The Hooligan Queen

LINDA JEAN

People often ask if the Linda Jean stories are made up.

Absolutely not.

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Every single story is inspired by real events from my childhood — stories my mother lovingly (and dramatically) reminded me about for years. According to her, I was personally responsible for a significant portion of her gray hair.

Linda Jean was the kid climbing where she shouldn’t climb, experimenting with things she absolutely should not have experimented with, asking endless questions, getting gloriously dirty, wandering the neighborhood, and somehow turning ordinary afternoons into unforgettable disasters.

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I was a true Gen X child, raised in a time when kids spent most of their lives outdoors — building forts, riding bikes until dark, solving their own problems, using their imagination, and learning through trial and error… usually lots of error.

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As the second-born and textbook middle child, I was curious, adventurous, stubborn, independent, and endlessly creative. I got into trouble constantly — though never with bad intentions. I simply wanted to see what would happen.

And apparently… things happened.

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The real-life Linda Jean eventually grew up to become an engineer, which honestly surprises no one who knew me as a child. Engineers are just curious kids who never stopped asking “What happens if I do this?”

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Even now, I still love adventure, creativity, problem-solving, and discovering interesting things about the world. The only real difference is that now people call it “innovation” instead of “being a hooligan.”

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And somewhere deep down, Linda Jean, the Hooligan Queen is still very much alive and well.

The Older Sister

JOANNE

Joanne was the oldest sister — the responsible one, the rule follower, the peacemaker, and often the exhausted voice of reason standing in the path of Linda Jean’s chaos. Everything mattered to Joanne: fairness, manners, doing the right thing, making people proud. While Linda Jean wandered happily through childhood without much concern for rules or consequences, Joanne carried the weight of responsibility from a very young age.

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It somehow makes perfect sense that Joanne grew up to become a teacher.

In the final year of her life, Joanne and Linda Jean spent countless hours talking about their childhood — remembering tiny details from their first six or seven years growing up in rural British Columbia in the 1970s. They laughed about old disasters, remembered neighbourhood kids, argued about what really happened, and slowly pieced together the little world they had shared as children.

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Those conversations became the heart of the Linda Jean, the Hooligan Queen stories.

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After months of listening, remembering, and quietly gathering material, Linda Jean finally felt ready. She sat down and wrote sixteen books — intending them to be a surprise for Joanne, a tribute to their childhood, and a way of preserving the memories they had rediscovered together.

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But on January 11, 2026, Joanne suddenly passed away at the age of 55 from a brain aneurysm.

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She never knew the books had been written.

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She never got to hold them in her hands, laugh at the stories, or see herself inside their pages.

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In many ways, the series became something even bigger than a collection of childhood adventures. It became a love letter to two sisters, to memory, to family, and to the fleeting, ordinary moments that someday become the most important stories of all.

Beatrice Mae Burns

GRANDMA B.

Beatrice “Grandma B” lived in beautiful Nelson, British Columbia, where she became a beloved part of the community through her many years as a kindergarten teacher at Hume School. Gentle, patient, and full of wonder, Grandma B had a special gift for making children feel seen, safe, and deeply loved.

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In real life, she was the grandmother of Linda Jean and the mother of Addie Marie Burns. She filled her family’s world with stories, imagination, and adventure. Grandma B loved reading Beatrix Potter books aloud, tending to her garden, and exploring the outdoors with curious little Linda Jean by her side.

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She taught Linda Jean about flowers, trees, birds, and the stars above. Whether they were picking berries, watching clouds drift across the mountains, or searching for constellations in the night sky, Grandma B believed nature itself was one of life’s greatest classrooms.

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Her kindness, creativity, and love of learning helped inspire the heart of the Linda Jean stories. Grandma B reminds us that some of the most magical childhood memories come from the simple moments spent with someone who truly cares.

Addie Marie Burns

MUM

Mum, born Addie Marie Burns, was Grandma B’s daughter and the heart of the family. Though she dreamed of adventure and seeing more of the world, life seemed to keep her close to home with responsibilities, raising children, and caring for everyone around her. Instead, she poured her creativity and love into the little world she built for her family.

When her daughters Joanne, Linda Jean, and Jennifer were young, Mum spent countless hours sewing bubble suits, quilts, and tiny Barbie doll outfits that the girls proudly gave to their friends as birthday presents. She loved gardening, creating beautiful things by hand, and making childhood feel magical in quiet everyday ways.

Mum was also the enforcer in the family — the one who remembered every mischievous thing Linda Jean ever did. In fact, it was Mum who lovingly gave her the nickname “Linda Jean the Hooligan Queen,” a title that would eventually inspire the entire book series. Years later, she would retell the stories with equal parts exhaustion, disbelief, and laughter, encouraging Linda Jean to finally write them all down.

Sadly, Mum passed away in 2006. The Linda Jean, the Hooligan Queen series has become both a tribute to her loving spirit and a heartfelt apology for being such a wonderfully difficult child to raise.

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Keith 

DAD

Dad was the easygoing parent in the household — happiest stretched out in his chair watching hockey, tinkering with old cars, or simply enjoying a quiet evening without too much commotion. While Mum worried about rules, manners, and what the neighbours might think, Dad tended to shrug and let Linda Jean roam free, convinced things would probably work themselves out somehow. This approach drove Mum absolutely crazy.

He spent part of his life working as an insurance salesman before later becoming a steam engineer, living much of his life in Quesnel, British Columbia. Calm, playful, and impossible to rattle, Dad brought a quieter kind of love to the family — the kind that gave Linda Jean room to explore the world in her own wonderfully chaotic way.

The Baby Sister

JENNIFER

Jennifer was the surprise little sister, arriving nearly six years after Linda Jean and Joanne. By then, many of the legendary neighborhood adventures had already become family stories whispered around kitchen tables and laughed about for years afterward.

But Jennifer never missed out on being loved.

From the very beginning, Linda Jean appointed herself Jennifer’s official protector — a role she took very seriously. She watched over her little sister like a hawk, keeping her close, defending her fiercely, and guiding her through childhood with equal parts affection and stubborn determination. Jennifer spent her earliest years safely tucked beneath Linda Jean’s wing.

As she grew older, though, it became clear that Jennifer had inherited a little of Linda Jean’s adventurous spirit. Curious, independent, and never afraid to test the limits, she developed her own mischievous streak and talent for finding trouble in all the same creative ways.

Jennifer begins appearing in the later books of the Linda Jean, the Hooligan Queen series, bringing a whole new energy to the adventures. While she may have missed the earliest escapades, she quickly proves she’s more than capable of creating a little chaos of her own.

Jennifer eventually grew up to become an electrician — practical, capable, and hardworking — but beneath that strong exterior is the same kindhearted little girl her family always knew. Generous, caring, and fiercely loyal, Jennifer remains someone people naturally feel safe around.