LAKE, Jo-Anne 1941-

PERSONAL:

Born February 23, 1941, in London, Ontario, Canada; daughter of John and Mina Rankin; married Maurice Lake (a management consultant), July 6, 1961; children: Michelle Lake Goslin, Sherri, Jonathan. Education: York University, B.A., 1984, B.Ed., 1985; Niagara University, M.S., 1987. Hobbies and other interests: Skiing, golfing, walking, roller-blading, dancing, collecting shoes, reading, writing, collecting spinning tops.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—c/o Author Mail, Stenhouse Publishers, 477 Congress St., Suite 4B, Portland, ME 04101-3451. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Elementary schoolteacher in London, Ontario, Canada, 1961-63, and Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, 1963-65; University of Western Ontario, London, instructor in mathematics, 1965; elementary school-teacher, 1968-80; middle-school teacher, 1981-83; teacher in a program for gifted students, 1983-85;

Durham District Board of Education, Whitby, Ontario, Canada, consultant, 1986-90, administrator, 1991-2000; writer, public speaker, and educational consultant, 2000—. University of Toronto, instructor in elementary science. Sciencents, cofounder. Community volunteer.

MEMBER:

International Reading Association, National Science Teachers Association, Ontario Principals Association.

WRITINGS:

Imagine, Pembroke (Markham, Ontario, Canada), 1993.

Life Long Learning, Pembroke (Markham, Ontario, Canada), 1997.

Literature and Science Breakthroughs: Connecting Language and Science Skills in the Elementary Classroom, Stenhouse Publishers (Portland, ME), 2000.

Contributor to education and library journals.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

You Can't Stop Time, Round and Round I Go, Hidden Treasures, The Wonderful World of Spinning Tops, and Where Is Cedar?, all for children; "The Cinderella Complex," "a research project on the retirement phase and its impact on a cross-section of diverse individuals."

SIDELIGHTS:

Jo-Anne Lake told CA: "My greatest source of inspiration for my writing in the area of science came from my mother's love of nature. Throughout my childhood years I learned to appreciate the simplest things in life. The song of a blue jay, the wonder in observing a Baltimore oriole's nest, the architecture of a spider web, the sound of a babbling brook: these memories and more are part of my soul and continue to speak to me when I write about yet another wonder! And now, my grandchildren continue my mother's legacy. They are the major source of my ideas for new writing. For example, when my grandchildren received a pet hedgehog called Cedar, we experienced a pet's life together. When Cedar ran away, I prepared a manuscript for publication titled Where Is Cedar?

"Another source of motivation for my writing is travel. I have been fortunate to have traveled the world. Along the way I became a collector; I have collected more than sixty spinning tops and observed spinning-top contests in Kalatan, Malaysia. My love of spinning tops was the source of three manuscripts: Round and Round I Go, Hidden Treasures, and The Wonderful World of Spinning Tops."