Available for virtual tours in: Manitoba, Quebec & the Yukon
Craft: Author
Genre: Picture Books, Middle Grade Books, YA
Grades: Grades 1-12
Cost for School and Public Virtual Readings Program: $200.00, plus applicable taxes
Website: shanepeacock.ca
Presentation Information
I offer upbeat sessions for students all the way from grade 4 to 12 about why I think reading and writing are the most exciting things a kid (or adults) can do. These presentations are meant to appeal to all ages and genders within audiences, though teachers often comment that they have a particularly positive effect on boys and reluctant readers. I discuss why it took me a while to get interested in reading as a kid, how I became a writer, and the wild and crazy things I have written about, including sumo wrestling, high-wire walking and “silent killing.” I tell the story of The Great Farini, from my first book, as Farini duels Blondin the Magnificent high above Niagara Falls on a rope in 1860, and use it to show students how to tell stories and how they work. I describe how I conceived and wrote the best-selling, award-winning series The Boy Sherlock Holmes, the very Canadian Dylan Maples Adventures and Last Message in The Seven Series, Double You in The Seven Sequels, and Separated in The Seven Prequels, as well as my Teen Gothic horror trilogy, The Dark Missions of Edgar Brim, and my now re-booted first YA series The Dylan Maples Adventures. I show trailers for them, tell a little about their action, reveal a few more secrets of the trade, and deliver a short, dramatic reading from one of the novels. Students are encouraged to interact. Sometimes, I even give lessons on how to walk high wires and sumo wrestle!
IN ADDITION … For the even younger audiences, grades 1 to 3, I present The Artist and Me, my picture book about the famous painter Vincent van Gogh, being bullied by a child – messages about bullying, art and history abound!
IN ADDITION TO THE ADDITION … I also offer workshops to students from grades 4 through 12, presenting stimulating, interactive lessons in the writing process.
All that is needed to do a presentation is a projector of some sort, with speakers, that can be hooked up to my laptop, and a table to display my books. I always try to arrive about half an hour before the start time, in order to help set up.
Book List
Demon [The Dark Missions of Edgar Brim, Book 3] (Tundra Books, 2019)
Phantom of Fire [A Dylan Maples Adventure] (Nimbus Publishing, 2019)
Monster [The Dark Missions of Edgar Brim, Book 2] (Tundra Books, 2018)
The Mystery of Ireland’s Eye [A Dylan Maples Adventure] (Nimbus Publishing, reprint 2018)
The Secret of the Silver Mines [A Dylan Maples Adventure] (Nimbus Publishing, reprint 2018)
Bone Beds of the Badlands [A Dylan Maples Adventure] (Nimbus Publishing, reprint 2018)
Monster in the Mountains [A Dylan Maples Adventure] (Nimbus Publishing, reprint 2018)
The Dark Missions of Edgar Brim (Tundra Books, 2016)
The Artist and Me by Shane Peacock, illustrated by Sophie Casson (Owlkids Books, 2016)
Separated [Seven, The Prequels] (Orca Book Publishers, 2016)
Double You [Seven, The Sequels] (Orca Book Publishers, 2014)
Becoming Holmes [The Boy Sherlock Holmes: His Final Case] (Tundra Books, 2012)
Last Message [Seven, The Series] (Orca Book Publishers, 2012)
The Dragon Turn [The Boy Sherlock Holmes: His Fifth Case] (Tundra Books, 2011)
The Secret Fiend [The Boy Sherlock Holmes: His Fourth Case] (Tundra Books, 2010)
Vanishing Girl [The Boy Sherlock Holmes: His Third Case] (Tundra Books, 2009)
Death in the Air [The Boy Sherlock Holmes: His Second Case] (Tundra Books, 2008)
Eye of the Crow [The Boy Sherlock Holmes: His First Case] (Tundra Books, 2007)
Unusual Heroes: Canada’s Prime Ministers and Fathers of Confederation (Puffin Canada, 2002)
Biography
Author, playwright, journalist, and screenwriter, Shane Peacock has always been interested in larger-than-life characters and different ways to tell their stories. His first book, The Great Farini, was the true account of a man who walked over Niagara Falls on a high wire. His Dylan Maples Adventures for young adults followed the exploits of an unusual fictional character, and his journalism for the likes of Reader’s Digest and Sports Illustrated, and documentaries for History Television and Canada’s CTV national network, and plays for the acclaimed 4th Line Theatre have featured sumo wrestlers, spies, and street preachers. His Boy Sherlock Holmes series, beginning with Eye of the Crow, and followed by Death in the Air, Vanishing Girl, The Secret Fiend, The Dragon Turn, and Becoming Holmes, are the first novels to recount the childhood adventures of literature’s most famous detective.
These books have been nominated for and won more than sixty awards worldwide, including the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Award, The Libris Award, and The Violet Downey Award, all for Best YA Novel in Canada, the Arthur Ellis Award (twice) for best YA crime fiction, the Geoffrey Bilson Award for best historical YA novel, six consecutive Junior Library Guild of America Premier Selections, three nominations for the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award, and three Canadian Library Association Honour Book awards. In addition, Becoming Holmes was a 2013 finalist for The Governor-General’s Award. The series has sold well over 150,000 copies and been translated into twelve languages in ten countries. The Ottawa Citizen said that “The vitality of Peacock’s creation of Sherlock Holmes is so inspired it feels like the writer is possessed, channeling Sherlock’s spirit.”
As well, Shane’s novel Last Message is part of the groundbreaking Seven, the Series: connected novels by seven of Canada’s most acclaimed Young Adult authors, about seven grandsons seeking to complete the dramatic bucket list of their late grandfather. All seven books were published on the same day in the fall of 2012. The sequel, Double You, (part of The Seven Sequels) was published in 2014, and the prequel, Separated (part of The Seven Prequels) in 2016.
His first picture book, The Artist and Me, (a Junior Library Guild of America selection, Blue Spruce Award finalist, Kirkus Reviews Book of the Year nominee, Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award nominee) appeared in 2016. His first novel in the Teen Gothic Horror trilogy, The Dark Missions of Edgar Brim (John Spray Award nominee) also appeared that year, from Tundra Books, the second book in that series, Monster, in early 2018, and the third, Demon, in 2019 from Penguin Teen Canada. That same year Nimbus published the first Dylan Maples Adventure in sixteen years, entitled Phantom of Fire.
In demand as a public speaker, Peacock has appeared in many hundreds of schools across Canada, the U.S. and Europe, as well as at many national and international conventions, and on television and radio. His presentations are upbeat and dramatic, designed to get young people, students, teachers, and other adults excited about reading and literature in general.