• Age: 3 to 8
• Grade: p to 3
• Reading age: 3 to 8

See below for English description.

Chester revient en force! Cette fois, le turbulent et vaniteux chat est déterminé à créer son propre livre, sans l'aide de Mélanie! Il a même caché les pinceaux, la peinture et la souris d'ordinateur de l'auteure! Débordant de confiance, Chester se met au travail. Mais les mots ne lui viennent pas facilement… Serait-il atteint du syndrome de la page blanche? Armée seulement d'un crayon et d'un bloc-notes, Mélanie le guide dans le processus de rédaction. Chester exprime alors son côté artistique de différentes façons. Rien ne peut l'arrêter sauf peut-être un petit problème d'ordre technique… Il n'y a plus d'encre dans son marqueur rouge! Ce troisième livre mettant en vedette le chat Chester est tout aussi hilarant que les précédents.

Chester's finally ready to write his own masterpiece --- he just needs to get pesky writer-illustrator Mélanie Watt out of the way. Chester's solo attempts at storytelling are messy, to say the least, but he's determined to go it alone. But where's his story going? After several alternative (but always unhappy) endings, Chester is confronted by a problem he never bargained for. A wry comment on the creative process and how good stories are constructed, this is the most uproarious Chester book yet.

Original title:Chester's Masterpiece

La jeune auteure-illustratrice Mélanie Watt, née à Trois-Rivières, a remporté pour son travail de prestigieuses récompenses, dont le Prix Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz, le Prix Blue Spruce et le Prix Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon, tous les trois pour Frisson l'écureuil.

It was in a design class taught by Michèle Lemieux at the University of Quebec in Montreal that author and illustrator Mélanie Watt created her first picture book, Leon the Chameleon, which was later published by Kids Can Press. Watt went on to create several more books, including the Learning with Animals collection and Augustine, which was named an ALA Notable Children's Book. Watt has also illustrated Where Does a Tiger-Heron Spend the Night? and Bearcub and Mama, which won the 2006 IRA Teachers” Choices Project.

Mélanie's best known book, Scaredy Squirrel, has won many awards, including the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children”s Book Award for Children”s Picture Book and the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator”s Award. The release of Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend was met with enthusiastic reviews and incredible sales, confirming the arrival of kid lit's newest superstar. Chester, Chester's Back! and Chester's Masterpiece are about a megalomaniac cat who is every bit the antithesis to Scaredy. Chester has already become a bestseller, and shows the breadth and creativity of Mélanie Watt.

Scaredy returns to take a few more tentative steps out of his comfort zone in Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach and Scaredy Squirrel at Night. Mélanie has often noted how the Scaredy Squirrel books helped her work out her own insecurities and fears, as the success of these titles has required her to venture out into the unknown, and like Scaredy she has found the experience truly uplifting.

Mélanie currently resides near Montreal, Quebec.

Melanie Watt's profile page

• Winner, Palmarès Communication-Jeunesse