Can. Lit Award Round-up

Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize

WINNER:

The Corps of the Bare-Boned Plane
Written by Polly Horvath
Published by Groundwood Books (2007)

Like her National Book Award-winning The Canning Season, The Corps of the Bare-Boned Plane is filled with plot twists and extraordinarily strange characters. It is also a moving meditation on loss and finding family in the most unlikely places. Following the death of their parents, two cousins are sent to live with their distant, scholarly uncle and his eccentric house staff. Told in four characters’ voices, the novel is a layered account of one bad year from multiple points of view linking humour and pain. Polly Horvath has written many award-winning books for children and young adults, including The Trolls and Everything on a Waffle, which won the Sheila Egoff Prize in 2002. She lives in Victoria.

Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize
Supported by Kate Walker and Company


WINNER:

A Sea-Wishing Day
Written by Robert Heidbreder
Illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton
Published by Kids Can Press (2007)

On a hot summer day, a wish transforms an urban backyard into a place of breezy high-seas adventure. As our bold Captain and Skipper ride the salty waves, they encounter a beastly sea monster, buried treasure, a scurvy pirate crew, lovely mermaids and more. The creative pair who brought you the acclaimed I Wished for a Unicorn offer up another celebration of the boundless distances a childhood wish can travel. A retired elementary school teacher, Robert Heidbreder has been enchanting children with his joyful poems and rhymes for more than two decades. His 2005 book, Drumheller Dinosaur Dance, won the BC Chocolate Lily Young Readers’ Choice Award. Kady MacDonald Denton is an author and illustrator of books for children and lives in Peterborough, Ontario

Hackmatack Children's Choice Book Award 2008 (NB)

English Fiction

No Safe Harbour: The Halifax Explosion Diary of Charlotte Blackburn
Written by Julie Lawson
Published by Scholastic Canada


English Non-Fiction

Hiding Edith
Written by Kathy Kacer
Published by Second Story Press

2008 Manitoba Book Awards Winners Announced

The Younger category of this award was deferred to 2009.

McNally Robinson Book for Young People Award—Older Category

WINNER:

Sandbag Shuffle
Written by Kevin Marc Fournier
Published by Thistledown Press (2007)


Results are in for the Red Cedar and Stellar Awards

Red Cedar information book winner:
Bill Slavin for Transformed: How Everyday Things are Made (Kids Can Press)

Red Cedar fiction winner:
Pamela Porter for The Crazy Man (Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press)

Stellar Award winner:
Diane Tullson, Red Sea (Orca Books)

Finalists for the Arthur Ellis Best Juvenile Crime Award (announced June 5)
Racing for Diamonds Written by Anita Daher Published by Orca Book Publishers
Spider’s Song Written by Anita Daher Publlished by Puffin Canada/Penguin Group (Canada)
I.D. Written by Vicki Grant Published by Orca Book Publishers
Eye of the Crow Written by Shane Peacock Published by Tundra Books
The Night Wanderer Written by Drew Hayden Taylor Published by Annick Press

Martha Brooks wins Vicky Metcalf Award
Martha Brooks of Winnipeg received the Vicky Metcalf Award for Children's Literature. Sponsored by the George Cedric Metcalf Charitable Foundation, this award, which carries a $15,000 prize, is awarded to a writer of children's literature for a body of work.
Jury comments: “Her novels and short stories push the boundaries of the young adult genre in terms of character, situation, and theme, the result of which is works notable for their depth and resonance.”
Jury members: Nora Flynn (St. John’s), Jean Little (Guelph, Ontario) and Susan Perren (Toronto).

The shortlisted titles for the 2008 Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator’s Award are: Announced May 20.
Ben's Bunny Trouble Illustrated by Daniel Wakeman & Dirk van Stralen (Orca Book Publishers)
Birds of Prey: An Introduction Illustrated by Robert Bateman with Nancy Kovacs (Scholastic/Madison Press)
ChesterIllustrated and written by Mélanie Watt (Kids Can Press)
Grumpy Bird Illustrated and written by Jeremy Tankard(Scholastic Press)
I am Raven Illustrated by Andy EversonWritten by David Bouchard (MTW Publishers)
Lickety-Split Illustrated by Dušan Petričić Written by Robert Heidbreder (Kids Can Press)
Marja's Skis Illustrated by Jirina Marton Written by Jean E. Pendziwol (Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press)
Mechanimals Illustrated and written by Chris Tougas (Orca Book Publishers)
My New Shirt Illustrated by Dušan Petričić Written by Cary Fagan
(Tundra Books)
Painted Circus Illustrated and written by Wallace Edwards (Kids Can Press)
Pink Illustrated by Luc Melanson Written by Nan Gregory Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press)

CLA Announces 2008 Young Adult Book Award Shortlist (13-18)
The Space Between Written by Don Aker (HarperCollins)

Mistik Lake Written by Martha Brooks (Groundwood Books)
For Now Written by Gayle Friesen (Kids Can Press)
The Corps of the Bare-Boned Plane Written by Polly Horvath (Groundwood Books)
How It Happened in Peach Hill Written by Marthe Jocelyn(Tundra Books)
Another Kind of Cowboy Written by Susan Juby(HarperCollins)
Retribution Written by Carrie Mac (Penguin)
Eye of the Crow Written by Shane Peacock(Tundra Books)
Into the Ravine Written by Richard Scrimger Tundra Books)
Better than Blonde Written by Teresa Toten (Penguin)

Dean Griffiths May 12,08

Dean Griffiths was born and raised in Duncan, on Vancouver Island. His mother claims that when Dean was a toddler he wouldn’t eat his meals until she read him a story. During his elementary school years he was more interested in drama than
drawing. That all changed when, at the age of 12, he bought a copy of Ironman # 135. Halfway through the comic book, he knew that he wanted to be
a comic book artist. For the next few years Dean spent every spare minute drawing, creating his own comics and filling them with his own characters.
He credits the book How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way by Stan Lee and John
Buscema as his main instruction in life drawing during this time.
Dean struggled in school and even failed art in grade ten. Thankfully,
during his last two years of high school Dean found a mentor in his
principal, Jerry Brewer. Mr. Brewer was an accomplished artist himself, and
he encouraged Dean to keep drawing.

In 1986 Dean moved to Vancouver where he worked for a computer graphics company for two years before finding himself back on Vancouver Island. In 1995 Dean dropped off some samples of his work at Orca Book Publishers in Victoria. He was immediately called back and soon after signed on to illustrate his first children's book, The Patchwork House, written by Sally Fitz-Gibbon. He has been happily illustrating children’s books ever since.

Ali & Lora's Must Have Books for Spring 08

Kate Walker & Company’s Best of Spring 2008; a list of must have books from Ali Hewitt and Lorna MacDonald


Art’s Supplies; Mechanimals by Chris Tougas (Orca Books)

Buttercup’s Lovely Day by Carolyn Beck (Orca Books)

Forestry A-Z by Ann Walsh & Kathleen Cook Waldron (Orca Books)

Emily Carr’s Attic by Diane Leger (Orca Books)

Jeffrey & Sloth by Kari-Lynn Winters (Orca Books)

Siwiti by Alexandra Morton (Orca Books)

Chester; Scaredy Squirrel; Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend; Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach by Melanie Watt (Kids Can Press)

Stanley’s Party; Stanley’s Wild Ride; Stanley at Sea by Linda Bailey (Kids Can Press)

Looking Closely Through the Forest; Looking Closely Along the Shore by Frank Serafini (Kids Can Press)

Bugs up Close by Diane Swanson (Kids Can Press)

One Hen by Katie Smith Milway (Kids Can Press)

Lily and the Paperman by Rebecca Upjohn (Second Story Press)

Maggie and the Chocolate War by Michelle Mulder (Second Story Press)

Lord of the Forest by Caroline Pitcher (Frances Lincoln)

Freckleface Strawberry by Julianne Moore (Bloomsbury USA)

Claire and the Bakery Thief by Janice Poon (Kids Can Press)

Elf the Eagle by Ron Smith (Oolichan Books)

Jake the Baker by PK Page (Oolichan Books)

Yellow Blues by Sean Moore (Raincoast Books)

Paleo Bugs by Timothy Bradley (Chronicle Books)

T is for Tugboat (Chronicle Books)

Like a Windy Day; The Sun is My Favorite Star; The Earth and I by Frank Asch (Harcourt Trade Publishers)

A Puppy is for Loving by Mary Labatt (Orca Books)

Klutzhood by Chris McMahon (Orca Books)

Wild Ride by Liam O’Donnell (Orca Books)

Orphan Ahwak by Raquel Rivera (Orca Books)

Still There, Clare; Not Fair, Clare; Double-Dare Clare by Yvonne Prinz (Raincoast Books)

Canadian Flyer Series by Frieda Wishinsky (Maple Tree Press)

Laugheteria by Douglas Florian (Harcourt Trade Publishers)

Time of the Thunderbird by Diane Silvey (Dundurn Press)

Reading the Bones by Gina McMurchy-Barber (Dundurn Press)

All-Season Edie by Annabel Lyon (Orca Books)

Impossible Things; Dead in the Water; Big Guy by Robin Stevenson (Orca Books)

Fouling Out by Gregory Walters (Orca Books)

Tweaked by Katherine Holubitsky (Orca Boks)

Gotcha by Shelley Hrdlitschka (Orca Books)

Pauline, BTW Series by Edeet Ravel (Raincoast Books)

XYZ Series by Karen Rivers (Raincoast Books)

Perfect Cut by Julie Burtinshaw (Raincoast Books)

She Loves You by Rhonda Batchelor (Dundurn Press)

April 7 Program Reminder

Don't miss our next program on April 7 with Ali Hewitt & Lorna MacDonald who will share the best kids books of the season. See below for more details.