Currently, students in grades 4 through 7 are voting for their favourite book from a short list of twenty-titles for the
Rocky Mountain Book Award,
Alberta's readers' choice program for young people. The twenty
nominees, which must have been published in the last two years in
Canada, include both fiction and non-fiction titles which
"portray a broad range of family, social, and cultural backgrounds." (Retrieved from http://rmba.lethsd.ab.ca/FAQ.html on March 27, 2012)
The
shortlist for this book award is announced in November, with voting
taking place from mid-March to mid-April. The winner is announced at
the end of April.
The
2012 nominees are listed here (fiction on the right,
nonfiction on the left), with the announcement of the winning title
coming on April 23, 2012.
At the Edge: Daring Acts in Desperate Times
by Larry Verstraete
Animals That Changed the World
by Keltie Thomas
by Robert Feagan
Brussels Sprouts & Unicorns
by Robert Chaplin
Burn
by Alma Fullerton
Case Closed: Nine Mysteries Unlocked by Modern Science
by Susan Hughes
The Cat's Pajamas
by Wallace Edwards
Dear George Clooney, Please Marry My Mom
by Susin Nielsen
Fatty Legs: A True Story
by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton
Follow the Elephant
by Beryl Young
The Good Garden
by Katie Smith Milway
Magic Up Your Sleeve: Amazing Illusions, Tricks, and Science
Facts You’ll Never Believe
by Helaine Becker
by Anna Kerz
by Irene N. Watts
by Erin Bow
Prisoner of Dieppe: World War II, Alistair Morrison,
Occupied France, 1942
by Hugh Brewster
Robert Munsch
by Frank B. Edwards
The Sea Wolves: Living in the Great Bear Rainforest
by Ian McAllister and Nicholas Read
Tower of Treasure
by Scott Chantler
Who Wants Pizza?
by Jan Thornhill
I know that book award fatigue may be setting in for readers of CanLit for LittleCanadians. However, for the readers who are voting, and the juries that are
selecting, as well as the authors, illustrators and publishers, each
award is a very big thing. It is an honour to have a book nominated, just as it is a privilege for readers to critically evaluate each book, knowing that their choices make a significant contribution to the lives
of others. 
