Philippa Dowding's Blog - Posts Tagged "ya-fiction"

I live in Toronto, and so far I have set three of my children's novels in this city. It's a great city to write about, with a lake, an island, a subway, a busy downtown with iconic buildings, and parks. Lots of parks.

I created an imaginary park for my third book, The Gargoyle at the Gates. I made a space with bushes, a wrought iron fence, a seahorse fountain, chess tables, and benches for sitting and listening to the gentle bubbling of the fountain. I called it Gatepost Park because I also imagined two gargoyles perched on the gates.

So far, the park only exists in my imagination, although it would be lovely if it really existed. If you ever find it, please send pictures! However, there is a park upon which Gatepost Park is loosely based, called Leslie Grove Park, in Toronto's east end. I went looking for pictures for a powerpoint presentation I'm doing, and found a very, very interesting bench, involving apples which figure large in my book. It's not quite Gatepost Park, but it's still pretty magical.

Here's a blog post: http://phdowding.blogspot.ca/2014/04/...

Thank you 49th Shelf, for comparing my YA book The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden to Judy Blume's classic, "Are you there God? It's me, Margaret." Really honoured at that, especially since Judy Blume's book was one of my well-thumbed favourites as a 12 year old.

AND, also many thanks to Aurora Public Library, for choosing The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden as their "Best of the Month" book in the YA reading corner.

Here's a longer blog post with a few more thoughts about Gwendolyn: http://phdowding.blogspot.ca/2015/07/...