Author Storytime and Activity with Camellia Koo

Join us for a special storytime with Author and Set Designer, Camellia Koo. The storytime will be followed by a few fun activities.

About the Book

A joyful picture book about all the mischief a young girl and her Yaya get up to–and all the friends they make and dan-tats they eat!—during her weekly visits to his long-term care home.

The narrator of this story is on her weekly visit to her Yaya at his nursing home and has brought him, like always, dan-tats for them to eat together. But as Yaya zooms away in his wheelchair, she has a hard time keeping up: trying to track him down leads to run-ins with many of the other unfamiliar residents, not to mention Nurses Joey and Anna, who are trying to keep things orderly. Just when she starts to worry Yaya may have forgotten about her, a trail of their favorite custard tart crumbs leads the way back to him. Finally, they head to his room to share their weekly treat, but not before making a few more stops, and a few new friends, along the way.

A gentle introduction to adjusting to change and uncertainty, Yaya and the Dan-Tats showcases the unexpected fun and the community that can be found anywhere, even in unfamiliar places. Phoebe Xiao’s energetic and thoughtfully detailed art further captures the charm and imagination of this heartfelt story about intergenerational connection. 

- From Annick Press

About the Author

Camellia is a Toronto based author and storyteller.

Her debut picture book, Yaya and the Dan-Tats, will be released this September with Annick Press, and her favourite stories to write about are about, and for, shy quiet kids with the biggest, loudest and curious hearts. Her writing has been supported by scholarships from The Highlights Foundation, and The Writing Barn.

By day, Camellia continues her artistic practice of collaborative storytelling as an award-winning set and costume designer for theatre, opera, and dance across Canada and the United States.

As a child, her love of writing, and reading, picture books specifically, eventually led her to find theatre design as a career. Coming back to writing and telling her own stories again feels like a natural extension of her love of storytelling and also feels like coming home.

Camellia is a first generation Canadian of Chinese descent; and she organizes her home library by colour, of course.