A Starlit Trip to the Library

Sail under the stars with the sparkling sequel to How to Catch a Bear that Loves to Read!

One gentle summer evening, Julia is camping out in the forest with her animal friends. Everyone gathers for the night’s most eagerly awaited event: storytime by the campfire. But when Julia digs through her bag, she discovers . . . that she has forgotten to bring her book!
Will Julia and her friends have to go to bed without a story? Or will they bravely join Bertrand, the bear who loves to read, in navigating to his favorite book scavenging spot?

An ode to libraries and librarians, this scintillating new adventure will captivate readers of all ages with its vivid, enchanting illustrations. As the poet Emily Dickinson once wrote, that there is no boat like a book to bear us lands away.

A creative duo

This book is the fruit not only of two imaginations, but also of two languages: Andrew, an anglophone, and Juliana, a francophone, developed the story together and each wrote their own version of it in their mother tongue. They compared drafts and offered each other suggestions at every step of the writing process, for each new scene created, thus achieving the optimal outcome; two original texts, a separate one in French and this one in English.

Find out more about the creative process behind this book!

Click here to view the article

The Authors

Juliana Léveillé-Trudel

Juliana Léveillé-Trudel is a novelist, a playwright, and the founder of the Productions de Brousse theatre company. Some of her work has been translated into English, Spanish, Icelandic, Danish, and Basque. She splits her time between Montreal and the countryside of her childhood, surrounded by forests, animals, and books.

Andrew Katz

Andrew Katz has been writing and teaching in Montreal for over fifteen years. After graduating from medical school, he completed his masters in English and Creative Writing and began teaching at Dawson College. His areas of specialization include Children’s Literature, and in 2013 he won the Dawson College Director General’s Award for Teaching Excellence. He is also the author of I Just Want to Be Super! (2020, CrackBoom!).

Writing an Original Song

A Starlit Trip to the Library also includes a nice surprise to its readers: an original song written by co-author Andrew Katz and performed by Taes Leavitt, from SPLASH’N BOOTS. The lyrics are included at the end of the book, as well as a QR code to watch the video. The song is also available on streaming platforms.

Julia’s Song – Lyrics

When the stars begin
To wink across the sky
I sometimes get 
A twinkle in my eye
I dream of things 
I’ve never thought before 
I dream of something more

I take a starlit trip 
To the library 
And my heart jumps over the moon
And if I need a hand 
I’ve got my friends with me 
On this starlit trip to the library

Oh, I’ve heard it said 
A book is a boat 
That bears us lands away
And even in
The forests of the night
Helps to light our way

And I know of a place
Where anyone can go
To set sail on a journey
Into the unknown

So I take a starlit trip 
To the library 
And my heart jumps over the moon
And if I need a hand 
I’ve got my friends with me
 On this starlit trip 
On this starlit trip 
On this starlit trip to the library