North Country This Week

CANTON – The North Country environs, complete with frigid winters and natural beauty, played somewhat of a role in a children’s book recently written by a Canton author.

Canton resident Laura Lavoie’s first children’s book, Vampire Vacation, came out May 10 from Viking Children’s, an imprint of publisher Penguin Random House.

A native of the Plattsburgh area, Lavoie attended SUNY Potsdam in 2002 and proceeded to earn her master’s degree in education at St. Lawrence University in Canton.

Raised in a rural environment, said Lavoie, also influenced her to read and write.

“Growing up in a rural area definitely influenced my love of books and my creative spirit. I was an only child until I was twelve, lived far from any neighbors, and my friends from school were all at least a 20-minute drive away. Plus, we got something like three fuzzy TV stations (using rabbit ears),” she recalled. “I spent a lot of my time playing outside, doing things like building forts in the woods near my house, hiking in the Adirondacks, and working in the garden at my grandparents' house, as well as reading lots of books and writing my own stories on stapled-together construction paper.”

Her moments outside dwindled when the calendar flipped to December.

“Even though I grew up in the North Country and love the summer and fall months here, I've never been a big fan of the snow and cold. I'm typically very ready for warm weather by the time March comes around. Vampire Vacation is partly inspired by a strong desire I had as a child to visit a tropical beach and soak up some sunshine,” Lavoie remarked.

An aspiring novelist, Lavoie welcomed the shift to children’s books during a 2015 pregnancy.

“For a long time, my goal was to become a novelist; but when I was pregnant with my oldest in 2015, I started reading children's books again--specifically, I would read them out loud to her in my belly--and it made me remember how much I loved the books I read as a kid. I decided to try my hand at writing picture books, joined an online critique group, and became a member of the Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI),” noted Lavoie. After I became a part of the children's writing community, I decided this was something I really wanted to pursue. Writing for kids is a lot of fun. The sky's the limit in terms of creativity, and it allows you to still "play", on some level, as an adult.”

In 2019, she signed with a literary agent and said she was incredibly fortunate that, shortly thereafter, Vampire Vacation [illustrations by Micah Player] was acquired by Viking Children's.

“Vampire Vacation is my first book. I have a second picture book called Monster Baker coming from Roaring Brook Press (part of Macmillan) in spring 2023. It's a story about a little monster named Tillie and her relationship with her grandma ("Grandmonster"), partly inspired by time I spent with my maternal great-grandmother and paternal grandmother during my own childhood. In the story, Tillie and Grandmonster spend their time together watching cooking shows and baking delicious treats. When Grandmonster's birthday rolls around, Tillie decides to try her hand at baking a birthday cake all by herself, with some pretty wild results.”

Two additional books are in the works for 2024.

“Writing is something I've always loved doing and has been a hobby of mine since childhood. I have two young children and work full time, so I write pretty sporadically, mostly early on the weekends before the kids wake up. Some writers write every day, but I definitely don't... it's more like every few months. I'll get an idea for a story and start making notes, then eventually write it up when I can find a longer stretch of time,” Lavoie said.

A sneak peak of Vampire Vacation:

Fang isn’t like the other vampires. Will he be able to make his dreams of a beach vacation come true?

The last thing Fang wants is another vacation in Transylvania. He’s toured Dracula’s castle and the coffin museum enough for an eternal lifetime. Why can’t he spend the summer swimming and surfing like his other friends? When his parents refuse, Fang decides to convince them that fun at the beach is possible, even for a family of vampires.