Sydney Smith wins 2024 Hans Christian Andersen Award

On April 8, 2024 at the Bologna International Children's Book Fair, IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) announced the winners of the very prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award. This award, given biennially, to an international author and an illustrator of books for young people has never been awarded to a Canadian, until now. This year, alongside Austrian author Heinz Janisch, the award was given to Nova Scotia illustrator (and also author) Sydney Smith.

 

At CanLit for LittleCanadians, I have had the pleasure to review a great number of Sydney Smith's books, both those that he illustrated and those that he wrote and illustrated. They include:

 

Sidewalk Flowers

Written by JonArno Lawson
Illustrated by Sydney Smith
Groundwood Books
32 pp.
Ages 4-7

2015

 

Grant and Tillie Go Walking

Written by Monica Kulling
Illustrated by Sydney Smith
Groundwood Books
32 pp.
Ages 4-8

2015

 

The White Cat and the Monk

Written by JoEllen Bogart
Illustrated by Sydney Smith
Groundwood Books
32 pp.
Ages 4-8

2016 

 

Look Out for the Fitzergerald-Trouts

Written by Esta Spalding
Illustrated by Sydney Smith
Tundra
224 pp.
Ages 8-12

2016

 

Town Is by the Sea

Written by Joanne Schwartz
Illustrated by Sydney Smith
Groundwood Books
52 pp.
Ages 5-9

2017 

 

Inkling

Written by Kenneth Oppel
Illustrated by Sydney Smith
HarperCollins
256 pp.
Ages 8-12

2018

 

Small in the City

Written and illustrated by Sydney Smith
Groundwood Books
40 pp.
Ages 4-7

2019

 

 

 

My Baba's Garden

Written by Jordan Scott
Illustrated by Sydney Smith
Neal Porter Books (Holiday House)
32 pp.
Ages 4-8

2023

Do You Remember?

Written and illustrated by Sydney Smith
Groundwood Books
40 pp.
Ages 3-6

2023

 

 

 

 

 

These are only a selection of Sydney Smith's books. For a more complete listing, check out his web page at https://www.sydneydraws.ca/.

 

Also, if you'd like to read the press release from IBBY, with lovely comments about Sydney Smith's art, it is posted  here.

 

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 

Congratulations to 

Sydney Smith 

on this extraordinary recognition!

2023 Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Canadian Picture Book Award: Finalists announced

On January 31, 2024, IBBY Canada (the Canadian section of IBBY, International Board on Books for Young People) announced the finalists for the 2023 Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Canadian Picture Book Award. The award, established in a bequest from illustrator Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver in 1985, honours a Canadian illustrator of a picture book published in Canada in English or French during the previous calendar year.

Congratulations to the finalists for the 2023 Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Canadian Picture Book Award:

 

Do You Remember?
Illustrations and text by Sydney Smith 

Groundwood Books

Reviewed here

Mnoomin maan’gowing / The Gift of Mnoomin 

Illustrations by Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley

Text by Brittany Luby

Anishinaabemowin translation by Mary Ann Corbiere 

Groundwood Books

Once, a Bird 
Illustrations by Nathalie Dion

Storyline by Rina Singh 

Orca Book Publishers

Reviewed here

The Only Way to Make Bread 
Illustrations by Sarah Gonzales

Text by Cristina Quintero 

Tundra

Skating Wild on an Inland Sea
Illustrations by Todd Stewart

Text by Jean E. Pendziwol 

Groundwood Books

The Song That Called Them Home
Illustrated by Maya McKibbin

Text by David A. Robertson 

Tundra

Reviewed here

A Tulip in Winter: A Story About Folk Artist Maud Lewis
Illustrations by Lauren Soloy

Text by Kathy Stinson 

Greystone Kids

Le village dans la mer
Illustrations and text by Félix Girard 

Éditions de l’Isatis

Waking Ben Doldrums
Illustrations by Byron Eggenschwiler

Text by Heather Smith 

Orca Book Publishers

We Love You as Much as the Fox Loves Its Tail 
Illustrations by Tamara Campeau

Text by Masiana Kelly 

Inhabit Media

Reviewed here

 

 

 

The winner will be announced at the IBBY Canada annual meeting on March 30, 2024.

 

The Lady with the Books: A Story Inspired by the Remarkable Work of Jella Lepman

Written by Kathy Stinson

Illustrated by Marie Lafrance

Kids Can Press

978-1-5253-0154-4 

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

October 2020

 

"Let us set this

upside-down

world right again

by starting with

the children.

They will show

the grown-ups

the way to go."

– Jella Lepman, 1943

 

So begins Kathy Stinson's homage to Jella Lepman, creator of the International Youth Library and a key player in the founding of IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People). But while The Lady with the Books honours her efforts to bring books to children, Kathy Stinson's newest picture book is much more than a biography. It is a tome of hope that books have the promise to nurture during difficult times.

 

From The Lady with the Books by Kathy Stinson, illus. by Marie Lafrance

In the aftermath of World War II, a little girl, Anneliese, and her younger brother, Peter, wander the streets of Munich looking for food. What they do find, in addition to a bit of orange peel, is a line of people heading into a great hall filled with books. With memories of going to a library with their Papa, now both gone, the children are captivated and time flies until Anneliese and Peter are told by a kind lady that the exhibition was closing.

 

From The Lady with the Books by Kathy Stinson, illus. by Marie Lafrance

 

The next day they return to hear the same lady reading The Story of Ferdinand and are touched by the titular bull's pacifism, especially Peter who is drawn to flowers like Ferdinand. When this lady suggests that Anneliese might enjoy another book about a clever Pippi, Anneliese begins to imagine beyond the desolation of their daily lives, especially the struggle for food. The stories they hear at the exhibit and those that Anneliese weaves at night for her brother become a new source of sustenance, offering hope where there had been little.

Kathy Stinson's stories have always found ways to offer hope and comfort, easily getting into the heads of her characters and recognizing what is important to them. Whether it's colour (Red is Best) or music (The Man with the Violin) for children or a squirrel to The Dog Who Wanted to Fly, Kathy Stinson's picture books help children realize the importance of their dreams. At the onset of The Lady with the Books, Anneliese wonders why the women are clearing away rubble with their bare hands and sweeping the pavement when "Couldn't they see that the street would never be what it had been before the war?" However, by the story's end, she decides "she would join the women with their brooms. She would help clear the street around the damaged library. And maybe someday, the building would again be filled with books." There was hope again.

Marie Lafrance's illustrations, rendered in graphite pencil and coloured digitally, may reflect the devastating impacts of war, from bombed buildings to hunger, but the hope of Kathy Stinson's text and Jella Lepman's work–discussed in notes at the conclusion of the story–is there in the life peppering the scenes. From hardworking women with brooms, and men with wheelbarrows, trees and flowers growing out of rubble, markets of bright food, and books, books and more books, Marie Lafrance offers that buoyancy to the story, letting readers know that there is life and goodness out there.

Jella Lepman extended a hand to children after World War II, recognizing that more than food fed lives. Through book exhibitions, donations and ultimately the establishment of the International Youth Library, the largest international collection of children's books in the world, she nourished young lives, especially those disrupted by war and other disasters, to hope for better and more.

From The Lady with the Books by Kathy Stinson, illus. by Marie Lafrance

#Tundra50 Tote Bag Auction

Tundra Books

an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada

is celebrating its 50th anniversary 

with a wonderful online auction in support of

IBBY International

a non-profit organization committed to bringing books and children together. 

Tundra Books asked the following 34 youngCanLit illustrators 

Cale Atkinson

Raphaëlle Barbanègre

Ben Clanton

Genviève Côté

The Fan Brothers

Eugenie Fernandes

Rebecca Green

Janet Hill

Matt James

Marthe Jocelyn

Madeline Kloepper

Julie Kraulis

Ron Lightburn

Julie Morstad

Olivia Chin Mueller

Vicki Nerino

Maxwell Newhouse

Kenard Pak

Gina Perry

Dušan Petričič

Kass Reich

Esmé Shapiro

Zoe Si

Lori Joy Smith

Sydney Smith

Bill Slavin

Mika Song

Ashley Spires

Carey Sookocheff

Chihiro Takeuchi

Frank Viva

Phoebe Wahl

Mélanie Watt

Cybèle Young

to decorate one side of the limited edition Tundra50 canvas tote bags

 

and these bags are being auctioned off 

between June 23 and July 28, 2017.

That gives you just over two weeks to place your bid

at

http://www.biddingowl.com/Auction/index.cfm?auctionID=12038 

Minimum bid is $10 and all bids must be made in $5 increments. 

Details about the Tundra50 Tote Bag Auction can be read here.  The actual auction and images of the tote bags (both front and back) as well as current bids are listed here.

International Children's Book Day, April 2: Bookjoy Around the World

Each year a different National Section of IBBY has the opportunity to be the international sponsor of International Children's Book Day. It decides upon a theme and invites a prominent author from the host country to write a message to the children of the world and a well-known illustrator to design a poster.

The USBBY (United States Board on Books for Young People) has been awarded the sponsorship of the 2013 International Children’s Book Day, traditionally celebrated on April 2, Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday. Program ideas, a poster created by artist Ashley Bryan and poet Pat Mora (there is a poem on the poster), and much more are available now at http://internationalchildrensbookday.wordpress.com/, courtesy of the USBBY International Children’s Book Day Resource Guide Committee (Alison O’Reilly, Doris Gebel, and Jackie DeStefano). If you have a great idea for celebrating International Children’s Book Day, you can share it with your colleagues around the world by submitting a program idea as well.

For those of you who cannot read Pat Mora's poem on the poster, I have retyped it here:

Enjoy International Children's Book Day!

USBBY 2012 Outstanding International Books for Young People

On January 20, 2012, the United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY) announced its annual list of Outstanding International Books. The U.S. division of IBBY selects books for children originating or first published outside of the U.S.   As such, Canadian books would be eligible for inclusion on this honour list.

This list, also announced at the American Library Association conference,  is published in School Library Journal and in a bookmark format.  The bookmark displayed below is available for download from the USBBY website.

Canadian titles have been highlighted in yellow. The ten titles indicated below were published by Annick, Groundwood or Kids Can Press.

Constance Vidor and Ragina Shearer prepared a Google Map displaying all honour books on this list, as a useful tool for teaching.

Created on January 24, 2012 by Constance Vidor and Ragina Shearer

2012 Hans Christian Andersen Awards

As this blog's Awards Page states, the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) Canada submits nominations for IBBY's International Awards, one of which is the Hans Christian Andersen Award. This award is given to a living author and illustrator whose work has made a significant and meaningful contribution to children's literature.  On their website, IBBY maintains that the

"...Hans Christian Andersen Award is the highest international recognition given to an author and an illustrator of children's books." (1)

The 2012 Canadian nominees for this award are author Tim Wynne-Jones and illustrator Stéphane Jorisch.

Tim Wynne-Jones
Tim Wynne-Jones' writing can range from playful to tragic, but always with richness of imagination and heartfelt voice.  And, because his body of work is so extensive, I can only list those titles with which I am familiar and that's still a fair chunk:

Picture Books
Zoom Away (Douglas & McIntyre, 1991)

(2)

Zoom Upstream (Douglas & McIntyre, 1993)
The Last Piece of Sky (Douglas & McIntyre, 1993)
Pounce de Leon (Red Deer Press, 2008)

Short Story Collections
Lord of the Fries (Douglas & McIntyre, 1999 )
The Book of Changes (Groundwood, 1994)

Novels
Rex Zero, King of Nothing (Groundwood, 2007)
Rex Zero, The Great Pretender (Groundwood, 2009)
Rex Zero and the End of the World (Groundwood, 2006)
The Uninvited (Candlewick, 2009) 
The Thief in the House of Memory (Groundwood, 2004) 
The Boy in the Burning House (Douglas & McIntyre, 2000) 
The Maestro (Groundwood, 1996) 
Stephen Fair (Douglas & McIntyre, 1999)
Blink and Caution (Candlewick, 2011)

(3)

Stéphane Jorisch 
Stéphane Jorisch's detailed illustrations are produced using water colour, gouache and pen and ink, and have earned him the Governor-General's Literary Award for Children's Illustration in 2004 and 2008.

Books in which his illustrations can be enjoyed include:
My Father Knows the Names of Things by Jane Yolen (Simon & Schuster, 2010)
Mélanie Lapierre by Bertrand Gauthier (La courte échelle, 2010)
Rosie and Buttercup by Chieri Uegaki (Kids Can Press, 2008)
Mon pyjama et moi by Lucie Papineau (Dominique et compagnie, 2008)
The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear (Kids Can Press, 2007)
Suki's Kimono by Chieri Uegaki (Kids Can Press, 2003)
As for the Princess?: a folktale from Quebec by Stéphane Jorisch (Annick, 2001)
Oma's Quilt by Paulette Bourgeios (Kids Can Press, 2001)


The Hans Christian Andersen Award will be announced March 19, 2012. 


(1) Retrieved from http://www.ibby.org/index.php?id=273 on November 30, 2011.

(2) Image retrieved from http://www.timwynne-jones.com/ on November 30, 2011.

(3) Image retrieved from http://www.kidscanpress.com/US/CreatorDetails.aspx?cid=106 on November 30, 2011.