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Michael Bradford

Goodreads Author

Born

in St. Albert, Canada

Website

http://www.michaelbradford.ca

Twitter

MBradfordauthor

Genre

Young Adult, Children's, Poetry

Member Since

October 2014

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Michael Bradford was born in 1975 in St. Albert, Alberta. He grew up in Calgary, where his Mom and Dad drove him to the public library every week, but made him sit in the front seat and look out the window on the way back. He is grateful to them for both of these things.

Michael has worked as a grass cutter, waiter, pizza-delivery boy, literacy teacher, elementary-school vice-principal and published poet. Button Hill is his first novel for young readers. He lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, with his wife and two children.

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Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Michael Bradford One day I was reading Ezra Jack Keats picture books to some kids at school. In one, I saw a painting of a cat disappearing behind a door that had been…moreOne day I was reading Ezra Jack Keats picture books to some kids at school. In one, I saw a painting of a cat disappearing behind a door that had been turned on its side, and was leaning against a wall. It made me wonder what would happen if a boy opened a door to somewhere he shouldn’t? And if animals can go places people can’t?

Eventually I wrote Button Hill, and I was delighted when both of these things ended up happening in the book. You should read all of Ezra Jack Keats’ picture books. The stories are beautiful, and some of the paintings are so haunting.(less)

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where did you get the idea for the title "button hill?"

Michael Bradford Great question! Button Hill is the name of the small town where Dekker and Riley go to live with their strict Great-Aunt Primrose. The town is built o…moreGreat question! Button Hill is the name of the small town where Dekker and Riley go to live with their strict Great-Aunt Primrose. The town is built onto the top of a hill that sticks out in the middle of the prairies. I thought of the name, Button Hill, because it's one of the places in the world where the realms of the living and the dead overlap, like two sides of a shirt that are buttoned together in the front. I kept thinking I would change the name as the story went along, but Button Hill grew on me, and now it's here to stay!
-Michael(less)

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Combine Editions
Michael Bradford’s books

Average rating: 3.64 · 80 ratings · 22 reviews · 2 distinct works

	Button Hill 3.63 avg rating — 78 ratings — published 2015 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Personal Effects really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2004	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

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Michael Bradford's Blog

SASKATOON WORD ON THE STREET – SEE YOU THERE!

Hi Everyone,

I’ll be at Saskatoon’s The Word on the Street on Sunday, September 20th. I’ll be in the TREASURE ISLAND TENT from 3:00 – 3:30, reading from Button Hill and playing a few fun storytelling games – hopefully with you!

The Treasure Island Tent is right across from the Frances Morrison Library, on 23rd street between 3rd and 4th Avenue in sunny downtown Saskatoon. It will be sun

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Michael’s Recent Updates

Michael Bradford is now following Jacquie Buncel Author of Turning the Corner at Dusk
Jun 17, 2022 03:50PM · like

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Goodreads Librarians Group — 192221 members — last activity 1 minute ago
A place where all Goodreads members can work together to improve the Goodreads book catalog. Non-librarians are welcome to join the group as well, to ...more

¡ POETRY ! — 22316 members — last activity Mar 29, 2023 03:22PM
No pretensions: just poetry. Stop by, recommend books, offer up poems (excerpted), tempt us, taunt us, tell us what to read and where to go (to read No pretensions: just poetry. Stop by, recommend books, offer up poems (excerpted), tempt us, taunt us, tell us what to read and where to go (to read it!) Goodreads honors wordsmiths: poets and poetry promoted and prompted here. ~~~ "Poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits." -- Carl Sandburg “God has a brown voice, as soft and full as beer.” —Anne Sexton On Clouds – “…what primitive tastes the ancients must have had if their poets were inspired by those absurd, untidy clumps of mist, idiotically jostling one another about…” —Yevgeny Zamyatin “If the poet wants to be a poet, the poet must force the poet to revise. If the poet doesn’t wish to revise, let the poet abandon poetry and take up stamp-collecting or real estate.” —Donald Hall “Poetry is a rich, full-bodied whistle, cracked ice crunching in pails, the night that numbs the leaf, the duel of two nightingales, the sweet pea that has run wild, Creation’s tears in shoulder blades.” —Boris Pasternak “Wanted: a needle swift enough to sew this poem into a blanket.” —Charles Simic “Language is a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, while all the time we long to move the stars to pity.” —Gustave Flaubert “Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It’s that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that’s what the poet does.” —Allen Ginsberg. ~~~~~ Amy King, Moderator Amy King is the recipient of the 2015 Winner of the WNBA Award (Women’s National Book Association). Her latest collection, The Missing Museum, is a winner of the 2015 Tarpaulin Sky Book Prize. She serves on the executive board of VIDA: Women in Literary Arts and is co-editing with Heidi Lynn Staples the anthology, Big Energy Poets of the Anthropocene: When Ecopoets Think Climate Change. She is also co-editing the anthology, Bettering American Poetry 2015, and is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at SUNY Nassau Community College. ...more