We’re Elspeth and Rowena, sisters who believe in a world where all children learn to read with confidence and have the chance to discover the pleasure of being lost in a good book. We’ve joined forces to create the Meg and Greg books.
Elspeth Rae was diagnosed with dyslexia at age 8 and received Orton Gillingham instruction during her school years. As a certified teacher, she now uses this structured literacy approach to help K-3 children of all learning abilities become confident readers, spellers and writers.
In her classroom, Elspeth has plenty of flashcards, worksheets, games, and other activities to introduce her students to new phonograms. But she struggles to find high-interest stories that focus on a single phonogram at a time without including spelling exceptions or more advanced phonograms. So, Elspeth and Rowena began collaborating on this project to help fill the hole in Elspeth’s teaching materials, and we hope also to fill a hole for other teachers and families looking for suitable materials for the learning 6-9-year-old reader in their life.
Rowena Rae is a children’s writer in Victoria, BC. As well as co-writing the Meg and Greg stories, she is the author of several nonfiction books for middle grade readers, including a biography of Rachel Carson, an exploration of how land and water connect in watersheds, a dive into the world inhabited by salmon and others. For more information about her nonfiction books, visit Rowena’s website.
Elisa Gutiérrez is an award-winning book designer and illustrator in Vancouver with expertise in children’s book design. Several of the books she’s designed have been honoured by The Alcuin Society, which recognizes excellence in book design in Canada. She is also the author/illustrator of two picture books: Picturescape (Simply Read Books, 2007) and Letter Lunch (Owlkids, 2014). Picturescape was shortlisted for the BC Book Prize and honoured by The Alcuin Society. Elisa has illustrated several other children’s books, as well as stories for Chirp and chickaDEE, both in the OWL Magazine family.
Elisa has a passionate interest in language, literacy, and education and is really excited to be working on the Meg and Greg project!
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