As we all enter into the unknown territory of school closures, telework and remote learning, kid lit authors and illustrators have been stepping up to help. In order to support schools and public libraries forced to close due to the escalating COVID-19 outbreak, some of your favourite authors have been sharing storytime and read-aloud videos and live events. 

Older kids may be interested in bestselling Haunted Canada author Joel A. Sutherland's "Haunted Canada Roadtrip" available on YouTube here. Each day, Sutherland will share a different scary story from each of Canada's provinces and territories. 

StorytimeOnline has been uploading awesome storytimes performed by celebrities and authors for years. Enjoy Clark the Shark read by Chris Pine, A Tale of Two Beasts read by Sarah Silverman or, my personal favourite, Harry the Dirty Dog as read by Betty White.

Check out the new Facebook group #OperationReadAloud for a constant stream of author-read storytimes. Today, March 19th there is a whole host of popular authors who will be running live storytime events, including heavy hitters like Oliver Jeffers and Lemony Snickett!

Updates (04/01/2020): 

  • Quill & Quire has compiled a great Canadian kid-lit virtual-event listing here
  • Dav Pilkey (Dog Man, Captain Underpants), in collaboration with the Library of Congress, has launched a site full of free activities, including how-to-draw demonstrations and read-alouds. Find it here

Update (04/02/2020):

  • Dolly Patron has launched Goodnight with Dolly, an online bedtime story video series for children and families. Find it here