Background
Andrea Spalding was born on November 17, 1944, in Manchester, United Kingdom. She is a daughter of Frederick Clarke.
Kedleston Rd, Derby DE22 1GB, United KIngdom
The modern enterprise center of the University of Derby where Andrea Spalding obtained a diploma in education.
Kedleston Rd, Derby DE22 1GB, United KIngdom
The modern enterprise center of the University of Derby where Andrea Spalding obtained a diploma in education.
(A book by Andrea Spalding and Peggy Holmes.)
A book by Andrea Spalding and Peggy Holmes.
https://amazon.com/Never-Moment-Andrea-HOLMES-SPALDING/dp/0002172771/?tag=2022091-20
1985
(A book based on the theme of expectation and disappointme...)
A book based on the theme of expectation and disappointment that demonstrates patience and perseverance.
https://www.amazon.com/Most-Beautiful-World-Andrea-Spalding/dp/155041805X/?tag=2022091-20
1988
(A book by Andrea Spalding and Georgina Montgomery.)
A book by Andrea Spalding and Georgina Montgomery.
https://www.amazon.com/Pender-Palate-Tastes-Flavours-Favourite/dp/0921180020/?tag=2022091-20
1992
(When Ian's parents separate, he moves with his mother to ...)
When Ian's parents separate, he moves with his mother to the city, a thousand miles away from the prairie wheat farm he calls home.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1551431777/?tag=2022091-20
1999
(Little Girl means what she says and has the resources to ...)
Little Girl means what she says and has the resources to get results. Not one to mope away the day watching the rain pour down, Little Girl struggles into her boots, raincoat and fire fighter's helmet, gets out the ladder and heads for the clouds.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1551431866/?tag=2022091-20
2001
(Solomon has a special friendship with the big old maple o...)
Solomon has a special friendship with the big old maple outside his house. He knows the tree in all seasons and all weathers.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/155143217X/?tag=2022091-20
2002
(The third book of the Summer of Magic Quartet, in which A...)
The third book of the Summer of Magic Quartet, in which Adam must recover Myrddin's staff from the heart of Glastonbury Tor.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00COE257Q/?tag=2022091-20
2005
(While walking through a neighbourhood field in Alberta, D...)
While walking through a neighbourhood field in Alberta, Danny finds an 8,000-year-old arrowhead. His friend Joshua, who lives on the Peigan reserve at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, joins him on buffalo hunts, powwows, archaeological digs, and a break-in at the local museum. In the process Danny learns about history and gains the self-confidence to overcome dyslexia.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004322GI0/?tag=2022091-20
2006
(Indigenous elder Alfred Scow and award-winning author And...)
Indigenous elder Alfred Scow and award-winning author Andrea Spalding collaborate to tell the story, to tell the secret of the dance.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KRNHT36/?tag=2022091-20
2006
(Finn loves to swim with the seals in a secret cove. He ar...)
Finn loves to swim with the seals in a secret cove. He arrives at the cove one day and rescues a young seal tangled in netting. Finn wishes the seal could live on land. That night the seals sing.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KRSN52M/?tag=2022091-20
2011
Andrea Spalding was born on November 17, 1944, in Manchester, United Kingdom. She is a daughter of Frederick Clarke.
As a child, Andrea Spalding adored ‘Palgraves Golden Treasury’ book of poetry given to her when she was four. Although she couldn’t understand all the poems, she loved the sound of the words her father read aloud to her every night.
Her parents believed passionately in giving their children an appreciation of the arts, and the family visited concerts, recitals, and the theater whenever they could afford it. In the neighborhood where she grew up, this kind of upbringing was unusual.
At school, Spalding specialized in drama and art, though she also studied guitar and piano. She couldn’t speak and her teachers frequently told her she was stupid.
Spalding obtained a degree in education from Teacher Training College in Derby (currently the University of Derby).
Andrea Spalding started her career as an educator. After graduation, she started out teaching kindergarten and elementary school and was very involved in the English folk music scene. The passion helped her to meet her future husband with whom she relocated to Canada in 1967.
In a new country, Spalding began delving into the local history. She wanted to feel “rooted” and wanted to know more about it. Talking to the elderly and to the Native people, she heard lots of stories and made lots of friends.
Although the Spaldings’ interest in folk music continued, they had come to realize that the music they knew in England was not necessarily relevant to Canadians. As a result, they began researching Canadian folk music and formed the folk duo Brandywine, named after the Brandywine River in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. In 1980, Brandywine produced its first recording, Breakfast with Brandywine. The second one, The Most Beautiful Kite in the World, followed eight years later.
In addition to her career with Brandywine, Andrea Spalding started using songs to teach Canadian social studies in schools. Wherever she went, people listened to her music, then shared their stories with her. As her collection of stories grew, she often told them to her three young daughters as they traveled the long distances between schools. Although her husband encouraged her to record the stories in writing, it would be several years before she did that.
In 1979, however, Spalding wrote ‘One Way Ticket’, a screenplay about an English child who immigrates to Canada, and after landing in Montreal, is put on what was called a colonist car. The volume received good reviews from critics. After this, the author was offered one contract after another. She went on to write several hundred television and radio docudramas for adults and children, many of which won or were nominated for awards.
In 1985, Andrea Spalding published her first book, ‘Never a Dull Moment’, a biography of the well-known Canadian broadcaster, Peggy Holmes. But it would be three more years before she would publish her first book for children. The idea for ‘The Most Beautiful Kite in the World’, which was illustrated by Georgia Graham, came to her as she was watching her children fly kites, and was reminded of her own childhood experience with a kite. The story was accepted by Red Deer College Press, and the book was issued in 1988.
It was followed a year later by the second book for children, ‘A World of Stories’. For two years, Spalding had traveled around Alberta gathering material for the collection. In 1995, she published her first novel for young adults. ‘Finders Keepers’ is the story of Danny and Joshua, two boys in the Fort MacLeod area of Alberta, who find an arrowhead.
In 1990, the Spaldings moved to Pender Island, off the British Columbia coast, and opened a bed and breakfast. Through the bed and breakfast, she met lots of interesting people who have all sorts of wonderful stories to tell. As a result, her second picture book titled ‘Sarah May and the New Red Dress’ appeared in 1998.
The collection of above-mentioned books was enlarged by other volumes. In addition, Andrea Spalding has organized lots of workshops and literary conferences in schools around the United States both for children and their teachers. She also was a performer in the national children’s Saturday morning TV show for children Storytime made for the CTV network.
Andrea Spalding is an accomplished and prolific author who has penned about thirty books. The scripts for two films, as well as for hundreds of radio and television docudramas are also to her credit.
Spalding has been a recipient of many awards, including Alberta Culture and Multiculturalism Teleplay Award and Best of the West Award. She has also been nominated for the Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize, Violet Downey Book Award, and the Silver Birch Award. ‘The Most Beautiful Kite in the World’, ‘Finders Keepers’ and ‘A World of Stories’ were named ‘Our Choice’ selections by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre.
(Indigenous elder Alfred Scow and award-winning author And...)
2006(When Ian's parents separate, he moves with his mother to ...)
1999(The third book of the Summer of Magic Quartet, in which A...)
2005(A book based on the theme of expectation and disappointme...)
1988(While walking through a neighbourhood field in Alberta, D...)
2006(Solomon has a special friendship with the big old maple o...)
2002(Little Girl means what she says and has the resources to ...)
2001(Finn loves to swim with the seals in a secret cove. He ar...)
2011(A book by Andrea Spalding and Georgina Montgomery.)
1992(A book by Andrea Spalding and Peggy Holmes.)
1985Quotations: "I hear and identify with the music of spoken words, and I try to keep that music in the written words."
Andrea Spalding has been a member of Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers, Children’s Writers and Illustrators of British Columbia, and Federation of B.C. Writers.
Andrea Spalding is a fervent supporter of recycling and a talented artist. She uses recycled material to produce altered books, fantasy furniture, assemblages, and collages.
Quotes from others about the person
"Andrea Spalding has done a wonderful job of creating characters that are believable and who tackle life’s problems in a constructive manner." Canadian Content critic
"If you have a head full of stories, don’t let anything or anybody stop you from fulfilling your dreams."
Andrea Spalding married David Spalding, a museum curator, whom she met in a folk club. The family produced three children named Jane, Penny, and Lucy.
