Philippa Dowding's Blog - Posts Tagged "oculum"

Hey Goodreads, SO HONOURED to introduce OCULUM, my new middle grade dystopia, coming from Dancing Cat Books this spring, 2018!

Here's the back cover copy:

“William, you cannot go out that door. You have no idea what’s out there. If there IS anything out there!”

So says Miranda1 to William1 in their perfect, domed world of Oculum. They are the oldest children of the one thousand chosen, raised by robot Mothers, taught to read, write and tend the fruit trees, but in a closed world without love or freedom.

Then one day, William1 finds a hidden door. What awaits Outside?

A destroyed ancient city of rubble, where orphaned children like Mann and Cranker live rough with only Grannie to feed and protect them. It’s a world without beauty or fruit trees, plagued with death and hunger.

But change is coming, if only Miranda1 and William1 can find the way out of Oculum …"

OCULUM is available April/18. For media contact and preview copies, contact:
http://cormorantbooks.com/dcb/oculum/

TO PRE-ORDER: https://www.amazon.ca/Oculum-Philippa...

Happy Book Birthday to my new middle-grade, environmental dystopia: OCULUM is now available everywhere and its birthday is today, which also happens to be Earth Day.

Which is interesting, because the story is about a near future Earth, where humanity has survived plague, collapse and environmental disaster. Specifically, pollinators have all died off and there are no fruit trees anymore -- and who wants to live in a world without peaches?

Why is the book called OCULUM? What's it mean anyway? Were there specific challenges writing a middle-grade dystopia vs. a dystopia for young adults? What's the difference? What other middle-grade dystopias are there to recommend?

All that and more on my tell-all blog post today. Happy Book Birthday! http://phdowding.blogspot.ca/2018/04/...

Well-written and an imaginative description of a future world struggling to survive, Oculum ends on a positive note, and the book should appeal to both boys and girls in search of adventure. -- HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

What a great review for my new middle grade dystopia, thank you CM Magazine!

For more on OCULUM and a link to the entire CM review, visit my other blog: http://phdowding.blogspot.com/search/...

"OCULUM'S tone has a folksy and whimsical quality ... rich world-building and determined characters give it an originality that sets it apart"-- Quill & Quire, June/2018

What a wonderful review for OCULUM, my new middle grade dystopia. Thank you Quill & Quire!

I particularly love that they enjoyed the fragments of reality left over from our current world, like computer keyboard parts and William Shakespeare. But then, some literary "monuments" will last forever, won't they.

For a longer excerpt and a link to the full review and more: https://phdowding.blogspot.com/2018/0...

"Rich world-building and determined characters give it an originality that sets it apart"
-- Quill and Quire, JUNE 2018

If you love robots, dystopia, middle-grade fiction, enjoy meeting authors ... AND if you are going to Word on the Street in Toronto on Sunday, Sept. 23 ... (that's a lot of 'ifs' I realize) ...

... then I hope you'll come and find me at the Cormorant/Dancing Cat Books booth, #236, at 3 p.m. I'll be signing my new middle-grade dystopia, OCULUM, which is all about robots and the future of humanity.

It also includes a fair bit about peaches!

Come say hi. More info on my other blog here: http://phdowding.blogspot.com/2018/09...

Every year at this time, Canadian kid lit authors wait for the Best Books for Kids and Teens 2018 (fall edition) catalogue from the Canadian Children's Book Centre ...

... and I'm so happy to say that my middle grade dystopia, OCULUM, made the list! There are some great titles in the catalogue, I'm in super company, and very honoured to be there.

Thanks Canadian Children's Book Centre!

Here's a longer blog post, and a link to the catalogue online: http://phdowding.blogspot.com/2018/11...

Q6. Grannie can remember Cambridge and the boys’ choir there. How old does that make Grannie? How far in the future must we be? (38)

(See author's answer HERE: https://phdowding.blogspot.com/2018/1... )

My new middle-grade dystopia, OCULUM, has a brand new FREE Teacher's Guide, courtesy of my awesome publisher, DCB. That's a question from the guide, above.

Thanks guys!


There are also Free Teacher's Guides for 7 more of my books, including books from the award-winning Weird Stories Gone Wrong series, The Lost Gargoyle Books and more.

Check out the full list of all 8 FREE Teacher's Guides Here: https://phdowding.blogspot.com/2019/0...

Hey Librarian, Teacher and Author friends! I'll be signing OCULUM, my new middle-grade dystopia from DCB (formerly Dancing Cat Books), at the Ontario Library Association Super Conference this month.

When: Thursday, January 31/2019
Time: 2:40 pm
Where: OLASC, OBP Pavilion

Hope to see you there. Here's the full author signing list and more: https://phdowding.blogspot.com/2019/0...

I'm honoured to be the guest blogger over on the Kick-Butt KidLit blog, with a spotlight on Canadian authors this month!

They asked great questions like...

What's the Most Canadian Thing You've Ever Put In A Book? (The Chi-Cheemaun Ferry)

What would you like to see more of in the Canadian kid lit world? (More review sites)

AND, What's your BEST PIECE of Kick-Butt KidLit writing advice?

Here's the answer to that last one, over on the Kick-Butt Blog. Go see! You could win a copy of OCULUM, plus more great prizes, enjoy: https://bit.ly/2Tt1vq4

I COULD NOT be more honoured to announce that my new middle-grade dystopia, OCULUM, has been nominated for the SYRCA Diamond Willow Award 2019-2020!

Thank you so much to the SYRCA, keeping kids reading and engaged with books throughout Saskatchewan. I'm really honoured. Thanks also to my wonderful publisher, DCB Young Readers, for believing in this strange dystopian story for middle-graders.

Here's a longer blog post with the complete list of nominees and more: http://phdowding.blogspot.com/2019/04...