Deborah Ellis and Writing for Young Minds

The Challenge of Reaching out to Young Minds
​by Donna White

​Authors who write for children face a unique challenge. They are writing for young minds: young impressionable, malleable minds; minds that can be shaken and challenged, uplifted and restored.

But in this task a middle or young adult author must beware. In this attempt to show the ways of the world, to teach or present a moral, he or she must do it subtly, between the lines, so to speak, because any hint of anything didactic will be felt on the very pages a child turns and the book will be closed, never to be opened again.


The author of books for children understands the need, the craving children have in wanting to understand the world around them. They know that their audience is very capable of hearing the truth about the injustices that go on outside of their four walls.  
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Deborah Ellis is a master of this. She has exposed thousands of children, and adults, to the inequalities of our world through her fine grasp of storytelling. Stories that shed light on the horrid treatment of women and children in Afghanistan, the plight of AIDS victims in Malawi, and the slavery of children in cocaine trafficking in Columbia. Her books place the issues of poverty, racism, terrorism, and homosexuality to the forefront and shake the readers’ core, leaving them informed and equipped to make a difference in the world.

Ellis is the recipient of the Governor General's Literary Award, the Jane Addams Children's Book Award, the Vicky Metcalf Award, the Ruth Schwartz Award, the Middle East Book Award, Sweden’s Peter Pan Prize, the Children's Africana Book Award Honor for Older Readers, the Ontario Library Association’s President’s Award for Exceptional Achievement and named to the Order of Canada. In 2017, her novel, The Breadwinner, debuted as a feature animated film, produced in association with Angelina Jolie.

But nothing makes note of Ellis true character than the fact that she donates the royalties of her books to such organizations as "Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan", Street Kids International, the Children in Crisis Fund of International Board on Books for Young People, and UNICEF. Her goodness and compassion are in step with her exceptional skills as a writer.
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Hope you can come to NOWW’s LitFest events this coming Friday and Saturday, May 10th and 11th. We have a fantastic spread: A reading and conversation with CBC Radio’s Cathy Alex and Deborah Ellis at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery on Friday May 10th at 7:00, a workshop with Ellis at the Mary J.L. Black Library from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, May 11th, and of course, the Gala that evening at the Art Gallery at 7:00, for a chance to mingle and congratulate the winners of this year’s writing contest.
See you there!

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Donna White is the author of the Stones trilogy. An avid traveler, she enjoys visiting other countries and experiencing everything each culture has to offer. From interviewing former child soldiers in Gulu, Uganda, to celebrating Shubho Noboborsho in Chittagong, Bangladesh, and sitting amongst a troop of chimpanzees in the rainforest, Donna embraces every experience to the maximum. Her writing takes on a very serious role: to reveal situations in the world that aren’t regarded as newsworthy but should be.
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She resides in Canada with her husband, children, dogs, cats and horses on their hobby farm in Northwestern Ontario. You can visit her website at www.donnawhitebooks.com to find photo galleries, teaching resources, and much more.