Ted Staunton facts for kids
Ted Staunton (born March 29, 1956) is a Canadian author and teacher, best known for his children's books and numerous series. He has published nearly sixty titles.
Puddleman, his first major work, starting life as an assignment in university, but was later illustrated by internationally recognized artist Brenda Clark. Some of Staunton's titles include the Maggie and Cyril series, What Blows Up, and award-winning Who I'm Not. He also teaches a course, "Writing Children's Fiction", through George Brown College, Toronto.
Staunton lives with his family in Port Hope, Ontario. Many of his stories take place in Port Hope.
Written works
Series
Working across multiple publishers, Staunton has written and developed, and contributed to, several series. He wrote Jump Cut, Coda, and Speed, contributing to the over-arching SEVEN series, published by Orca Books. For Scholastic Canada, Staunton contributed What Blows Up, part of The Almost Epic Squad. In the 1980s, he published several of his own children's picture books, including his first, Puddleman, plus Taking Care of Crumley, Harry and Clare's Amazing Staycation. Other series he has created include Maggie and Cyril for middle-schoolers, and Morgan for young children.
Illustrators
Staunton has worked with numerous illustrators. He worked with Britt Wilson, the illustrator for The Almost Epic Squad series. For Puddleman, Staunton worked with local illustrator Brenda Clark, widely known for her work on the Franklin the Turtle series, (which was migrated to several television series). Taking Care of Crumley was illustrated by Tina Holdcroft. Holdcroft has illustrated over thirty children's books, and seventy adult books.
Collaborations
Quill & Quire magazine reported on Scholastic Canada bringing together four veterans of children's literature: Ted Staunton, Kevin Sylvester, Richard Scrimger, and Lesley Livingston. They produced a four-book progressing series, The Almost Epic Squad, about different-aged, different-grade school kids who develop strange superpowers. The first in the series was published in Autumn 2018, with Staunton writing the second in the series, What Blows Up, published early 2019. What Blows Up follows Gary, who has developed telekinetic powers.
For Orca Books, Staunton contributed to the SEVEN series, later a series of sequels, still later a series of prequels. With Staunton, contributors to the three SEVEN series include John Wilson, Richard Scrimger, Norah McClintock, Sigmund Brouwer and Shane Peacock.
COVID-19
In March 2020, during the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic, Quill & Quire magazine published an article, "What – and how – to read with your child during a crisis". Within this, author Shanda Deziel recommended 14 books (and an additional free e-book donated by Orca Books) to help parents effectively aid their children during school closures in regions under lockdown. Staunton's book Harry and Clare's Amazing Staycation from 2017 was one of the recommendations.
Awards
In 2013, Staunton wrote Who I'm Not. This follows the story of a teenager who has lost his name, is trained by a con-artist to help run con schemes. It was inspired by the story of Frédéric Bourdin, as reported in The New Yorker.
Book reviewer Cecile Sune notes, "If it wasn't based on a true story, I would have thought that the book was too far-fetched and would have dismissed it as too unbelievable. As it is, it turns out to be a fast-paced and highly entertaining story. However, I thought that Ted Staunton followed Frédéric Bourdin's real life story a little bit too closely, and it somewhat spoiled the book for me." She adds, "The ending is quite different from what happened in real life though, which is good."
In 2014, Quill & Quire magazine announced Who I'm Not as the recipient of The John Spray Mystery Award.
