Sunshine Coast authors Gary Kent and Kim La Fave have teamed up again to launch a sequel to their very successful children's book, Fishing with Gubby, which was nominated for several awards when it was published in 2010, including the Governor General's Literary Award for Children (illustration) and a BC Book Prize for best book published in B.C.
Their new book, Gubby Builds a Boat (Harbour Publishing), continues Gubby's adventures.
In Gubby Builds a Boat, Gubby, a salmon fisherman, his nephew Cam and his cat Puss are headed home to Gibsons on his beloved fishing troller, the Flounder, when they begin taking on water. After a trip to Grumpy Bob's shop to see what is wrong, it becomes apparent that Gubby needs a new boat. So they travel to Steveston, where Gubby's best pal Minoru, a Japanese boat builder, helps Gubby, Cam, and Puss through all the steps of building a wooden gillnetter over the winter season.
Building a fishing boat is hard work - they must choose the perfect fir timber for the new boat's keel, steam and bend its ribs and planks, apply the paint and finishing touches and await the exciting arrival of the heavy diesel engine. Along the way, Gubby and Cam also get to experience the excitement of life on the wharfs of Steveston. There is a wildly unsuccessful duck hunting trip, an eerie Halloween party on the docks and many more seaside antics. And when the Flounder Too is finally complete, all their friends, old and new, join in on the big celebration.
La Fave is the illustrator of Amos's Sweater, winner of the Ruth Schwartz Children's Book Award and the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Award for illustration, Follow That Star, the bestselling The Bones Book and Skeleton and many other children's books.
Kent was a commercial fisherman and salmon troller for 10 years. In addition to being a children's author, he is a furniture maker and instructor at the Inside Passage School of Fine Woodworking. Kent lives in Roberts Creek. Gubby Builds a Boat is his second book.
To launch Gubby Builds a Boat, the authors will be signing books at a special Fall Faire book signing at Bluewaters Books in Madeira Park Plaza, on Saturday, Oct. 6, from noon to 2 p.m.
On Thursday, Oct. 11, they will have a book launch at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre in Sechelt from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. The book launch will feature an author reading and presentation and refreshments. Admission is free and books will be available for sale by Talewind Books.
- Submitted
