The magic of summer camp inspired Charis Cotter's new novel

Charis Cotter says some of her earliest memories are of attending summer camp as a child in Ontario.

"We'd have dress-up nights and skits. I loved the skits. And singing, the singing was great. To me [it] was just magical," she said.

She draws on these magical memories for her latest novel The Mystery of the Haunted Dance Hall, which tells the story of a girl who goes to summer camp for the first time and encounters a ghostly mystery.

The prolific and award-winning author of children's books moved to Western Bay, Newfoundland, about 15 years ago, after spending most of her life in Toronto. She believes the move gave her the same sense of vitality she used to experience in  the summers of her childhood.

"Growing up in the city, but going out and being in the country, I just felt like I came alive. It was where I belonged. It inspired me," she said.

Living next to a large cemetery in Toronto, and then moving into a house situated between two cemeteries in Western Bay, she has always been drawn to the sense of wonder graveyards inspire.

"I always want there to be more to life than what you can see and touch, that there's something more mysterious happening, and magical," she said.

In her writing, she approaches the idea of the supernatural with a sense of playfulness rather than fear.

"To me it's a key to get into a child's imagination. It's with grownups, too. You start talking about ghosts, and immediately everyone is listening."

An author and a performer

Cotter has authored more than a dozen books for young readers, garnering accolades from the Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards and the Atlantic Book Awards for children's literature, plus national and international awards. Yet, her first passion was acting, and she still brings that early love to her craft through engaging presentations.

Cotter especially enjoys visiting children in classrooms. Drawing on her theatre training — she studied acting in Toronto and London, England — she presents dramatic readings in character and helps children learn to tell their own stories. Among  her many personas, she has given readings dressed as Queen Elizabeth II and as a housecleaning ghost from Scottish lore.

She also does creative writing workshops with school children. Two of her titles, The Ghosts of Baccalieu and The Ghosts of Southwest Arm, are collections of stories arising out of these classroom writing workshops.

"I want to stimulate kids' imaginations," she said. "I want them to be creative and lose themselves in daydreams and use their imaginations because I just think it's vital to human existence and creativity."

In The Mystery of the Haunted Dance Hall, the young protagonist feels different from other kids and is nervous about attending summer camp for the first time. In fact, many of Cotter's novels feature characters who feel out of step with their peers.

"I think a lot of kids feel that way," she said. "I think kids can relate on some level to that feeling of not being sure of yourself and not being sure of your friends … or feeling that you're weird or different."

What inspires her to write about these young characters? Cotter believes she is a 10-year-old at heart.

"Everybody has an age that they are inside that's not their chronological age, it's their psychological age or the age that they operate from and see the world around them. And I always say that I'm 10 inside," she said. "There's insecurity, hesitation, but the world is opening up."

Tender subjects

Whether she's writing a new ghost story or telling tales to a room full of fifth graders, Cotter is driven by a deep empathy for the children she engages with.

"I want their emotional experience of life to be validated," she said.

Sometimes in a classroom setting, a child will disclose their real-life experience of grief.

"Somebody will say, my father died last year, or my grandmother died. And then I have to try to respond to them in a way that isn't just playing, it's something more. And it's very moving when that happens."

Ultimately, Cotter's goal is to inspire delight in her young readers.

"My books are always to do with ghosts, and ghosts have to do with death. So, there is a sadness in my books. But my main purpose in writing is always to give the reader a good time, to entertain them and have fun, and pull them into another world," she said.

In the coming months, Cotter will offer signing events in Newfoundland and Ontario. She also hopes to do another school tour in the fall.

Copies of The Mystery of the Haunted Dance Hall are available in all bookstores. Her next local book signing will take place at Coles in the Village Mall in St. John's on Saturday, June 14, from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

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