A local author is releasing the third and final book to his series.
Paul Toffanello is touring local schools with “Popchuck’s End”, the final wrap up to the Popchuck series that was originally based at Timmins’ Camp Bickell. The trilogy focuses on the adventures of 12-year-old Neil Wybred and his best friends Adam and Ally. Toffanello says the second book is set near Halloween with witches and wizards taking over the three main character’s school. “The third book is about a year later and the kids actually have the opportunity to go to Salem Massachusetts to study more about the 1692 witch trials. And it just gets really fun, fast and spooky pretty quickly.”
Toffanello says he is touring schools in the northern region with this book and teaching kids about creative writing. He says during his book talks he also likes to add in some educational elements. He says he really emphasizes reading and writing what you know.
The Popchuck series is also being turned into a film series. The first movie was announced last year with child actor Jet Jurgensmeyer cast as the main character. Toffanello says Calgrove Media is finalizing who is taking the director’s role, but if it works the way the ball is rolling now, the movie will be incredible. He says there is a chance the movie will be filmed in Northern Ontario, but the production company is also looking into Vancouver locations. Toffanello adds that the plan is to start shooting in the spring. He adds that there could be a chance this turn into multiple movies as well. “This is the plan, a full feature film for book one, a full feature for book two and we think we might split book three into two feature films.”
Toffanello adds that this may be the last of the written Popchuck series, but not the last of the beloved characters. “I started two other books with the same characters. One of the books will be related to Popchuck to some extent, but the other one is more localizes with the kids going on this canoe trip and getting lost. I don’t feel like I’m leaving the kids.”
Toffanello will be at the Timmins Public Library on Saturday starting at 10:30am talking about his book and signing copies.