Crafty Canuck is the result of an journey that started one crisp day in Calgary, AB back in 2007 where Sarah was working as a Grade 5 teacher. Over the course of the year she noticed (as well as had feedback from parents) that a not insignificant number of children in her class were having difficulty ready the text heavy books that were standard for this grade level. After asking some of these students what they found difficult or why they were reading only very basic picture books, she learned that for some, the move from full picture book to essentially all text was making comprehension difficult.

So Sarah decided to try to create a children's book that might be able to address this 'gap'. A children's book that would be picture based but layer in vocabulary, grammar and mulitple themes that were more common in standard text heavy books that her students were expected to read. The result is her (and Crafty Canuck's) first book, 'Louie the Lobster in What is a Friend?'.

What started as a simple desire to try and help her students (and potentially other children encountering the same reading difficulty), is turning into a love of finding and creating fun and educational books for readers of all skill and age levels.

Crafty Canuck's philosophy may be summed as:

"We publish stories we like and have fun doing it, whether written by us or someone else, and hopefully are able to make a positive difference in the world around us."

Fun, creative and educational stories for children that not only encourage a lifelong love of reading but an appreciation and desire to think and express themselves creatively.

As any parent knows, children definitely see 'the world' differently from adults. What we may dismiss as boring or assume to be easily understood may be the lightning rod for learning, development, creativity or just plain fun for a child. We believe that great ideas are all around us waiting to be tapped and shared and it is our hope that we are able to play a small part in tapping and sharing those great ideas with children all around the world.

As parents of two inquisitive, creative and fun young girls, every day we get the opportunity to see the world through their 'eyes', providing us with a wealth of ideas for all sorts of stories.

We are a standard, small publishing company who:

• Do not charge authors to publish their work.
• Authors maintain creative control over their work.
• Has each new author work one on one with the owners directly.
• Uses a small network of professionals who are responsible for:
  • Editing and proofreading
  • Layout and Design
  • Illustration services
• Uses both offset and on demand printing technologies depending upon several factors including:
  • Author commitment to marketing and promoting the book
  • Degree of 'risk' associated with the book. For example, an uncommon theme.
  • Desire for a trial run - test the market.

If you have an idea for a story and would like to discuss in what, if any, way we may help in bringing your book to market, please call us at 778-859-1231 or email Sarah or Arron.

Alternatively, you may contact us via our Submit a Story online form with the details of what you are looking for and we will get back to you right away.