Gina McMurchy-Barber

Readings

Gina McMurchy-Barber’s readings and workshops begin with drama... a scene that draws on sight, sound and smell. When the children are sufficiently drawn into the mood and characters of the book she is presenting she leads them in a brief discussion. This is followed by several interactive activities that allow students to learn about writing, creating characters, the importance of setting in a story, history and prehistory.

With Reading the Bones students learn about the Coast Salish people, archaeology, and the ethics of who owns the past. With Free as a Bird students will explore the consequences of judging people based on their disabilities, explore the history of institutions like Woodlands School for the Mentally Retarded in New Westminster and engage in role play activities.

Gina McMurchy-Barber is the recipient of the 2004 Governor General's Award for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History. Prior to teaching, she majored in Archaeology at Simon Fraser University, studied orangutan's with Dr. Birute Galdikas in Borneo, led backpack tours to Asia and South America and studied journalism at Langara College. Besides fiction and non-fiction books, she has written plays and educational curriculum for various organizations.

Special Equipment:

CD player, flipchart and felt pens

Book Sales:

Gina will bring copies of her books to the readings for students to purchase and have autographed upon request.

Workshops

Gina McMurchy-Barber’s readings and workshops begin with drama... a scene that draws on sight, sound and smell. When the children are sufficiently drawn into the mood and characters of the book she is presenting she leads them in a brief discussion. This is followed by several interactive activities that allow students to learn about writing, creating characters, the importance of setting in a story, history and prehistory.

With Reading the Bones students learn about the Coast Salish people, archaeology, and the ethics of who owns the past. With Free as a Bird students will explore the consequences of judging people based on their disabilities, explore the history of institutions like Woodlands School for the Mentally Retarded in New Westminster and engage in role play activities.

Gina McMurchy-Barber is the recipient of the 2004 Governor General's Award for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History. Prior to teaching, she majored in Archaeology at Simon Fraser University, studied orangutan's with Dr. Birute Galdikas in Borneo, led backpack tours to Asia and South America and studied journalism at Langara College. Besides fiction and non-fiction books, she has written plays and educational curriculum for various organizations.

Special Equipment:

CD player, flipchart and felt pens

Book Sales:

Gina will bring copies of her books to the readings for students to purchase and have autographed upon request.

Biography

My first love in life was animals and oddly enough this led me into studying archaeology. Wondering what the heck archaeology has to do with animals?

Archaeology
Archaeology is the study of early people through the material culture they left behind. But a famous archaeologist, named Louis Leakey, thought if scientists studied the behaviour of the great apes we would find clues to how the first human-like beings lived four million years ago. So it was my desire to work with primates that led me to archaeology. I learned a lot about our human past, but what I loved most was learning about orangutans in Borneo, Indonesia with Dr. Birute Galdikas. I still get goosebumps when I recall walking waste deep in tea-coloured swamp water following those beautiful orange apes that live most of their lives in the treetops of the rainforest.

While I was studying archaeology I also started my writing career by doing short stories for my community paper. I enjoyed doing that so much I later studied journalism and became a newspaper reporter. I wasn’t too interested in covering late night city council meetings or the garbage workers strike so I turned my attention to creative non-fiction. I worked as a freelance writer for local magazines until my first child was born. That’s when I entered the amazing world of children’s books.

Teaching
Two more important things happened after my first son was born... I became a teacher and I took up writing stories and plays for kids. I loved my work because it was creative and fun and I’ve been teaching and writing ever since. In 2004 I received the Governor General’s Award for Teaching Excellence in Canadian History. And in 2008 my first children’s novel was published.

What about archaeology?
My book, Reading the Bones, has a lot about archaeology in it. So does the sequel, Broken Bones. Writing them allowed me to use my interest in archaeology to create adventure stories for kids. I’m still an elementary teacher, but I also give school and library presentations on my books.