentations.