by Annette | Jan 7, 2013 | Annette's Blog
My dear friend, Wilma Robinson, died on December 18, 2012. She was 89. I admired Wilma as a woman, a pioneer of the Pitt Polder and a conservationist. Wilma was the inspiration for Miracle at Willowcreek, my novel about a community that rallies to save the wetlands...
by Annette | Oct 19, 2012 | Annette's Blog
Amanda Todd: In Memoriam To show her vulnerability, To open her heart, to say ‘I’m hurting,’ I need someone, Was an act of bravery. Most of us live our lives Hiding our hurts, fearful. We grow old and die, Allowing few people to know us. We pretend to be strong, But...
by Annette | Jun 26, 2012 | Annette's Blog
Sisterhood For almost a decade, I’ve been writing about sisterhood in Circle of Cranes and though I hadn’t really thought of it until lately, I belong to a sisterhood in my personal life or to be more precise, I belong to several sisterhoods. Years ago, I organized...
by Annette | Jun 4, 2012 | Reviews
Circle of Cranes … shows the reality of today’s working conditions for illegal Chinese immigrants in Chinatown. Annette LeBox also incorporated a magical element that gave the book a fable-like feel. While this novel is written for a middle grade readership, it...
by Annette | Jun 2, 2012 | Annette's Blog
Educating Girls in China: One Helps One Program When I visited Cao Hai Nature Reserve in Guizhou, China, in 2000, to research Circle of Cranes, I was unprepared for the extreme poverty and the fact that so few of the girls could afford to attend school. Since that...
by Annette | Apr 3, 2012 | Annette's Blog
On my visit to China to research my YA novel in 2000, I discovered the wonderful world of the Miao people. I became so fascinated by the richness of the Miao culture and history that I decided that the heroine of Circle of Cranes, Suyin, would belong to this ethnic...
by Annette | Mar 28, 2012 | Annette's Blog
An interview with a Canadian foster parent inspired me to write Circle of Cranes. Patty Lister (not her real name) was a foster parent who had worked for the British Columbia Ministry of Children and Families for many years. After a migrant ship was grounded off the...
by Annette | Feb 8, 2012 | Annette's Blog
I found it hard to believe that people, particularly children, could survive a two-month journey in a dark and cramped hold of a migrant ship with little food, only rice and water, and no toilet facilities. I doubted it could be that bad until I interviewed a Canadian...
by Annette | Feb 1, 2012 | Annette's Blog
I became fascinated with snakeheads the way I am fascinated, but repelled, by people who commit horrible crimes. The Chinese call people smugglers snakeheads because of their ability to slither through borders and transport people without documents into different...
by Annette | Jan 14, 2012 | Annette's Blog
My husband, Michael, is a craniac –– a person who is fascinated, maybe even obsessive, about the tall wetland birds called cranes. Michael is not alone. There are thousands of craniacs in the world, watching in awe as these birds dance, take flight and sing....
