Glen Downey (born October 15, 1969) is a Canadian children's author, teacher, and academic from Oakville, Ontario. His publications include more than ninety books for young people across a variety of genres that focus specifically on the development of child and adolescent literacy and numeracy. Downey is best known as the series editor of Graphic Poetry, winner of both the 2010 "Texty" Award from the Text and Academic Authors Association,[1] and the 2011 Teachers' Choice Award for Children's Books from Learning magazine.[2] Downey came up with the concept for Graphic Poetry as a way of making poetry engaging for 21st century readers. Several of Downey's books are for award-winning educational series developed by Rubicon Publishing. These include Boldprint, The 10, Boldprint Graphic Readers, and Boldprint Graphic Novels.[3][4]
Downey was born in Hamilton, Ontario, and from an early age took an interest in reading. Although he was routinely encouraged by teachers to read books that would challenge him, Downey's formative reading consisted almost exclusively of comic books, Choose Your Own Adventure novels, Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, and the manuals and rulebooks of fantasy and science-fiction role-playing games, specifically Dungeons & Dragons and BattleTech.[5]
Downey's interest in games eventually served to direct the course of his education. He received his B.A. from McMaster University in 1991, and his M.A. a year later, writing his Masters’ Thesis on the chess problem in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass. He earned a Ph.D. in English from the University of Victoria in 1998, expanding on his previous graduate work in examining the development of the chess motif in the Victorian novel.[6]
After teaching at both the University of Victoria and the University of British Columbia, where he won the Ian Fairclough Prize for Teaching in 2000,[7] Downey left to pursue a B.Ed. in English and Mathematics Education at the University of Western Ontario’s Althouse College. While in the program, he submitted the manuscript for his first book, The Fifty Fatal Flaws of Essay Writing, which Althouse published in 2002.[8] Since then, he has held a variety of teaching and administrative positions at public and private institutions, and has taught courses in Children’s Literature and Twenty-First Century Literacies in the graduate education program at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.
Children’s writing
Downey’s interest in writing for children and young adults was motivated by his own formative reading experiences.[5] He was introduced to Rubicon by David Boyd while the two were colleagues at Appleby College.[5] Downey’s first book for Rubicon was Games for the award-winning Boldprint series. His most prolific year to date was 2009, with 47 books published across three different series. Recent work includes the Rubicon/Oxford series, Interface, a combination of texts and online platforms designed to "help students build the skills of critical inquiry."[9]
Works
Boldprint
Games (2004)
Images of war (2004)
Famous Trials (2004)
Medieval Warfare (2006), with Jayn Arnold
Motorbikes (2006), with Mark Treleaven
Suspense (2007)
Timeline
Fire Mountain (2006), illustrated by Liam Thurston
Rebel Prince (2006), illustrated by David Okum
Gladiator (2006), illustrated by Andrew Barr
Escape from East Berlin (2007), illustrated by Leo Lingas
Ice Journey (2006), illustrated by Glenn Brucker
Freedom Train (2007), illustrated by Leigh Dragoon
The Great Siege (2007), illustrated by Mike Rooth
Master Leonardo (2007), with Jayn Arnold, illustrated by Mike Rooth
Miracle Men (2007), illustrated by Anthony Brennan
The 10
Most Remarkable Writers (2007), with Jayn Arnold
Deadliest Military Inventions (2007)
Greatest Sports Showdowns (2007)
Worst Sports Scandals (2007)
Greatest Hockey Teams (2007), with Kirsten Tenebaum
Coolest Ways to Fly (2007), with Sandie Cond
Hottest Hollywood Cars (2007), with Maria Malara
Most Extreme Jobs (2007)
Most Significant Documents (2007)
Most Unforgettable Moments in NASCAR (2007)
Most Memorable TV Moments (2007)
Smartest Animals (2007)
Most Decisive Battles (2007)
Graphic Poetry
Paul Revere's Ride (2009), illustrated by Mike Rooth
The Eagle / The Kraken (2009), illustrated by Jeremy Bennison
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (2009), illustrated by Jeremy Bennison
Mother to Son / Harlem Night Song (2009), illustrated by Martin Wittfooth
Same Song / Maestro (2009), illustrated by Louise Ferguson
Colonel Fazackerley Butterworth Toast (2009), illustrated by Mike Rooth
This is a Photograph of Me / Girl and Horse, 1928 (2009), Alan Cook
The March of the Dead (2009), illustrated by Mike Rooth
The Woman I Am in My Dreams / Now I See You (2009), illustrated by Daisy Chan
Southbound on the Freeway / Water Picture (2009), illustrated by Robin Joseph
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