Ted Staunton (born March 29, 1956) is a Canadian author and teacher, best known for his

children's books A child (plural, : children) is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers ...

and numerous series. He has published nearly sixty titles. ''Puddleman'', his first major work, starting life as an assignment in university, but was later illustrated by internationally recognized artist

Brenda Clark Brenda Clark (born February 10, 1955) is a Canadian illustrator, perhaps best known for her work on the Franklin the Turtle series of children's books. She was born in Toronto and studied illustration at Sheridan College. She now lives in Port H ...

. Some of Staunton's titles include the ''Maggie and Cyril series'', ''What Blows Up'', and award-winning ''Who I'm Not''. He also teaches a course, "Writing Children's Fiction", through George Brown College, Toronto. Staunton lives with his family in Port Hope, Ontario. Many of his stories take place in Port Hope.

Written works

Series

Working across multiple publishers, Staunton has written and developed, and contributed to, several series. He wrote ''Jump Cut'', ''Coda'', and ''Speed'', contributing to the over-arching SEVEN series, published by Orca Books. For Scholastic Canada, Staunton contributed ''What Blows Up'', part of The Almost Epic Squad. In the 1980s, he published several of his own children's picture books, including his first, ''Puddleman'', plus ''Taking Care of Crumley'', ''Harry and Clare's Amazing Staycation''. Other series he has created include ''Maggie and Cyril'' for middle-schoolers, and ''Morgan'' for young children.

Illustrators

Staunton has worked with numerous illustrators. He worked with Britt Wilson, the illustrator for The Almost Epic Squad series. For ''Puddleman'', Staunton worked with local illustrator

, widely known for her work on the Franklin the Turtle series, (which was migrated to several television series). ''Taking Care of Crumley'' was illustrated by Tina Holdcroft. Holdcroft has illustrated over thirty children's books, and seventy adult books.

Collaborations

Quill & Quire ''Quill & Quire'' is a Canadian magazine about the book and publishing industry. The magazine was launched in 1935 and has an average circulation of 5,000 copies per issue, with a publisher-claimed readership of 25,000. ''Quill & Quire'' reviews ...

'' magazine reported on

Scholastic Canada Scholastic Corporation () is an American multinational publishing, education, and media company that publishes and distributes books, comics, and educational materials for schools, parents, and children. Products are distributed via retail and on ...

bringing together four veterans of

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

: Ted Staunton, Kevin Sylvester, Richard Scrimger, and Lesley Livingston. They produced a four-book progressing series, ''The Almost Epic Squad'', about different-aged, different-grade school kids who develop strange superpowers. The first in the series was published in Autumn 2018, with Staunton writing the second in the series, ''What Blows Up'', published early 2019. ''What Blows Up'' follows Gary, who has developed telekinetic powers. For Orca Books, Staunton contributed to the SEVEN series, later a series of sequels, still later a series of prequels. With Staunton, contributors to the three SEVEN series include John Wilson, Richard Scrimger,

Norah McClintock Norah McClintock (March 11, 1952 – February 6, 2017) was a Canadian writer of young adult fiction who published more than 60 books. She won five Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence. Biography McClintock was born March 11, 1952 in P ...

Sigmund Brouwer Sigmund Brouwer (born 1959) is a prolific Canadian author of children's, young adult, and adult books. He has over 100 titles and four million books in print. Brouwer's novel, ''Dead Man's Switch'', won the Arthur Ellis Award in 2015 for Canada ...

and

Shane Peacock Shane Peacock may refer to: * Shane Peacock (writer) (born 1957), Canadian novelist * Shane Peacock (ice hockey) (born 1973), Canadian ice hockey player * Shane Peacock (fashion designer), Indian fashion designer and judge of the Femina Miss India ...

COVID-19

In March 2020, during the beginning of

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, ''Quill & Quire'' magazine published an article, "What – and how – to read with your child during a crisis". Within this, author Shanda Deziel recommended 14 books (and an additional free e-book donated by Orca Books) to help parents effectively aid their children during school closures in regions under lockdown. Staunton's book ''Harry and Clare's Amazing Staycation'' from 2017 was one of the recommendations.

Awards

In 2013, Staunton wrote ''Who I'm Not''. This follows the story of a teenager who has lost his name, is trained by a con-artist to help run con schemes. It was inspired by the story of

Frédéric Bourdin Frédéric Pierre Bourdin (born 13 June 1974)Mick Brown''The Daily Telegraph'', 11 August 2012. is a French serial impostor the press has nicknamed "The Chameleon". He began his impersonations as a child and claims to have assumed at least 500 fa ...

, as reported in ''The New Yorker''. Grann, David (11 August 2008)
"The Chameleon: The many lives of Frédéric Bourdin,"
''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

''. Book reviewer Cecile Sune notes, "If it wasn't based on a true story, I would have thought that the book was too far-fetched and would have dismissed it as too unbelievable. As it is, it turns out to be a fast-paced and highly entertaining story. However, I thought that Ted Staunton followed Frédéric Bourdin's real life story a little bit too closely, and it somewhat spoiled the book for me." She adds, "The ending is quite different from what happened in real life though, which is good." In 2014, ''Quill & Quire'' magazine announced ''Who I'm Not'' as the recipient of The John Spray Mystery Award.

Bibliography

Sources: Goodreads, Ted Staunton Books

Young children

Picture books

#''Puddleman'' (1983) #''Taking Care of Crumley'' (1984) #''Simon's Surprise'' (1986) #''Miss Fishley Afloat'' (1990) #''Anna Takes Charge'' (1993) #''Harry and Clare's Amazing Staycation'' (2017) #''A Friends for Real'' (2020)

Morgan series

#''Morgan Makes Magic'' (1997) #''Morgan and the Money'' (1998) #''Morgan's Secret'' (2000) #''Great Play, Morgan!'' (2001) #''Morgan's Birthday'' (2002) #''Morgan's Pet Plot'' (2003) #''Morgan Makes a Splash'' (2004) #''Morgan Makes a Deal'' (2005) #''Super Move, Morgan!'' (2006) #''Campfire Morgan'' (2007) #''Pucker Up, Morgan'' (2008) #''Daredevil Morgan'' (2009) #''Music by Morgan'' (2010) #''Morgan and the Dune Racer'' (2011) #''Morgan Gets Cracking'' (2012) #''Morgan on Ice'' (2013) #''Morgan's Got Game'' (2014) #''Morgan the Brave'' (2018)

Middle grades

Monkey Mountain series

#''Two False Moves'' (2002) #''Monkey Mountain Monster'' (2002) #''Forgive Us Our Travises'' (2002) #''Princess'' (2002) #''Second Banana'' (2002) #''Stinky'' (2002) #''Trouble with Girls'' (2002)

Almost Epic series

#''The Almost Epic Squad: What Blows Up'' (2019)

Mystery

#''Bounced'' (2017)

Young Adult

Maggie & Cyril series

#''Greenapple Street Blues (The Greenapple Street Geniuses, #2)'' (1987) #''Mushmouth and the Marvel'' (1988) #''Great Minds Think Alike'' (1989) #''Maggie And Me'' (1990) #''Taking the Long Way Home'' (1992)

Hope Springs series

#''Hope Springs a Leak'' (2002) #''Sounding Off'' (2004) #''Acting Up'' (2010)

Dreadful Truth series

#''The Dreadful Truth: Confederation (Dreadful Truth Series)'' (2004) #''The Dreadful Truth: Building The Railway'' (2005) #''The Dreadful Truth: Canadian Crime'' (2006) #''The Dreadful Truth: The Northwest Passage'' (2007) #''The Dreadful Truth: Gold Rush'' (2008)

Musician series

#''Power Chord'' (2011) #''Ace's Basement'' (2013)

SEVEN series

#''Jump Cut (Spencer #1; Seven #3)'' (2012) #''Coda (Spencer #2)'' (2014) #''Speed (Spencer #0.5)'' (2019)

Film School series

#''Scène Finale'' (2017) #''Pov'' (2017)

Mystery

#''Who I'm Not'' (2013)

Sports

#''Hustle'' (2014)

History for Kids

#''It Seemed Like a Good Idea... Canadian Feats, Facts and Flubs'' (2020)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Staunton, Ted Canadian children's writers 1956 births Living people