When asked what information she would like to share about herself, Lynn Manuel once told her publisher, "I am a grandmother. And I've seen Paris."

Having majored in history at university, she twice incorporated Lucy Maud Montgomery into her books. The Summer of the Marco Polo (Orca, 2007) is partially based on journal entries made by Montgomery that recall the excitement in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, after a clipper ship ran aground near her grandparents' home in 1883. Manuel recalls how the strait-laced grandparents responded when the captain of the Marco Polo, launched from Saint John in 1851, stayed at their home following the maritime mishap. The girl who would grow up to write Anne of Green Gables was also living the house at the time.

Born in 1948, Lynn Manuel died in 2010 after a year-long battle with uterine cancer. She lived in White Rock. She published eight picture books and six chapter books, as well as ghostwriting thirteen Boxcar Children Mysteries. Her Camels Always Do (Orca) was nominated for the Chocolate Lily Awards, Lucy Maud and the Cavendish Cat (McClelland and Stewart) was a best-selling picture book. The Night the Moon Blew Kisses (Houghton Mifflin) was a CLA Notable Book.

BOOKS:

The Night the Moon Blew Kisses
Fifty-Five Grandmas and a Llama
Lucy Maud and the Cavendish Cat
The Cherry-Pit Princess
The Lickety-Split Princess
Mystery at Cranberry Farm
Camels Always Do (Orca, 2004)
The Summer of the Marco Polo (Orca, 2007). Illustrated by Kasia Charko.

[BCBW 2010] "Kidlit"