Paulette Bourgeois

• Name — Paulette Bourgeois • Born — 20 July 1951 • Birthplace — Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada • Genre — Children's literature • Children — Natalie and Gordon • Awards — Order of Canada [LL.D] [CAOT Order of Merit] • Website — http: paulettebourgeois.ca/

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on July 20, 1951, Bourgeois graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Occupational therapy from the University of Western Ontario in 1974. She was a psychiatric occupational therapist for three years before deciding to focus on her writing. Bourgeois studied journalism at Carleton University and then worked as a reporter for the Ottawa Citizen and CBC Television. She became a freelance journalist in Washington, D.C., contributing pieces to Chatelaine, Canadian Living, Reader's Digest and Maclean's. Bourgeois returned to Toronto in 1983. She graduated with an MFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia in 2009.

After the birth of her first child, Natalie, Bourgeois decided to write a children's book inspired by the Season 7 episode of M*A*S*H entitled C*A*V*E, where Hawkeye Pierce admits that he is claustrophobic and refuses to go into a cave, "If I were a turtle I would be afraid of my own shell", he explained. Franklin in the Dark was illustrated by Brenda Clark and published in 1986. Bourgeois is also the author of Changes in You and Me, books about adolescence, Oma's Quilt which was developed as a short film by the National Film Board of Canada, Big Sarah's Little Boots and more. She has also written dozens of non-fiction books for children, including the Amazing series, the In My Neighbourhood series, The Sun, and The Moon. Bourgeois has been a columnist for Homemaker's Magazine, written for Canadian Living, Chatelaine and Today's Parent. She provided the concept and initial research for "The Bee Talker" which aired on CBC TV's The Nature of Things. Bourgeois has written three episodes of the TV documentary series, Creepy Canada, and has just finished the script for a full-length feature film, Loving Mrs. Twiggy. The Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists asked Bourgeois to write a picture book explaining the work of occupational therapists. You, Me and My OT was published in 2009. It tells the story of Emma, a feisty young girl with cerebral palsy who participates in everyday classroom occupations. Bourgeois has two grown-up children, Natalie and Gordon, and lives in Toronto, Ontario.

• On Your Mark, Get Set...: All About the Olympics Then and Now (1987) • The Amazing Apple Book (1987) • The Amazing Paper Books (1989) • Starting with Space: The Sun (1995) • Starting with Space: The Moon (1995) • Oma's Quilt (2001)

Paulette Bourgeois is recorded as a citizen of Kingdom of the Netherlands. Recorded with the occupation children's writer.