Maxine Trotier
www.maxinetrottier.com  Port Stanley, ON

 

Maxine Trottier is a prolific writer of books for young people.  She was born in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan on May 3, 1950. As a child, such books as Through the Looking Glass, and Treasure Island were favourites. “Treasure Island terrified and thrilled me when I was little,” she says. “It’s probably why I spent so much time sailing…and writing has become my own ‘down the rabbit hole’ adventure.”  When she was 10 years old, she and her family moved to Windsor, Ontario. In 1974 she became a Canadian citizen and started working as a teacher.  She spent 31 years as an educator in elementary classrooms, guiding children toward literacy. As a teacher, she began writing children’s picture books. “They are an essential part of an elementary classroom,” she says. “I wanted to become part of that process. I was always a hands-on sort of teacher, and so bringing the bits and pieces of each book to school for sharing was a natural extension of my second career.”  The students in her class got to see each creative step in her work as she evolved her stories. They saw the rough copies, and were also among the first to view the finished book. Maxine’s books cover a wide range of characters, settings, and situations. She admits the writing process is not always easy.  “Struggling for inspiration is an extremely painful and often fruitless activity,” she says.  “It is far better to leave your mind open to ideas and they will come. I find walking outdoors to be the perfectly mindless sort of activity that relaxes the imagination and lets in the ideas.” Click here to see all books by Maxine Trottier.