Judith’s comments about creating the book
I think my love of nature and of wildlife and of learning other cultures really inspired me to do this book with Ray Lavallee and because he and because I had developed a friendship and working relationship with him over many years.
He always trusted me with his stories and with his information and he allowed me to help work with him on other projects. It just seemed natural to work with Ray on this book as I had been collaborating with Ray for quite a while, and there were just so many stories. But when we decided to finally pick one, he didn’t hesitate at all. It was the buffalo. It had to be the buffalo because they were a substantial reason that the Plains people were able to survive.
I think there are many layers to the book. And so I think it appeals to a lot of different age levels of children. And I think not only will readers get something from learning the facts about the buffalo and what they were able to provide for the Plains People to survive, but they’ll also get to know some facts about the buffalo. They see through the text and illustrations the people used to live in the past. And I think the illustrations are so important to the book as well.
Judith Silverthorne Career Bio
Judith Silverthorne is a multiple international award-winning Saskatchewan-based author, television documentary producer, publisher, and scriptwriter. As a television producer, she currently co-owns and operates Silverlight Productions Inc. to produce documentaries and publish books.
As well as running her own company, Judith works in various roles for other production companies, including as a script consultant, editor, and researcher.
Previously, she operated her own production company, Spiral Film Production Inc. (1991-2010), producing arts-related documentaries. In 2000, she changed the name to Spiral Communications Inc., and added book publishing to the business. Between 2010 and 2016, as the Executive Director of the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild, she produced a series of ‘How to Write’ vignettes for the organization’s website and Executive Produced a 13 part half-hour series; ‘Bookworms Corner’ with ACCESS TV from 2012-2015.
She has published numerous children’s books, a young adult book, a picture book, and two adult non-fiction books. Besides being published by traditional publishers, Judith has also successfully self-published several books, all of which have been reprinted, with one winning several international awards, and being translated into four languages. More recently she has republished several novels as eBooks. She has also written, hundreds of articles and columns for newspapers and magazines.
She has presented hundreds of reading and writing workshops at libraries, schools, and other educational institutes, and at conferences for children and adults. These workshops included sessional film-related classes at SK Polytechnic (formerly SIAST) in Regina for ten years, and a variety of writing classes for the Centre for Continuing Education at the University of Regina. She was the 2018-2019 Writer-in-Residence at the Regina Public Library, assisting writers, doing presentations and teaching writing workshops through libraries and other public institutions.
Judith’s CV