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'Full-circle' moment: Local teacher, author taking book on the road

Angela Odusanya will visit her former elementary school in Rexdale on Wednesday, saying it was the foundation of her lifelong passion for writing
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Angela Odusanya is the author of Amelia's Loose Part Art.

A Barrie children’s author and teacher is returning to the scene of her inspiration.

On Wednesday, Feb. 5, Angela Odusanya will visit St. Benedict Catholic Elementary School in Rexdale for a free author event where she will share her journey and hopes to inspire young minds with her book, Amelia’s Loose Part Art, which she was inspired to write while a student at the Toronto school.

“This event is more than just a visit — it’s about a full-circle experience of being inspired to be an author as a child, growing up to fulfill that dream, and returning to give back to the place where it all began," she said in a release.

Odusanya, who currently works as a supply teacher for the local Catholic board while continuing her education to become an Ontario certified teacher (OCT) — and spent 10 years as an designated early childhood educator at St. John Paul II Catholic School in Barrie's south end — said the upcoming visit fulfills a promise she made during her successful Kickstarter campaign, which raised an impressive $18,314 — more than $10,000 above her initial goal. 

One of the campaign’s stretch goals was a free school visit to a local school of Odusanya's choice. The author ultimately chose St. Benedict’s for a deeply personal reason: it was her elementary school and the foundation of her lifelong passion for writing.

Odusanya, a proud graduate of St. Benedict’s class of 1996, fondly recalls how her love for storytelling was nurtured during her time there, and shared a pivotal memory that stands out for her while in seventh grade.

She wrote a story about two sisters and a crystal ball, but when her mother insisted on illustrating the story over the weekend, was worried that she would get in trouble from her teacher.

Instead, her teacher reassured her by telling her that many books have an illustrator separate from the author. 

That story was laminated and bound, giving Odusanya her first glimpse of what it might feel like to be a “real author.” 

Now, nearly three decades later, Odusanya is the author of three children’s books — Amelia’s Loose Part Art (2023), Amelia’s Loose Part Art: A Day at the Beach and Amelia’s Easter Surprise, both of which will be released this spring.

The assembly, she said, will centre on creativity — what it is, how to nurture it and why it matters. 

Odusanya hopes the visit will inspire the next generation of young creators to dream big, just as she did when she walked those same halls.

“Returning to St. Benedict’s feels like coming full circle,” said Odusanya. “It was here that I first realized I wanted to write stories. To now return as an author and share that love with today’s students is truly an honour.”



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