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18 The Adventures of Stan and Leroy

Alan Cumyn
Ontario
Glen Huser
British Columbia
Alan Cumyn,  Ontario

Alan Cumyn is the author of several highly acclaimed but wildly different literary novels. Burridge Unbound and Man of Bone both won the Ottawa Book Award and were respectively shortlisted for the Giller Prize and the Trillium Book Award. His first novel for children, The Secret Life of Owen Skye, won the Mr. Christie’s Book Award and was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award. His new novel for young adults is Tilt. Read more

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Glen Huser,  British Columbia

Glen Huser has written many highly praised novels for young readers. He has won a number of awards such as the Mr. Christie Award, the Governor General’s Award and the R. Ross Annett Award. A teacher-librarian for most of his life, he lives in Vancouver where he continues to write, pursue his artwork and coach students working on their own books for young people. Read more

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Host: Susin Nielson
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 - 1:00pm - 2:30pm
Studio 1398
$17 / $8.50 for student groups

Two award-winning Canadian authors take the stage this afternoon to entrance readers with their latest creations. Alan Cumyn, who won the Mr. Christie’s Book Award and was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award and Glen Huser, winner of the Governor General’s Award, are well-established writers who understand the challenges faced by young people, no matter what the era. Huser’s hero Leroy, on the run in 1923, finds himself in a travelling show. Cumyn’s Stan is an intense, gently funny 16-year-old loner who is struggling through those impossibly absurd years of teenage life. Enjoy an afternoon where the battles are someone else’s to fight, not yours.

Suitable for grades 7–9

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View the study guide for this event.

The Adventures of Stan and Leroy

Two award-winning Canadian authors take the stage this afternoon to entrance readers with their latest creations. Alan Cumyn, who won the Mr. Christie’s Book Award and was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award, and Glen Huser, winner of the Governor General’s Award, are well established writers who understand the challenges faced by young people, no matter what the era. Huser’s hero Leroy, on the run in 1923, finds himself in a travelling show. Cumyn’s Stan is an intense, gently funny 16-year-old loner who is struggling through those impossibly absurd years of teenage life. Enjoy an afternoon where the battles are someone else’s to fight, not yours.

Curriculum Connection:

  • Writing to express personal responses to experiences
  • Discuss character traits and how a writer uses language to create characters
  • Explore writing dialogue
  • Combine different genres to tell a story: literature and visual art

Activities:

  1. Have students create a “doodle bio”. Have them conceptualize a simple cartoon version of themselves, a character which does not have to have physical likeness, but represents how they perceive themselves. Students should also write a back-story to their doodle self.
  2. Have students create a storyboard (a premise to a graphic novel), or panel of images that form a graphic short story, who's main character is their cartoon self.
  3. Teens writing about Teens: Have students conceive a character who is different from them in some way – from a different part of the world, a different sex, or a different sexual orientation. After conceiving this character, they may have to conduct research and write a short back-story. Then, they will be able to write a short piece about their character. This will allow students to consider adolescent life from a different perspective than their own, as well as teach them the value in having a back-story to creating a whole and believable character.

More Resources:

Creative Writing Resources: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blast/writing/

How to Write with Style, by Kurt Vonnegut: http://www.peterstekel.com/PDF-HTML/Kurt%20Vonnegut%20advice%20to%20writers.htm

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