Margriet Ruurs
Author of My Librarian is a Camel: How Books Are Brought to Children Around the World
About the Author
Image credit: Margriet Ruurs
Series
Works by Margriet Ruurs
My Librarian is a Camel: How Books Are Brought to Children Around the World (2005) 430 copies, 14 reviews
Stepping Stones: A Refugee Family's Journey (Arabic and English Edition) (2016) 275 copies, 20 reviews
The Elephant Keeper: Caring for Orphaned Elephants in Zambia (CitizenKid) (2017) 55 copies, 5 reviews
My School in the Rain Forest: How Children Attend School Around the World (2009) 47 copies, 4 reviews
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Ruurs, Margriet
- Legal name
- Ruurs-Bodbyl, Margriet
- Birthdate
- 1952
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- Canada
- Birthplace
- The Netherlands
- Places of residence
- Saltspring Island, British Columbia, Canada
Yukon, Canada
California, USA
Oregon, USA
Alberta, Canada - Education
- Simon Fraser University (MA|Education)
- Occupations
- children's book author
columnist - Organizations
- Reading Today (columnist)
- Awards and honors
- 2005 Region West Presidential Award for Reading & Technology of the International Reading Association
- Short biography
- Margriet Ruurs writes children's and educational materials. She has a Master's Degree in Education from Simon Fraser University and has studied the use of technology in teaching reading and writing to children. "I love to use my imagination and to dream up stories" says this creator of many books for children.
Margriet also loves to work in schools - to tell children about being a writer and to share her love of playing with language. Her favorite genre of writing is poetry and she likes to make silly rhymes!
Margriet, her husband and two sons have lived in many places - including California, Oregon, Alberta, British Columbia and the Yukon. They like hiking and camping in the mountains and traveling. Once they traveled for a whole year!
Margriet conducts author visits to international schools around the world. But she also loves to stay home to write new books.
Members
Reviews
Stepping Stones / حَصى الطُرُقات: A Refugee Family's… by Margriet Ruurs
This is a fabulous book for children and for readers of all ages. It’s actually not exactly a picture book. It’s a biography and an art book and it’s done exactly how it should be done. The “pictures” are the artist’s actual art (and not some illustrator mimicking it!) and photographs and one other meaningful real life image.
I love this artist’s work. I hadn’t remembered that he’d designed the Yukon Pavilion for the Expo ’86 World’s Fair in Vancouver. I spent a lot of time at that Fair and remember loving the Yukon exhibit. There is a photo in this book of the entrance to that exhibit, beautifully and creatively designed & painted by this artist. I recognized it right away.
I like that the artist wrote a short Foreword for this book. He is an interesting person and has contributed a lot, especially through his art and his teaching. I enjoyed reading about his loving and supportive family of origin and about his travels and about the family he created. His wife is also remarkable with her accomplishments in the field of education.
I love that he was so observant and noticed how much sadness in the world and appreciated that he made a deliberate choice that “his paintings would show only positive images.” His quote: “There’s enough sadness and misery in the world without hanging it on our walls.” And a related quote: “We should all try to spread a little happiness wherever we may be."
This is a text heavy book but there are plenty of paintings and photos included.
I love all of his art, from everywhere he was, and his Yukon art in particular. I smile when looking at the colors and shapes of his paintings done in the Yukon. I love the subject matter that he chose.
I applaud his quote: “Art must be part of every child’s education. Painting is the last great freedom. You can paint what you like.”
At the back of the book there is a page of Sources & Resources and there is also a one page Index.
I shelved this on August 30 but I can’t remember how I found it. None of my Goodreads friends have this book shelved. I was motivated enough to read it that I ordered it from my library’s LINK+ program, a free service where I can borrow books that my library doesn’t have from most other public and university libraries in California and Nevada. Even though the books are free to borrow I’m anxious when I have one at home. They have to be returned to the desk and handed to a library staff member, if late the late fee is $1.00 a day, and if lost there is a $115.00 charge. I use the service only very occasionally. It was worth it for this book and I’m grateful that I could read it. Highly recommended!
ETA: The one thing about the book I didn't love was how the reader is invited to notice things about the art. It's instructional. It might be great for some readers but I wanted to look at the art on my terms and being asked to notice certain things (which might be appealing for many!) took me away from what I was viewing.… (more)
I love this artist’s work. I hadn’t remembered that he’d designed the Yukon Pavilion for the Expo ’86 World’s Fair in Vancouver. I spent a lot of time at that Fair and remember loving the Yukon exhibit. There is a photo in this book of the entrance to that exhibit, beautifully and creatively designed & painted by this artist. I recognized it right away.
I like that the artist wrote a short Foreword for this book. He is an interesting person and has contributed a lot, especially through his art and his teaching. I enjoyed reading about his loving and supportive family of origin and about his travels and about the family he created. His wife is also remarkable with her accomplishments in the field of education.
I love that he was so observant and noticed how much sadness in the world and appreciated that he made a deliberate choice that “his paintings would show only positive images.” His quote: “There’s enough sadness and misery in the world without hanging it on our walls.” And a related quote: “We should all try to spread a little happiness wherever we may be."
This is a text heavy book but there are plenty of paintings and photos included.
I love all of his art, from everywhere he was, and his Yukon art in particular. I smile when looking at the colors and shapes of his paintings done in the Yukon. I love the subject matter that he chose.
I applaud his quote: “Art must be part of every child’s education. Painting is the last great freedom. You can paint what you like.”
At the back of the book there is a page of Sources & Resources and there is also a one page Index.
I shelved this on August 30 but I can’t remember how I found it. None of my Goodreads friends have this book shelved. I was motivated enough to read it that I ordered it from my library’s LINK+ program, a free service where I can borrow books that my library doesn’t have from most other public and university libraries in California and Nevada. Even though the books are free to borrow I’m anxious when I have one at home. They have to be returned to the desk and handed to a library staff member, if late the late fee is $1.00 a day, and if lost there is a $115.00 charge. I use the service only very occasionally. It was worth it for this book and I’m grateful that I could read it. Highly recommended!
ETA: The one thing about the book I didn't love was how the reader is invited to notice things about the art. It's instructional. It might be great for some readers but I wanted to look at the art on my terms and being asked to notice certain things (which might be appealing for many!) took me away from what I was viewing.… (more)
Lists
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 36
- Also by
- 1
- Members
- 1,729
- Popularity
- #14,867
- Rating
- 4.2
- Reviews
- 87
- ISBNs
- 107
- Languages
- 5
