Wynne-Jones, Tim 1948–

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Wynne-Jones, Tim 1948–

(Timothy Wynne-Jones)

Personal

Born August 12, 1948, in Bromborough, Cheshire, England; immigrated to Canada, 1952; son of Sydney Thomas (an engineer and lieutenant colonel in the British Army) and Sheila Beryl (a homemaker) Wynne-Jones; married Amanda West Lewis (a writer, calligrapher, director, and teacher), September 12, 1980; children: Alexander, Magdalene, Lewis. Education: University of Waterloo, B.F.A., 1974; York University, M.F.A. (visual arts), 1979. Hobbies and other interests: Cooking, crosswords, cross-country skiing.

Addresses

Home and office—Perth, Ontario, Canada. Agent—Leona Trainer, Transatlantic Literary Agency, 72 Glengowan Rd., Toronto, Ontario M4N 1G4, Canada. E-mail—[email protected].

Career

Writer. PMA Books, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, designer, 1974-76; University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, instructor in visual arts, 1976-78; Solomon & Wynne-Jones, Toronto, graphic designer, 1976-79; York University, Downsview, Ontario, instructor in visual arts, 1978-80; Vermont College, currently instructor in MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program. Red Deer College Press, children's book editor, 1990-96. University of New Brunswick, instructor in maritime workshop; Children's Literature New England, lecturer in summer institute; writing instructor at Banff School of Fine Arts, Red Deer College, St. Lawrence College, Algonquin College, and University of Ottawa. Writer-in-residence, Perth and District Public Library, Perth, Ontario, 1988, and Nepean Public Library, Nepean, Ontario, 1993.

Member

International PEN, Writers Union of Canada, Association of Canadian Television and Radio Artists, Society of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers of Canada, Canadian Society of Children's Authors, Illustrators, and Performers.

Awards, Honors

Seal First Novel Award, Bantam/Seal Books, 1980, for Odd's End; I.O.D.E. Award, 1983, and Ruth Schwartz Children's Award, 1984, both for Zoom at Sea; ACTRA Award for best radio drama, 1987, for St. Anthony's Man; Governor General's Award for Children's Literature, 1993, Canadian Library Association (CLA) Children's Book of the Year award, 1993, and Boston Globe/Horn Book Award for Fiction, 1995, all for Some of the Kinder Planets; Notable Books for Children citation, American Library Association, and Mister Christie Award shortlist, 1994, both for The Book of Changes; Governor General's Award for Children's Literature, 1995, and Young-Adult Book of the Year designation, CLA, Mister Christie Award shortlist, and Books for the Teen Age citation, New York Public Library, all 1997, all for The Maestro; Vicky Metcalf Award, Canadian Authors Association, 1997, for body of work; Children's Book of the Year designation, CLA, 1998, for Stephen Fair; Books for the Teen Age citation, New York Public Library, 1999, for Lord of the Fries; Arthur Ellis Award, Crime Writers of Canada, and Edgar Allen Poe Award shortlist, 2001, and Ruth Schwartz Award shortlist, Ontario Arts Council, Red Maple Award shortlist, Ontario Library Association and London Guardian Children's Fiction Prize shortlist, all for The Boy in the Burning House; Rocky Mountain Book Award, 2005, for Ned Mouse Breaks Away; Boston Globe/Horn Book Honor Book designation, 2007, for Rex Zero and the End of the World.

Writings

FOR CHILDREN

Madeline and Ermadello, illustrated by Lindsey Hallam, Before We Are Six (Hawkesville, Ontario, Canada), 1977.

Zoom at Sea, illustrated by Ken Nutt, Douglas & McIntyre (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1983, illustrated by Eric Beddows, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1993.

Zoom Away, illustrated by Ken Nutt, Douglas & McIntyre (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1985, illustrated by Eric Beddows, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1993.

I'll Make You Small, illustrated by Maryann Kovalski, Douglas & McIntyre (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1986.

Mischief City (verse), illustrated by Victor Gad, Groundwood (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1986.

Architect of the Moon, illustrated by Ian Wallace, Groundwood (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1988, published as Builder of the Moon, Margaret K. McElderry Books (New York, NY), 1988.

The Hour of the Frog, illustrated by Catharine O'Neill, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1989.

Zoom Upstream, illustrated by Eric Beddows, Groundwood Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1992, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1994.

Mouse in the Manger, illustrated by Elaine Blier, Viking (New York, NY), 1993.

The Last Piece of Sky, illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay, Groundwood Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1993.

Some of the Kinder Planets (short stories), Groundwood Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1993, Orchard (New York, NY), 1995.

(With Amanda Lewis) Rosie Backstage, illustrated by Bill Slavin, Kids Can Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1994.

The Book of Changes (short stories), Groundwood Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1994, Orchard (New York, NY), 1995.

The Maestro, Groundwood Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1995, Orchard (New York, NY), 1996, published as The Survival Game, Usborne (London, England), 2006.

(Reteller) The Hunchback of Notre Dame, illustrated by Bill Slavin, Key Porter Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1996, Orchard (New York, NY), 1997.

(Reteller) Bram Stoker, Dracula, illustrated by Laszlo Gal, Key Porter Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1997.

Stephen Fair, DK Ink (New York, NY), 1998.

On Tumbledown Hill, Red Deer College Press (Alberta, Ontario, Canada), 1998.

Lord of the Fries, and Other Stories, DK Ink (New York, NY), 1999.

The Boy in the Burning House, Douglas & McIntyre (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2000, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (New York, NY), 2001.

(Editor) Boy's Own: An Anthology of Canadian Fiction for Young Readers, Penguin (New York, NY), 2001.

Ned Mouse Breaks Away, illustrated by Dusân Petriĉiĉ, Groundwood Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2003, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (New York, NY), 2005.

A Thief in the House of Memory, Groundwood Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2004.

The Boat in the Tree, illustrated by John Shelley, Front Street (Asheville, NC), 2007.

Rex Zero and the End of the World, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (New York, NY), 2007.

Rex Zero, the King of Nothing, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (New York, NY), 2008.

On Tumbledown Hill, illustrated by Dusân Petriĉiĉ, Red Deer Press (Calgary, Alberta, Canada), 2008.

Short fiction included in anthologies such as My Dad's a Punk: Twelve Stories about Boys and Their Fathers, edited by Tony Bradman, Kingfisher (Boston, MA), 2006; All Sleek and Skimming, edited by Lisa Heggum, Orca, 2006, First Times, edited by Marthe Jocelyn, Tundra Books, 2007; and Click (serial novel), Scholastic, 2007. Author of libretto for children's opera A Midwinter Night's Dream and a musical version of Mischief City. Contributor of book reviews to Toronto Globe and Mail, 1985-88, and to periodicals including Chickadee, Quill & Quire, and Horn Book.

Author's work has been translated into several languages, including French and German.

NOVELS; FOR ADULTS

Odd's End, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1980.

The Knot, McClelland & Stewart (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1982.

Fastyngange, Lester & Orpen Dennys (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1988, published as Voices, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1990.

RADIO PLAYS

The Thinking Room, produced by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 1981.

The Road Ends at the Sea, produced by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 1982.

The Strange Odyssey of Lennis Freed, produced by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 1983.

The Testing of Stanley Teagarden, produced by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 1985.

The Enormous Radio (from the story by John Cheever), produced by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 1986.

St. Anthony's Man (from his own story), produced by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 1987.

Mr. Gendelman Crashes a Party, produced by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 1987.

Dust Is the Only Secret, produced by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 1988.

We Now Return You to Your Regularly Scheduled Universe, produced by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 1992.

Sidelights

A British-born Canadian, Tim Wynne-Jones has proven himself a versatile and perceptive writer on many levels. Whether writing children's picture books, young-adult titles, or adult fiction and plays, his message of the power of fantasy and fiction comes through loud and clear. As he once commented, "I like to tell stories—to entertain and instruct—about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances or extraordinary people in very ordinary circumstances." Considered one of Canada's most popular authors among preschoolers and primary graders, Wynne-Jones captures the mystery, fantasy, and wonder of childhood in his books while also addressing such realistic concerns as the conquering of personal fears and the relationship between children and their parents. He is known and appreciated for his rich language, zany plots, and a sophistication of theme that does not proclaim itself didactically, but that "reverberates beneath the simple surface of image and dialogue," as Gwyneth Evans noted in Twentieth-Century Children's Writers.

The son of an engineer, Wynne-Jones was born in Cheshire, England, in 1948, but grew up in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. His introduction to children's literature came during his involvement in a research project at the University of Waterloo. A group of sociology students was studying racism and sexism in books for young readers, and Wynne-Jones, studying visual arts at the time, was included as someone on the creative side of things. In an interview with Dave Jenkinson in Emergency Librarian, Wynne-Jones explained that having examined a plethora of children's books and finding fault with many of them, "the group decided that, because they knew what was wrong with children's books, they could then write good ones. It was a great lesson in how you do not write a children's book."

Although the publishing venture created by the student grant project was short lived, it did produce Wynne-Jones's first creative effort, Madeline and Ermadello, a "quietly charming story about a young girl's fantasies," according to In Review contributor Linda Smith. Ermadello is Madeline's friend, the third in a trio that includes her carpenter father, Ernie, and her next door neighbor, Barnell. Ermadello is special: because he is imaginary, Madeline can make him be anything she wants him to be. The quiet climax to this picture book comes when Madeline introduces Ermadello to her real-life friends at a tea party. A Children's Book News reviewer concluded that Madeline and Ermadello "is a charming story of friendship that younger readers are certain to enjoy."

Wynne-Jones's first book highlights the elements of fantasy and wonder that have become common to his work for children. It was several years, however, before Wynne-Jones published a second picture book. During this time he worked as a designer at a publishing company, as a visual arts instructor at both Waterloo University and York University, and as a graphic designer in his own company. He also earned an M.F.A. in visual arts and was married. Then he wrote and published his first adult novel, a psychological thriller titled Odd's End, which won him Canada's prestigious Seal First Novel Award and a cash prize of 50,000 dollars. Understandably, Wynne-Jones stuck with adult fiction for his next title, The Knot, but he returned to children's books in 1983.

"I didn't start writing children's books because I had children," Wynne-Jones told Jenkinson in his Emergency Librarian interview. "I'd always had ideas for children's stories." Although a visual artist himself, Wynne-Jones does not illustrate his own books. Rather, he visualizes stories with the illustrations of other artists he respects. One such artist is Ken Nutt (Eric Beddows), an acquaintance whose artwork Wynne-Jones wanted to see in book form, and the direct inspiration this collaboration was the family cat, Montezuma—or Zuma for short. Writing early one morning, Wynne-Jones observed the cat sitting on the kitchen counter batting at water from a dripping faucet. The idea for an adventure-loving and water-loving cat came to the author quickly. "The story, Zoom at Sea, was written in 20 minutes," Wynne-Jones later told Jenkinson. Brought to life in Nutt's art, Zoom the cat goes to the home of the mysterious Maria, who helps him realize a lifelong dream of going to sea. Linda Granfield, writing in Quill & Quire, noted that Zoom at Sea features a "perfect balance of text and illustration" that combine to inspire children and adults alike to "live our dreams."

Wynne-Jones initially had no intention of creating a sequel to Zoom at Sea, but after his mother-in-law suggested further possibilities for Maria's magical powers, Zoom Away was launched. In this story, a trip upstairs to Maria's attic becomes the magical metaphor for a trip to the North Pole. Zoom goes in search of the nautical tomcat, Uncle Roy, who set sail for the North Pole and has not been heard from since. Again, Nutt's simple black-and-white illustrations "complement … perfectly" Wynne-Jones's text, according to Bernie Goedhart in Quill & Quire. Goedhart concluded that the two "seem destined to carve themselves a permanent niche in the world of Canadian picture-books." Although reviewers such as Jon C. Stott in Canadian Literature contended that Wynne-Jones's simple text lacks "depth," others disagreed. Sarah Ellis, writing in Horn Book, commented that "Zoom Away is one of those rare picture books that combines absolute simplicity with mythic resonance.… The story is bigger that its plot." Drawing comparisons to such elemental Canadian myths as the search for the Northwest Passage and the romance involved in such adventure, Ellis concluded that the "satisfaction we feel at the book's safe ending goes beyond the satisfaction of putting a tired child to bed." Reviewing both "Zoom" titles for Canadian Children's Literature, Ulrike Walker placed the books in the context of mythic test or quest tales. According to the critic, the "Zoom" stories are "remarkable works" that "bear eloquent witness to the complex levels of realization which all of us must undergo before we reach that stage we label ‘adult.’"

If Zoom travels to the Arctic via Maria's attic, the next obvious question—and one posed to Wynne-Jones by a student: What would a trip to the basement hold in store for Zoom? The answer comes in the third "Zoom" book, Zoom Upstream. Set in ancient, cat-revering Egypt, Zoom Upstream has Zoom following a mysterious trail through a bookshelf to Ancient Egypt, where he joins Maria in a further search for Uncle Roy. When Maria shows Zoom five silver buttons from a sailor's coat, the clues ultimately lead the two to Uncle Roy and safety. The book's ending was described by Janet McNaughton in Quill & Quire as "more like a beginning," with the trio sailing away in search of the source of the Nile. Zoom Upstream is "a very special book," concluded McNaughton.

With I'll Make You Small, Wynne-Jones moves away from the voyaging world of cats to the more prosaic but no-less-dangerous world of the suburban neighborhood. Young Roland's next-door neighbor, crotchety old Mr. Swanskin, threatens to make Roland shrink in size if he catches the boy trespassing on his property. When Swanskin is not seen for several days, Roland is sent by his mother to investigate, only to find the eccentric old man repairing toys he broke during his own childhood. The gift of a pie saves Roland from Swanskin's threats, and he learns the man's secret: that he was made to feel small as a child. "A child who likes scary stories, but is too young for [Edgar Allen] Poe or [Alfred] Hitchcock, should enjoy this book," commented Bernie Goedhart in Quill & Quire.

Another popular picture book from Wynne-Jones, and one that Five Owls contributor Anne Lundin compared to Maurice Sendak's popular Where the Wild Things Are, Architect of the Moon was published in the United States as Builder of the Moon. In this story, young David Finebloom receives an urgent message one night

via a moonbeam and flies away, building blocks in hand, to repair the moon. Lundin noted in her review that "Wynne-Jones's text is spare, simple, poetic," while Walker wrote in Canadian Children's Literature that the author's "subtle work" "does not enclose but encourages the child to take a decisive step toward change." Also writing in Canadian Children's Literature, Michael Steig noted that Architect of the Moon features a "visual text" in which pictures and text "achieve … a highly gratifying level of literary and artistic complexity and interest."

Other books by Wynne-Jones that have found fans among many young readers include The Hour of the Frog, The Last Piece of Sky, The Boat in the Tree, and Ned Mouse Breaks Away, all of them well received by critics. Illustrated by John Shelley, The Boat in the Tree captures the world of an imaginative child who uses his love of boats to build a relationship with a newly adopted older brother. Geared for early elementary-grade readers, Ned Mouse Breaks Away tells what School Library Journal contributor Eva Mitnick deemed a "surreal story [that] is both quirky and matter-of-fact": it describes a bewhiskered political prisoner who decides to gradually escape from prison by mailing bits of himself to a close friend. As more and more of Ned is boxed up and mailed out to his friend's seaside home, the once-jailed rodent is gradually reassembled there to enjoy the sunshine. Meanwhile, his still-imprisoned parts are gradually changed out for tin replacements that fool Ned's guards, whittling the real Ned down to only one bit: the hand he uses to address each of his packages. Noting the book's "goofy" cartoon art by Dusân Petriĉiĉ, Mitnick dubbed Ned Mouse Breaks Away "funny, light, and deliciously different," and a Publishers Weekly critic wrote that Wynne-Jones's "breezy novel brims with chuckles."

Turning to short fiction, Wynne-Jones has produced several collections that have a special appeal for young readers. His award-winning Some of the Kinder Planets contains nine stories in which children make encounters with other worlds, both metaphorically and realistically. Reviewing the work, Deborah Stevenson commented in

the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books that the writing "is thoughtful, inventive, and often humorous," while a Publishers Weekly reviewer noted that "ordinary moments take on a fresh veneer in this finely tuned short-story collection."

More short stories are offered up in The Book of Changes, descrobed as a "fine collection" by a Kirkus Reviews critic and "a delight" by Quill & Quire contributor Annette Goldsmith. Told from the point of view of male narrators, the seven stories in the collection "hold wonder and fascination for inquisitive readers," according to School Library Journal reviewer John Sigwald. "Wynne-Jones deals in moments, and these are carefully chosen and freshly realized," Sarah Ellis remarked in Horn Book. In "The Clark Beans Man," for instance, a boy uses a Donald Duck impersonation to fend off a schoolyard bully; in "Dawn," a teenager on a bus trip develops a brief friendship with a tough-looking older girl. Nancy Vasilakis, also writing in Horn Book, concluded that in The Book of Changes "Wynne-Jones tells his readers … that we all have the power to create the music of our own lives." Noting that the author attempts to "conjure up a sense of wonder" in The Book of Changes, Goldsmith wrote that the "wonderful moments in this book … will stay with readers." In Horn Book, Vasilakis concluded: "Wynne-Jones tells his readers in these perceptive short stories that we all have the power to create the music of our own lives."

Other story collections by Wynne-Jones include Lord of the Fries, and Other Stories and the edited collection Boy's Own: An Anthology of Canadian Fiction for Young Readers. A reviewer in the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books observed of Lord of the Fries, and Other Stories that the author's "creative plotting and faith in the power of imagination … keeps events sparking along in absorbing and unpredictable ways."

With the young-adult novel The Maestro, Wynne-Jones again broke new ground for himself. The story focuses on fourteen-year-old Burl and his struggle for survival after he flees his brutal father and seeks shelter in a remote cabin by a Canadian lake. The cabin is inhabited by Nathaniel Gow, a musical genius who is himself in flight from the mechanized world. Gow—patterned after real-life Canadian musician Glen Gould—allows Burl to stay at his cabin while he travels home to Toronto. When Burl learns of Gow's subsequent death, he tries to claim the cabin for himself, then goes on a mission to save Gow's final musical composition, confronting his abusive father along the way. Roderick McGillis, writing in Canadian Children's Literature, noted that while The Maestro is "redolently Canadian," it also offers much more. "Its prose is dense and its themes move into challenging areas for young readers," McGillis remarked. Stevenson concluded in a Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books review that "Wynne-Jones has displayed a knack for the unusual made credible in his short story collections" and that it is "nice to see that skill expanded into a well-crafted and accessible novel." Writing in Quill & Quire, Maureen Garvie commented that The Maestro is "tightly and dramatically scripted" and that Wynne-Jones's first young-adult novel is a "peach."

The author turns to psychological suspense in Stephen Fair, about a fifteen year old who is plagued by nightmares. With the support of his friend Virginia, Stephen begins to question his troubled family life, including his mother's erratic behavior and the disappearances of his father and older brother. "Wynne-Jones is an impressive stylist," remarked a critic in reviewing Stephen Fair for the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, "and his depiction of Stephen's family, friends, and thoughts are unforcedly deft." A Kirkus Reviews writer noted that the author reveals his characters' feelings "through quick, telling details and comments, or heavily symbolic background events," and a Publishers Weekly reviewer declared that Wynne-Jones "maintains the suspense while Stephen slowly unveils family secrets."

Taking place in rural Ontario, The Boy in the Burning House focuses on Jim Hawkins, a teen who lives with his mother. Maintaining a living on the family farm has been difficult since the disappearance of Jim's father, and Jim is quick to anger when neighboring teen Ruth Rose starts rumors about the death of Jim's dad and the complicity of her upstanding minister stepfather in the man's disappearance. Although most people ignore the troubled young woman's stories, Jim takes portions to heart, beginning an investigation that uncovers arson and murder and resolves a story that "spins out taut as a bow string," according to Booklist critic GraceAnne A. DeCandido. In Publishers Weekly a contributor dubbed The Boy in the Burning House "an action-packed thriller" in which Wynne-Jones's "swift-moving plot will keep the pages turning," and Horn Book reviewer Lauren Adams wrote that the book's "gripping, fast-moving" storyline "offers the pure adrenaline rush of a thriller." Noting that the author has gained many fans on the strength of his ability to create "quirky, offbeat characters," Adams concluded that The Boy in the Burning House "does not disappoint."

Described by a Publishers Weekly contributor as a reading experience akin to "entering a dream," A Thief in the House of Memory introduces readers to sixteen-year-old Declan Steeple, a boy who is, like Jim in The Boy in the Burning House, also dealing with parental abandonment. Since his mother's departure six years before, Declan has lived with his father and little sister Sunny, and more recently with his father's girlfriend, Birdie. As questions about his mother's disappearance draw him into the past, the teen is compelled to return to the family's large estate, Steeple Hall, which now stands empty atop a hill overlooking his new home. On one visit to the mansion, Declan and Sunny discover the body of a housebreaker. When the dead man turns out to be someone who once knew his mother, his appearance generates revelations that ultimately hold the answers to Declan's own past. Wynne-Jones's novel serves as "part mystery and part psychological study of how the past affects the present," according to the Publishers Weekly contributor, while in Horn Book Vicky Smith called A Thief in the House of Memory "equal parts tricky and haunting," and "unambiguously memorable." In Booklist, Carolyn Phelan praised the middle-grade coming-of-age novel as "original" and "vividly written," adding that the author's "narrative conveys a strong sense of Declan's uneasiness, as past and present overlap in an unsettling way." A "rich and rewarding novel," A Thief in the House of Memory "will appeal most to thoughtful readers who appreciate a sad and bittersweet read," concluded School Library Journal contributor Karyn N. Silverman.

Based on Wynne-Jones's childhood and geared for pre-teen readers, the "Rex Zero" stories include Rex Zero and the End of the World and Rex Zero, the King of Nothing. Set in 1962, Rex Zero and the End of the World introduces readers to Rex Harrison as the eleven year old and his family adjust to life in their new home in Ottawa. As Canadians grow concerned over the possibility of a nuclear Armageddon sparked by cold-war tensions between the United States and the USSR, Rex finds those fears filtering down into his own world. When he discovers a strange creature, his first thought is that it has been mutated by exposure to radiation. However, when it turns out to be a panther named Tronido that has escaped from the local zoo, efforts to capture the creature help the boy make new friends and adjust to a new way of life. In his humorous and lighthearted present-tense narrative, Rex "paints a universe both hopeful and realistic, one that readers may well want to visit," concluded a Publishers Weekly contributor, while in Horn Book Julie Roach wrote of Rex Zero, the King of Nothing that Wynne-Jones's "timely piece of historical fiction also casts a haunting light on kids growing up in a world filled with fear." Praising the novel as "delightfully nerve-wracking, eccentric and optimistic," a Kirkus Reviews writer took special delight in the many details of mid-twentieth-century popular culture that salt Wynne-Jones's story. "Any distance created" by the nostalgic setting of Rex Zero and the End of the World "is more than made up for by the intricately flavored details of Rex's life," the reviewer concluded.

Noting that he never composes plot outlines before beginning to write a novel, Wynne-Jones once explained: "I write the same way I read (though not as fast, unfortunately). I never quite know what's going to happen on the next page. I want to surprise myself and by

so doing, hopefully, surprise my reader. Sooner or later, I get an idea where the story is going. That's what happens when I read, too. But even when I know where I want to take a story, I keep my options open. You never know when one of your characters will come up with a better idea than you!"

Biographical and Critical Sources

BOOKS

Children's Literature Review, Volume 21, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1990, pp. 226-231.

Twentieth-Century Children's Writers, 4th edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1995, pp. 1049-1051.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 1, 2001, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of The Boy in the Burning House, p. 97; March 1, 2005, Carolyn Phelan, review of A Thief in the House of Memory, p. 1186; March 1, 2007, Hazel Rochman, review of Rex Zero and the End of the World, p. 86, and Gillian Engberg, review of The Boat in the Tree, p. 90.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, May, 1995, Deborah Stevenson, review of One of the Kinder Planets, p. 328; October, 1996, Deborah Stevenson, review of The Maestro, p. 81; March, 1999, review of Lord of the Fries, and Other Stories, p. 260; May, 2005, review of A Thief in the House of Memory, p. 412; April, 2007, Elizabeth Bush, review of Rex Zero and the End of the World, p. 349.

Canadian Children's Literature, number 60, 1990, Ulrike Walker, "A Matter of Thresholds," pp. 108-116; number 70, 1993, Michael Steig, "The Importance of the Visual Text in Architect of the Moon: Mothers, Teapots, et al.," pp. 22-33; number 81, 1996, Roderick McGillis, review of The Maestro, pp. 58-59.

Canadian Literature, spring, 1987, Jon C. Stott, review of Zoom Away, p. 160.

Canadian Review of Materials, January-February, 1994, Joyce MacPhee, "Profile: Tim Wynne-Jones," p. 4.

Children's Book News, June, 1979, review of Madeline and Ermadello, p. 2.

Emergency Librarian, January-February, 1988, Dave Jenkinson, "Tim Wynne-Jones," pp. 56-62.

Five Owls, May-June, 1989, Anne Lundin, review of Builder of the Moon.

Horn Book, May-June, 1987, Sarah Ellis, review of Zoom Away, pp. 378-381; January-February, 1995, Sarah Ellis, reviews of Some of the Kinder Planets and The Book of Changes; February, 1996, Nancy Vasilakis, review of The Book of Changes, pp. 76-77; November-December, 2001, Lauren Adams, review of The Boy in the Burning House, p. 759; May-June, 2005, Vicky Smith, review of A Thief in the House of Memory, p. 334; March-April, 2007, Vicky Smith, review of Rex Zero and the End of the World, p. 207; January-February, 2008, Julie Roach, review of Rex Zero and the End of the World, p. 26.

In Review, winter, 1978, Linda Smith, review of Madeline and Ermadello, p. 70.

Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 1995, review of The Book of Changes, p. 1032; April 1, 1998, review of Stephen Fair, pp. 503-504; April 1, 2005, review of A Thief in the House of Memory, p. 429; February 1, 2007, review of Rex Zero and the End of the World, p. 131; February 15, 2007, review of The Boat in the Tree.

Kliatt, September, 2001, Paula Rohrlick, review of The Boy in the Burning House; May, 2005, Michele Winship, review of A Thief in the House of Memory, p. 19.

Publishers Weekly, May 1, 1995, review of One of the Kinder Planets, p. 59; March 16, 1998, review of Stephen Fair, p. 65; September 24, 2001, review of The Boy in the Burning House, p. 94; February 3, 2003, review of Ned Mouse Breaks Away, p. 76; May 9, 2005, review of A Thief in the House of Memory, p. 71; February 5, 2007, review of Rex Zero and the End of the World, p. 60.

Quill & Quire, August, 1985, Bernie Goedhart, review of Zoom Away, p. 38; October, 1986, Bernie Goedhart, review of I'll Make You Small, p. 16; December, 1986, Joan McGrath, "Poems for Kids Conjure up a Cockeyed World," p. 15; November, 1992, Janet McNaughton, review of Zoom Upstream, p. 33; October, 1994, Annette Goldsmith, review of The Book of Changes, p. 38; December, 1995, Maureen Garvie, review of The Maestro, pp. 36-37.

School Library Journal, March, 1984, Linda Granfield, review of Zoom at Sea, p. 72; October, 1995, John Sigwald, review of The Book of Changes, pp. 141-142; October, 2001, Alison Follos, review of The Boy in the Burning House, p. 176; April, 2003, Eva Mitnick, review of Ned Mouse Breaks Away, p. 144; April, 2005, Karyn N. Silverman, review of A Thief in the House of Memory, p. 144; May, 2007, Caitlin Augusta, review of Rex Zero and the End of the World, p. 146; June, 2007, Ieva Bates, review of The Boat in the Tree, p. 127.

Voice of Youth Advocates, February, 2007, Alison Follos, review of The Boy in the Burning House, p. 503; April, 2007, Angela Semifero, review of Rex Zero and the End of the World, p. 59.