Baker, Deirdre 1955-

Personal

Born 1955, in Haney, British Columbia, Canada; married; children: two daughters. Education: University of Victoria, B.A. (English literature); University of Tor- onto, M.A. (medieval studies), Ph.D. (medieval studies); Pontifical Institute for Mediaeval Studies, licentiate in mediaeval studies.

Addresses

Home—Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Office—Department of English, University of Toronto, 170 St. George St., Toronto, Ontario M5R 2M8, Canada. E-mail—[email protected].

Career

Writer and educator. Toronto Star, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, children's book reviewer, 1998—; Horn Book, Boston, MA, children's book reviewer. University of Toronto, assistant professor of English; has also taught teaching religion, medieval literature, and children's literature at universities in Canada and the United States.

Awards, Honors

Book of the Year for Children nomination, Canadian Library Association, Globe & Mail Top Ten Children's Books designation, and Quill & Quire Most Significant Books of the Year designation, all 2007, and Best Books for Older Children and Teens selection, Cooperative Children's Book Center, 2008, all for Becca at Sea.

Writings

(With Ken Setterington) A Guide to Canadian Children's Books in English, illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton, McClelland & Stewart (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2003.

Becca at Sea (novel), Groundwood Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2007.

Contributor of essays to books, including Scribner's Dictionary of the Middle Ages, 1983, and Horn Book Guide to Children's Books, Candlewick Press, 2008. Contributor of articles and reviews to periodicals, including Children's Literature in Education, New Outlook, Medieval Studies, and Books in Canada.

Sidelights

Canadian author and educator Deirdre Baker, a reviewer for both Horn Book magazine and the Toronto Star, has also earned critical acclaim for her debut novel Becca at Sea. With her expertise in children's literature, Baker has also cowritten the highly regarded reference work A Guide to Canadian Children's Books in English. "Children's literature is a large, vital part of our literary tradition," Baker remarked in the University of Toronto Bulletin. "Its impact … is even more significant than that of adult literature, since the children's stories we imbibe in childhood go into the programming of our literary hard drives along with our mother tongue. It is worth studying if only for that reason."

Becca at Sea centers on an intelligent and feisty ten year old and her adventures at her grandmother's island home off the coast of British Columbia. During her visits, Becca must deal with an assortment of eccentric relatives, including absent-minded Aunt Fifi and troublesome older cousins Alicia and Lucy. The girl also learns much about the natural world while tending her grandmother's garden, discovering a pearl-filled oyster, and helping to save a baby seal that has become separated from its mother. "The riotous yet harmonious life of seabirds, fish, and mammals mirrors the energy and unpredictability of Becca's relationships with her family," wrote Quill & Quire reviewer Joanne Findon in a review of Baker's novel. Writing that the "charming" and "beautifully written" novel contains "passages [that] are almost lyrical," Kristin Butcher concluded in the Canadian Review of Materials that Becca at Sea "embodies innocence, understanding, compassion, morality, and humor." Baker's work also drew praise from Horn Book contributor Joanna Rudge Long, who noted that the author's "dialogue is true-to-life, witty, and intelligent. Each episode enriches the portrait of Becca's memorable extended family with delightfully preposterous, yet insightful, detail."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Books in Canada, April, 2003, Jeffrey Canton, review of A Guide to Canadian Children's Books in English, p. 41.

Canadian Review of Materials, September 5, 2003, review of A Guide to Canadian Children's Books in English; August 31, 2007, Kristin Butcher, review of Becca at Sea.

Horn Book, January-February, 2008, Joanna Rudge Long, review of Becca at Sea, p. 81.

Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2007, review of Becca at Sea.

Quill & Quire, May, 2003, Kenneth Oppel, review of A Guide to Canadian Children's Books in English; September, 2007, Joanne Findon, review of Becca at Sea.

School Library Journal, September, 2003, Robyn Walker, review of A Guide to Canadian Children's Books in English, p. 243.

ONLINE

University of Toronto Bulletin Online,http://www.news.utoronto.ca/ (September 25, 2007), Deirdre Baker, "Not a Childish Pursuit: Children's Literature a Vital Part of Our Literary Tradition."