Richard Scrimger facts for kids

Richard Scrimger (born in 1957) is a Canadian writer. He has written many books since 1996, and he is most famous for his children's stories. He has also written three books for adults.

Scrimger has won the Mr. Christie Award for his book The Nose From Jupiter. He has also been nominated for many other awards. Many of his books have been chosen for "Best-of" or "Top-ten" lists by libraries and publications like the Young Adult Library Services Association and the American Library Association. His books have been translated into many languages, including French, German, and Korean.

Who is Richard Scrimger?

Early Life and Education

Richard Scrimger was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1957. When he was two years old, his family moved to Toronto, Ontario. He went to Edgewood Public School, Deer Park Public School, and North Toronto Collegiate Institute. He has described himself as a mix of a "class clown" and a "nerd." He earned both scholarships for good grades and detentions for mischief!

In 1979, he graduated from the University of Toronto. He studied History and English. After university, he worked as a waiter and traveled around Europe. It was during this time that he started writing his first novel, but it was never published.

Starting His Writing Career

Richard Scrimger later returned to Toronto. He got married and started a family. He worked in restaurants in the evenings and took care of his children during the day. In the early 1990s, he noticed the homeless people in downtown Toronto. Their stories inspired his book Crosstown (1996). This book mixes sad moments with funny ones, a style Scrimger often uses in his writing.

While attending a writing program, Scrimger wrote a funny story. It was about a stay-at-home dad going shopping with his kids. This story and others were published in The Globe and Mail. Later, they became part of his book Still Life With Children (1997).

Writing for Young Readers

A family friend and children's writer, Claire Mackay, asked Scrimger to write a story for her funny collection called Laughs. He wrote "Introducing Norbert," a story about an alien who lives inside a boy's nose. This story was so popular that it became a full novel, The Nose From Jupiter (1998). It was a huge success! This led to three more books about Norbert: A Nose For Adventure, Noses Are Red, and The Boy From Earth.

Scrimger's book The Way to Schenectady (1998) is based on car trips he took with his family when he was a child. Its sequel, Of Mice and Nutcrackers (2001), was inspired by his own experiences acting in plays.

He also wrote the "Bun Bun" picture books, which are for younger children. These stories are loosely based on his own kids' lives.

Books with Unique Characters

In From Charlie's Point of View (2005), the main character, Charlie Fairmile, is blind. Scrimger liked the idea of a blind hero. He also has very poor eyesight himself, which helped him imagine Charlie's world. This book started as a short TV script and took Scrimger a year to turn into a full novel.

His 2007 novel, Into the Ravine, is set in a creek area. This setting was inspired by a creek at the bottom of his own backyard when he was a child living in Scarborough.

His book Me & Death: An Afterlife Adventure came out in 2010. It tells the story of Jim, a fourteen-year-old boy who has an adventure in the afterlife after being hit by a car.

Where is Richard Scrimger Now?

Richard Scrimger lives in Toronto, Ontario. He also teaches at the Humber College School for Writers in Toronto. His children, who are now adults, are a big inspiration for his stories and are very important to him.