CHARIS COTTER

1 hour

Grades 4 through 6

100 students maximum in person

150 students maximum virtual visits

$250 plus gas in person (includes HST)

$200 virtual (includes HST)

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Charis Cotter visits your school with her latest spooky novel, The Mystery of the Haunted Dance Hall. Set in a bird-watching summer camp in 1960, this book is a love song to summer camp, deep friendships, and ghosts.

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Charis begins with some questions for the students about their secret superpower aspirations, why people are scared of the dark, and their camping experience. Then she reads a spine-chilling excerpt from the book, followed by a dramatic presentation of two Newfoundland ghost stories. The first is one that happened to her on the barrens one night, and the second is the classic tale that inspired her book Footsteps in Bay de Verde.

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Charis writes critically aclaimed spooky novels and ghost stories for middle-grade readers, grades 4 to 6. The Mystery of the Haunted Dance Hall has received starred reviews from both Kirkus and Publishers’ Weekly. Screech! Ghost Stories from Old Newfoundland won the Hackamatack Children’s Choice Award in 2022, and Footsteps in Bay de Verde: A Mysterious Tale won the Newfoundland Book Award for Children’s Literature in 2022.

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This interactive presentation features storytelling from all these books, a Q&A, a discussion guide, and a ghost-story challenge for students to collect their own ghost stories from families and friends. ​

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Curriculum Connections

Language Arts

Reading and Listening

Heritage and Culture

Spiritual Beliefs

Nature and Environment

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Signed copies of Charis' books

Charis sends a book order form to the school a week before her presentation. Students can order a signed copy of any one of her books. Cash only.

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Book this presentation now​​​

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