2019 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Awards: Shortlists announced

On May 7, the Ontario Arts Foundation announced the 2019 nominees for the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Awards.  These award recognize artistic excellence in writing and illustration in English-language Canadian children’s literature.  The awards will be selected by two juries of young readers, this year from Eastview Public School, Scarborough, Ontario.  Students from Gr. 3 and 4 and also from Gr. 7 and 8, from this school, a school with a large Indigenous community, offering Ojibwa language instruction and other Indigenous programming, will select the award-winning book for the Children's Picture Book Award and for the Young Adult/Middle Reader Book Award respectively.  The prizes, $6000 each, will be given out in June at the school.

Here are the two short-lists of nominees:

• • •                                         

In the CHILDREN'S PICTURE BOOK CATEGORY, the nominees are: 

Africville
Written by Shauntay Grant
Illustrated by Eva Campbell
Groundwood Books
Reviewed here

Go Show the World: A Celebration of Indigenous Heroes
Written by Wab Kinew
Illustrated by Joe Morse
Tundra Books
Reviewed here





Island in the Salish Sea
Written by Sheryl McFarlane
Illustrated by Leslie Redhead
Orca Book Publishers

Mustafa
Written and illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay
Groundwood Books

The Origin of Day and Night
Written by Paula Ikuutaq Rumbolt
Illustrations by Lenny Lishchenko
Inhabit Media
Reviewed here

• • •                                        

In the  YOUNG ADULT/MIDDLE READER CATEGORY, the nominees are:

Fire Song
Written by Adam Garnet Jones
Annick Press

Reviewed here

 

 

 

 

 

No Fixed Address
Written by Susin Nielsen
Tundra Books

Planet Grief

Written by Monique Polak
Orca Book Publishers
 

Sadia
Written by Colleen Nelson
Dundurn Press

Reviewed here

Very Rich
Written by Polly Horvath
Puffin Canada

 Congratulations to all nominees

Arthur Ellis Awards for Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing: Shortlists for 2019 announced

The shortlist of nominees for the Arthur Ellis Awards for Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing were announced on April 18 but I have fallen behind in posting about most awards. So let me remedy that now by sharing with you the announcement of the shortlisted titles for these awards, presented annually by the Crime Writers of Canada since 1984 in the following categories:

For Published Works:
• Best Crime Novel 
• Best First Crime Novel 
• Best Crime Novella
• Best Crime Short Story
• Best Crime Book in French
• Best Juvenile/Young Adult Crime Book
• Best Nonfiction Crime Book
• Best Unpublished Manuscript (a.k.a the Unhanged Arthur)

Here are the shortlisted titles for the 
2019 Best Juvenile/Young Adult Crime Book Award:

Escape
Written by Linwood Barclay
Puffin Canada
 

The House of One Thousand Eyes
Written by Michelle Barker
Annick Press
Reviewed here
 

Call of the Wraith (The Blackthorn Key #4)
Written by Kevin Sands
Aladdin
 

The Ruinous Sweep
Written by Tim Wynne-Jones
Candlewick Press 
Reviewed here

The Rumrunner's Boy
Written by E.R. Yatscoff
TG & R Books






Winners in all categories will be announced on May 23, 2019.

2017 Sunburst Awards for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic

In July, the Sunburst Award Society announced the shortlists for its three categories of Sunburst Awards for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, also known as the Copper Cylinder award.

These awards, presented annually in the categories of Adult and Young Adult speculative fiction, plus a category of Short Story, aim to recognize the speculative fiction of Canadian writers (citizens or landed immigrants), with a cash award and a Sunburst medallion. Winners were just announced this week.

Here were this year's nominees in the

Young Adult category

Sophie Quire and the Last Storyguard
by Jonathan Auxier
Puffin Canada

Worlds of Ink and Shadow
by Lena Coakley
HarperCollins

The Inn Between
by Marina Cohen
Roaring Brook Press

Reviewed here

Julia Vanishes
by Catherine Egan
Doubleday Canada

Reviewed here

The Skids
by Ian Donald Keeling
ChiTeen

This year's 

WINNER 

in the Young Adult category 

is


The Skids

by Ian Donald Keeling
ChiTeen/ChiZine
978-1-77148-385-8
287 pp.
Ages 12-15
2016

2016 Atlantic Book Awards shortlists of nominated titles announced

Yesterday, the Atlantic Book Awards Society announced the shortlists of nominated titles for its various book prizes.  Winners of the 2016 Atlantic Book Awards will be announced at a gala at Moncton’s historic Capitol Theatre on April 27, 2016.

To get more information about the Atlantic Canada Book Awards, go to http://www.atlanticbookawards.ca

This year, there are twelve Atlantic Book Awards that will be presented:

• Alistair MacLeod Prize for Short Fiction
• Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children’s Literature
• Les Éloizes - Artiste de l’année en littérature (Association acadienne des artistes professionnel.le.s du Nouveau-Brunswick)
• Atlantic Book Award for Scholarly Writing
• Robbie Robertson Dartmouth Book Award (Non-Fiction)
• Democracy 250 Atlantic Book Award for Historical Writing
• Jim Connors Dartmouth Book Award (Fiction)
• Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Excellence in Illustration
• Margaret and John Savage First Book Award
• New Brunswick Book Award for Fiction
• Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick Book Award for Non-fiction 
• Westminster Books Award for Poetry

The nominees for the two 2016 Atlantic Book Awards for young readers are listed below.

ANN CONNOR BRIMER AWARD

 FOR CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

Delusion Road

by Don Aker

HarperCollins Publishers

Prison Boy

by Sharon E. McKay

Annick Press

Rain Shadow

by Valerie Sherrard

Fitzhenry & Whiteside

LILLIAN SHEPHERD AWARD 

FOR EXCELLENCE IN ILLUSTRATION

Doretta Groenendyk 

I’m Drawing a Picture

(Written by Doretta Groenendyk)

Acorn Press

Ron Lightburn 

Frankenstink!:  Garbage Gone Bad

(Written by Ron Lightburn)

Tundra Books

Tamara Thiebaux-Heikalo 

Mayann’s Train Ride

(Written by The Honourable Mayann Francis)

Nimbus Publishing

The 2016 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Children's Book Awards Shortlists

The Carnegie Medal and the Kate Greenaway Medal are children's book awards presented by the CILIP, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in the United Kingdom.  Shortlists and winners are selected by librarians who serve young readers.

To be eligible for the 2016 Awards titles must have been first published in the UK between September 1, 2014 and August 31,  2015.  Books first published in another country must have been co-published in the UK within three months of the original publication date.

The winning titles will be announced at an awards ceremony in June on their website here.

This year, there are no Canadian authors' books on the shortlist for the 2016 CILIP Carnegie Medal for the writer of an outstanding book for children.

However, among the eight nominated illustrators shortlisted for the 2016 CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal, two feature Canadian illustrators, Jon Klassen and Sydney Smith, whose books covers I've provided here.

Here is the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal Shortlist for 2016

Anthony Browne (author/illustrator)
Willy's Stories
Walker Books

Ross Collins (author/illustrator)
Bear on My Chair
Nosy Crow

Oliver Jeffers (author/illustrator)
Once Upon an Alphabet
HarperCollins

Jon Klassen (illustrator)
Sam and Dave Dig a Hole
Mac Barnett (text)
Walker Books









Jackie Morris (author/illustrator)
Something About a Bear
Frances Lincoln

Helen Oxenbury (illustrator)
Captain Jack and the Pirates
Puffin

Chris Riddell (illustrator)
The Sleeper and the Spindle
Bloomsbury

Sydney Smith (illustrator)
Footpath Flowers
JonArno Lawson (text)
Walker Books/Groundwood Books
  

2016 Canadian Library Association Book Awards: Shortlists announced

On March 1st and 7th, the Canadian Library Association announced via press releases the shortlists for each of its annual book awards which are generously sponsored by Library Services Centre. Here are the lists of nominees:

This award recognizes an illustrator of a noteworthy Canadian book, published in 2015, that appeals to children up to the age of 12 years.

Bug in a Vacuum 
Illustrated by Mélanie Watt
Tundra Books

The Bus Ride 
Illustrated by Marianne Dubuc
Kids Can Press

Mr. Postmouse’s Rounds 
Illustrated by Marianne Dubuc
Kids Can Press

Oscar Lives Next Door 
Illustrated by Marie Lafrance
Owlkids Books
Reviewed here

The Princess and the Pony 
Illustrated by Kate Beaton
Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic
Reviewed here

Sidewalk Flowers 
Illustrated by Sydney Smith
Groundwood Books
Reviewed here

Some Things I’ve Lost 
Illustrated by Cybèle Young
Groundwood Books
Reviewed here

This Is Sadie 
Illustrated by Julie Morstad
Tundra Books

Way Back Then 
Illustrated by Germaine Arnaktauyok
Inhabit Media
Reviewed here

Wild Ideas
Illustrated by Soyeon Kim
Owlkids Books

This notable award recognizes a Canadian author of an outstanding book published in Canada in 2015, which appeals to children up to and including age 12.

The Blackthorn Key
by Kevin Sands
Simon & Schuster

Child Soldier: When Boys and Girls are Used in War
by Jessica Humphreys and Michael Chikwanine
Illustrated by Claudia Dávila
Kids Can Press
Reviewed here

The Choice
by Kathy Clarke
Second Story Press

The First Flute
by David Bouchard
Fitzhenry & Whiteside

Minrs
by Kevin Sylvester
Simon & Schuster

The Nest
by Kenneth Oppel
HarperCollins

A Pocket Full of Murder
by R. J. Anderson
Atheneum Books For Young Readers
Reviewed here

Seven Dead Pirates
by Linda Bailey
Tundra Books

Trash Talk
by Michelle Mulder
Orca Book Publishers

Young Man With Camera
by Emil Sher
Scholastic Canada

This award recognizes an author of an outstanding English-language Canadian work of fiction (novel, collection of short stories or graphic novel), published in 2015, that appeals to young adults between the ages of 13 and 18.

Boo
by Neil Smith
Knopf Canada

Calvin
by Martine Leavitt
Groundwood Books
Reviewed here

Delusion Road
by Don Aker
HarperCollins

An Inheritance of Ashes
by Leah Bobet
Scholastic Canada
Reviewed here

Mad Miss Mimic
by Sarah Henstra
Razorbill
Reviewed here

The Masked Truth
by Kelley Armstrong
Penguin Random House

The Outside Circle
by Patti LaBoucane-Benson
House of Anansi

Scorpion Rules
by Erin Bow
Simon & Schuster

The Truth Commission
by Susan Juby
Razorbill
Reviewed here

We Are All Made of Molecules
by Susin Nielsen
Tundra Books
Reviewed here









In April, the winners of these three awards will be announced, and later presented at the Canadian Library Association National Conference in Ottawa in June.