Watch the book trailer for Betting Game
Author: Heather O'Connor
Heather M. O'Connor is an award-winning Canadian children's author of Fast Friends (Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz winner, TD Grade One Book Giveaway), Friends Find a Way, Runs with the Stars/Wiijibamatoon-Anangoonan, and Betting Game.
She loves meeting young readers and writers. Invite her to your school or event!
What’s inside the teachers’ guide?
Writing the author’s note made me think really hard about the book’s themes and characters. What was the most important part of the story? The takeaway? The message?
Spilling my secrets
The real-life news story that inspired Betting Game, and how an OPP expert in illegal gambling reinvented my bad guy. An interview on the Orca blog. #TuesdayTalk
Cut from the team (deleted scene)
If you play with people long enough, you get to know them pretty well. It’s true in team sports, and it’s true in writing. But sometimes, there’s just not enough room in the story. Sometimes we have to cut characters from the team.
That’s what happened to Jonesy. He’s Jack and Alex’s best friend and team captain. Stand-up guy. But he had to go. I just didn’t have room on my roster.
3 Question Thursday with Karen Krossing
Today, Toronto author Karen Krossing joins me for 3 Question Thursday.
Karen, you’ve written novels set in fantasy worlds and contemporary settings. Which do you find more challenging to write and why?