2015 Governor General Literary Awards: Shortlists announced today!

I know that I've created a blog just for book awards but I think that several major awards always bear mentioning on both blogs.  Here is an abbreviated posting about the recently-announced shortlists for the 2015 Governor General's Literary Awards.

The Governor General's Literary Awards are Canada's national book awards, honouring the best of our literature in seven categories, in both official languages.  Today, the finalists for the 2015 Governor General Literary Awards were announced on the Canada Council website. Below are the nominees for the children's literature awards for English and French texts and illustrations.

English Children’s Literature: Text 

Audrey (cow)
by Dan Bar-el
Tundra Books

Are You Seeing Me?
by Darren Groth
Orca Book Publishers

We Are All Made of Molecules

by Susin Nielsen
Tundra Books / Penguin Random House Canada

Reviewed here

The Gospel Truth

by Caroline Pignat
Red Deer Press

Reviewed here

Young Man with Camera

by Emil Sher
Scholastic Canada

English Children’s Literature: Illustration 

Jack, the King of Ashes
by Andy Jones and Darka Erdelji
Running the Goat Books & Broadsides

Sidewalk Flowers
by JonArno Lawson and Sydney Smith
Groundwood Books

Reviewed here

The Good Little Book
by Kyo Maclear and Marion Arbona
Tundra Books

A Cat Named Tim and Other Stories
by John Martz
Koyama Press

Bug in a Vacuum
by Mélanie Watt
Tundra Books

French Children's Literature: Text 

Les forces du désordre
par Camille Bouchard
Éditions Québec Amérique

Dessine-moi une martien
par Denis Côté
Soulières Éditeur

Boîtamémoire
par Roger Des Roches
Les Éditions de la courte échelle

Direction Saint-Creux-des-Meuh-Meuh
par Sandra Dussault
Éditions Québec Amérique

Maria Réparatrice
par Louis-Philippe Hébert

Les Éditions de La Grenouillère

French Children's Literature: Illustration

Le voleur de sandwichs
par Patrick Doyon et André Marois
 Les Éditions de la Pastèque

L'arbragan
par Jacques Goldstyn
 Les Éditions de la Pastèque

Quand j'écris avec mon coeur
par Mireille Levert 
Les Éditions de la Bagnole/ Groupe Ville-Marie Littérature

Rosalie entre chien et chat
par Mélanie Perrault et Marion Arbona
Dominque et compagnie

Douze oiseaux
par Renée Robitaille et Philippe Béha
Les Éditions de la Bagnole/ Groupe Ville-Marie Littérature

The winners will be announced on Wednesday, October 28, 2015 at http://ggbooks.ca/   

But wait, there's more!

Until the winners are announced, get involved in the Canada Council for the Arts contests for a chance to win an iPad and the 2015 GGBooks collection.  It's as simple as taking a selfie with a nominated book and posting it tagging the Canada Council for the Arts on Facebook or @CanadaCouncil on Twitter, and using #GGBooks and #MyCanLit.  Be sure to watch for my selfies at @HelenKubiw to see that #MyCanLit always includes great #youngCanLit!

Shattered Glass

by Teresa Toten

Orca Book Publishers

978-1-459810976 (pbk)

256 pp.

Ages 12+

September 29, 2015

Reviewed from audiobook

978-1-459810969

"Kid, your life makes mine look like a beige wall."

These words, spoken by sixteen-year-old Toni's Yorkville landlady, Grady, could not be truer, though surprising, considering the colourful and perhaps tragic circumstances of Lady Grady's own life.  But Toni, whose life has been turned upside-down by a fire at the orphanage she has lived at for the past 14 years, has a story as complicated and heartbreaking as any of the songs that Teresa Toten uses to title her chapters.

Toni, who has been plagued by nightmares of fire and smoke and cuts, is one of eldest seven at the Benevolent Home for Necessitous Girls, who is given a few bits of paper as clues to her heritage and some money to start a new and independent life for herself.  For Toni, these bits include a yellowed menu, a playbill from a club named Willa’s in Toronto, and the discharge paper detailing her hospital visit immediately prior to her arrival at the Home.  For the first time, Toni knows her name, Antoinette Royce, and her mother’s, Halina Royce.

But her first order of business is to get herself settled, which she promptly does finding a room at Grady Vespucci’s and a job waitressing at the Purple Onion café, both in Yorkville.  As reliable and hard-working as Toni may be, she is determined to be “smart and fearless and sassy” (pg. 27) and begins to search for her father, seeing him first in folk singer Ian Tyson, of Ian and Sylvia fame, and then in Brooks Goldman, the lead musician of the Purple Onion’s band and father of Ethan, a young man who seems to take an interest in Toni and watches out for her.  But Toni’s quest for her family is a difficult one, as she harbours a fear that her mother is responsible for the fire and for the injuries she incurred before she ended up at the Benevolent Home for Necessitous Girls.  And she keeps letting her imagination take her off the beaten path to identify her father.

In addition to Grady and Big Bob, the owner of the Purple Onion, Ethan and his father Brooks, Toni becomes acquainted with a handsome young man who runs another club, flattered by the attention he bestows upon her.  Sadly, just as Toni misinterprets so much about her own life history, she sees Cassidy as a potential love interest, oblivious to the messages she should be getting about him but is naively ignorant.  As desperate as Toni is to find some closure to her past–“The shadows cripple you” (pg. 162)–she can’t see the family she is building around her, with a motley group of individuals who all care about her, regardless of her origins or naiveté.  Fortunately, set to an awesome selection of music embedded in her story, Toni is able to learn her true story, though it is a sad one.

Teresa Toten gets the reader in the gut with Shattered Glass. Imagine a young girl who is convinced her mother is no good and in looking for her father convinces herself she’s found him, more than once!  Without ever intending it, Toni creates her story and continues to revise it as the facts come to light.  Still Teresa Toten allows Toni the freedom to be strong and forthright while letting a sliver of hope about her father add an undersong to her present life.  It’s a compelling story, Toni’s and Shattered Glass, that is never obvious nor predictable but rather sweeping as it carries Toni and the reader along to a satisfying conclusion.  As the Rolling Stones sang just a few years later, “You can't always get what you want, But if you try sometime you find, You get what you need. “  Toni does.

Ben Says Goodbye

by Sarah Ellis

Illustrated by Kim La Fave

Pajama Press

978-1-927485-79-8

32 pp.

Ages 3-6

October 1, 2015

Last time (A+ for Big Ben) darling preschooler Ben had to deal with being the only one in the family not getting a report card and feeling like a little kid.  This time he has another challenge to overcome: the moving away of his best friend Peter.  Desolate, Ben moves away too, under the table to become a caveboy, with only his teddy bear for companionship.  There he eats with his fingers and plays with rocks, and responds to offered food with the occasional "guh." And, most importantly, he is able to to recreate his time with Peter in amazing petroglyphs that provide him with closure and appreciation for their friendship.

Sarah Ellis' latest Ben story focuses on a common upset for children: the moving away of a friend.  Her text shows how a child doesn't recognize all the efforts of others to distract from the potential trauma but instead allows him to immerse himself in his memories, giving them texture in the drawings he produces within his cave.  Kim La Fave, who gets little Ben's shy or determined face spot on, illustrates Ben Says Goodbye so expressively that Ben's angst and ultimate release and acceptance are remarkably visible.  Using the simplest of lines, Kim La Fave gets the angles of the faces, hands and bodies with their tiny feet so right that their intentions are always plain, allowing even the youngest readers to see more into the artwork than might be expected.  And the cave drawings are so evocative of boys having fun and making adventures from their limitless activities. It's not surprising that Ben will miss his compadre when they've already lived so many lives in a few short years.

Best of all is the culminating picture and text that, without saying much, say everything, providing a hopeful future of friendship, albeit with someone of the opposite gender.  A happy ending to a story that demonstrates that even the very young can work their way through difficult situations on their own and come out smiling.  Ben has so much to teach all of us, even if he is just a preschooler!

My Life Before Me: Interview with author Norah McClintock

With my review of Norah McClintock's book My Life Before Me, her contribution to the Secrets series from Orca Book Publishers, posted above, I am pleased to offer a little something extra.  As part of Orca's Secrets Blog tour–in which I'm delighted to be participate!–I have the pleasure of posting a Q & A with Norah McClintock in regards to her amazing book and the writing process.

I'm pleased to post that interview here. Enjoy!

Norah McClintock, author of My Life Before Me

HK:  The plot in My Life Before Me is so intense, mixing a young woman’s search for her past with a murder mystery and racism and the civil rights movement.  What germ of an idea did you focus on as the starting point for the story?

NM:  I once read about a woman who had discovered that her father had attended a lynching along with many other seemingly respectable white people in town. It happened in the 1930s, I think, and, contrary to what one thinks when one hears about lynching, it didn’t happen in the American south. It happened in a northern state. That was the sum total of my initial idea. This bears absolutely no relationship to Cady or her quest. But it was the thing that maybe me wonder about family and knowing: what we think we know versus what really happened; how what happened can change everything in a moment.



HK:  The whole Seven Secrets takes place in 1964.  How did you research this time period to ensure setting authenticity in My Life Before Me?  What was the hardest about writing about a teen for a time period during which you were a very young child?

NM:  I would like to say that I wasn’t even born then, so I had to slog through tons and tons and tons of sources to make sure I was as accurate as possible. That’s certainly true for some members of the group. But I was able to draw on actual life experience. When I was a kid, a cousin several years older than me – about Cady’s age, in fact – lived with us for her high school years. She shared a room with me. So I had a pretty good idea about what 1960s teens were all about. 



HK:  Nellie Bly and the field of journalism are important aspects of My Life Before Me.  Why did you choose to emphasize this in your book?

NM:  I gave Cady my passion. I also gave her my part-time job. I actually did what I describe for a local newspaper.

Cady was adopted once in her past and then given up to an orphanage. She has been rejected by two sets of parents, not just one. So her focus was never going to be on where she came from. She doesn’t care. At least, she doesn’t want to care. When we meet her, she has just been dumped by her boyfriend because of his mother’s prejudice against orphaned girls, who, at that time, were more often than not children who were born to unmarried women – something that was deemed shameful and for which women suffered terrible consequences. So Cady’s focus is on finally taking charge of her life, following her dream, refusing, despite all the odds, to give up until she proves herself – just like Nellie Bly.

HK:  Considering the circumstances with which she has had to endure most of her life, Cady could be justified in harbouring a lot of anger and bitterness.  Yet she accepts most situations with a grain of salt and much wisdom.  How did you keep from embittering her to her life’s realities?

NM:  Well, she is kind of bitter about her boyfriend and his mother and the whole town that she can’t wait to leave. But she’s not a person who is interested in her own past. She is focused firmly on the future and who she wants to be. She can’t wait to get started. But her life experience is not one of being ill-used, abused, or even badly brought-up. The orphanage were she was raised was not a huge institution. It was small, charity-run, not well-financed, but it was home. Cady’s resentment is not directed there, although her restlessness stems from there.



HK:  Co-authoring books can be an odious task as well as fulfilling as authors attempt to work with each other’s strengths and weaknesses.  But writing Secrets, just as with Seven the Series and the Seven Sequels, must be a completely unique writing process as you and six other authors must co-ordinate your works.  What did you find most compelling about this process–you have done it three times now–and what recommendations would you make to other authors who might like to attempt this?

NM:  You have to be willing to go with a premise that is not necessarily your own and prepared to negotiate with other writers to make sure that the story elements you all need are included, where necessary, in the basic proposition of the series. You have to deal with a few curve balls, too. I was thrown a huge one when work started on the Seven prequels, but that’s another story. Coordinating the instigating situation is probably the hardest part. The person I feel sorriest for is the series editor, who had to make sure that nothing in one of the books contradicted anything in the other six, etc. It was a lot of work and sometimes meant that the editor had to negotiate with two writers to come to a compromise. I think maybe sometimes she also issued fiats. The result was always fine.



HK:   I don’t know if Eric Walters is thinking of a set of sequels to the Secrets series but if it happens, I can think of a number of ways to take it.  Cady’s journalism, another crime or mystery, her remaining family,  a possible romance.  Where would you like to take Cady’s story given the chance for a sequel?

NM:  Oh, there are so many possibilities. She’s young. She has drive and ambition, the 1960s, as they are thought about in popular culture (which is not a true reflection of reality, by the way), are just getting started, and change is in the air. 


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Thanks to Orca Book Publisher publicist Melissa Shirley for arranging this Q & A and to author Norah McClintock for sharing with CanLit for LittleCanadians’ readers a glimpse into her writing and her new book My Life Before Me.

My Life Before Me

by Norah McClintock

Orca Book Publishers

978-1459806627

248 pp.

Ages 12+

September 29, 2015

Cady Andrews has dreamed of being a newspaper reporter and when her home, the Benevolent Home for Necessitous Girls, burns down, the story she is going to pursue is her own.  Just like the other six older girls–Toni, Sara, Betty, Tess, Malou and Dot–from the Home who must set out on their own, Cady is given clues to her identity or heritage.  Though she wants to reject it at first, hopeful of a new and exciting life, totally different than the pathetic one of twice-orphaned Cady Andrews, she takes that single clue–a yellowed newspaper clipping of a photo of the vandalized tombstone of Thomas Jefferson who died in 1948 in Orrenstown, Indiana–as the means to grab the attention of the Toronto newspaper editor who thinks the newspaper office is no place for young women.  

But it’s 1964 and it’s a time of the growing civil rights movement and a time of anger by those who can’t abide change.  Not surprising Cady’s questions in Orrenstown and then in Freemount where the grave is located draw a lot of attention. From the  three old men whom she meets at the diner, one of whom becomes her go-to person for local info, Sheriff Bradley Hicks who keeps popping up, a black youth named Daniel and his mother Lila Jefferson, and Maggie Nearing, who runs the local newspaper and the rooming house where Cady stays, Cady gets everyone gossipping and sometimes answering her questions.  Though she learns that Thomas Jefferson had been imprisoned for killing a white man and died while trying to escape, the story details seem to take on different perspectives depending on with whom she is speaking.  And his status as a war hero seemed to rub some people the wrong way.

What Thomas Jefferson, a black man, has to do with blond, blue-eyed Cady is not readily evident, but as with any crime story, a little bit of digging goes a long way to uncovering a few bones and ultimately some skeletons that many would have preferred left hidden.  In fact, some locals are threatened by Cady’s interest in the story as evident by threats she endures because of her enquiries.  Luckily she’s a determined and clever young woman and follows her single clue from one lead to another, meeting more and more people, and revealing an overwhelming racial discrimination and a story of murder, lies and corruption.  That clue may have been given to her to help find her family, but it’s probably more important in what she learns about herself.

But I promised myself that I would never commit the same sin.  I would never be afraid to do the right thing.  I didn’t want to go through life hating myself or regretting decisions. (pg. 242)

There’s a great reason that Norah McClintock is the queen of YA crime writing and I’m so impressed with the story she was able to create within the premise of the Secrets series and still accommodate a plot involving murder, mystery, and civil rights.  My Life Before Me demonstrates that our lives are more than the total of our own experiences; they are also shaped by experiences before our own births.  That single newspaper clipping clue about a man of no relation to Cady is able to open the doors to her past and her origin, though never obvious or confusing.  She will learn from whence she came, though her birth is neither a happy nor a horrific story.  But the story in which her birth is embedded is greater than her own, because it tells of a society that was hurtful and dishonest and prejudiced, and in 1964 still only starting to change for the better.  Moreover,  Norah McClintock easily places the reader in a different time–a time in which skin colour sadly mattered and justice was not always so.  And yet, readers will be impressed by Cady’s strength of character, regardless of the roadblocks constantly placed in her way, and the way she faced adversity with wisdom and poise.

Never spit into a well you may need to drink from. (pg. 7)

And even though much of the mystery regarding Thomas Jefferson skirts Cady’s own story, she makes it into a story that was important to tell and share, for a good greater than her own need.  I truly hope that Cady will continue to be given voice by  Norah McClintock as I think they both have lots more important ideas and stories to share, whether about being given to the orphanage for a second time or about the new life she makes for herself as a newspaper reporter.  Lots for more stories to be told, I’m sure.

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Something special as part of the Secrets blog tour!

Read my interview with author Norah McClintock about her writing and her new book My Life Before Me in my next post today.

#CanLitChoices for Grade 2 novel studies: youngCanLit in series

There are a lot of teachers of students in Grade 2 (ages 6-7) who are eager to introduce their young readers to literature circles and the joy of reading that comes as a social activity (yes, reading is not necessarily a solitary activity).  But, most teachers have been forced to rely on the old standbys like Junie B. Jones, Jigsaw Jones, Horrible Harry, Katie Kazoo, Cam Jansen and Abby Hayes whose reading levels range from 1.8 to 2.9.

And though I believe that this is a very difficult age for whom to write, needing to limit vocabulary while presenting an interesting read in fewer pages (usually around 100 pages), I believe that there are more and more Canadian authors who are writing these books.  Some are a part of collections, like Orca Book Publishers' Orca Echoes (RL Gr. 2, IL ages 7-9) or Orca Young Readers (RL 2-4, IL ages 8-10) while some are series and others are stand-alone novels.  But, whatever your choice, there's something out there for the Grade 2 teacher interested in focusing on #CanLitChoices and for younger readers itching to read "novels" like older students.

Today's post will focus on early reader series of youngCanLit and a second post soon will focus on stand-alone novels for use in Grade 2 novel studies.

Here now are my favourite early reader series of youngCanLit:


Binky Adventures (Kids Can Press)
Binky, whose first book won the Ontario Library Association's Silver Birch Express award, is a sure winner for children who love cats and want a graphic novel format with their laughs

Binky the Space Cat
Written and illustrated by Ashley Spires
Kids Can Press
64 pp.
Ages 7-10
2009

Binky to the Rescue
Written and illustrated by Ashley Spires
Kids Can Press
64 pp.
Ages 7-10
2010

Binky Under Pressure
Written and illustrated by Ashley Spires
Kids Can Press
64 pp.
Ages 7-10
2011

Binky Takes Charge
Written and illustrated by Ashley Spires
Kids Can Press
64 pp.
Ages 7-10
2012

Binky: License to Scratch
Written and illustrated by Ashley Spires
Kids Can Press
64 pp.
Ages 7-10
2013







Canadian Flyer Adventures (Maple Tree Press/Owlkids)
Seventeen books in this early reader series by Frieda Wishinsky, and illustrated by a number of artists, cover the adventures of Matt and Emily who travel by a magical sled to different times in history at different locations

#1 Beware, Pirates!
by Frieda Wishinsky
Illustrated by Dean Griffiths
Maple Tree Press
96 pp.
Ages 6-9
2007
Aboard explorer Martin Frobisher's ship in the year 1577

#2 Danger, Dinosaurs!
by Frieda Wishinsky
Illustrated by Dean Griffiths
Maple Tree Press
96 pp.
Ages 6-9
2007
In the Alberta Badlands during the Cretaceous Period

#3 Crazy for Gold
by Frieda Wishinsky
Illustrated by Dean Griffiths
Maple Tree Press
96 pp.
Ages 6-9
2007
During the late 1800s gold rush in the Yukon

#4 Yikes, Vikings!
by Frieda Wishinsky
Illustrated by Dean Griffiths
Maple Tree Press
96 pp.
Ages 6-9
2007
Traveling with Viking explorer Leif Erikkson to Vinland

#5 Flying High!
by Frieda Wishinsky
Illustrated by Dean Griffiths
Maple Tree Press
96 pp.
Ages 6-9
2007
First powered flight in Canada with Alexander Graham Bell in 1909 Baddeck, Nova Scotia

#6 Pioneer Kids
by Frieda Wishinsky
Illustrated by Dean Griffiths
Maple Tree Press
96 pp.
Ages 6-9
2007
On the Canadian Prairies in 1910

#7 Hurry, Freedom
by Frieda Wishinsky
Illustrated by Dean Griffiths
Maple Tree Press
96 pp.
Ages 6-9
 2008
Traveling along the Underground Railroad across the Canada-U.S. border in 1858

#8 A Whale Tale
by Frieda Wishinsky
Illustrated by Dean Griffiths
Maple Tree Press
96 pp.
Ages 6-9
2008
Traveling with explorer James Cook and the Nootka on Canada’s West Coast in 1778

#9 All Aboard!
by Frieda Wishinsky
Illustrated by Leanne Franson
Maple Tree Press
96 pp.
Ages 6-9
2008
Building of the Canadian Pacific Railway at its completion in British Columbia in 1885

#10 Lost in the Snow
by Frieda Wishinsky
Illustrated by Leanne Franson
Maple Tree Press
96 pp.
Ages 6-9
2008
Quebec in the mid-1600s

#11 Far From Home
by Frieda Wishinsky
Illustrated by Leanne Franson
Maple Tree Press
96 pp.
Ages 6-9
2008
A ship on its way from London to Pier 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia during World War II

#12 On the Case!
by Frieda Wishinsky
Illustrated by Leanne Franson
Maple Tree Press
96 pp.
Ages 6-9
2009
The western town of Galbraith's Ferry in 1888

#13 Stop that Stagecoach!
by Frieda Wishinsky
Illustrated by Jean-Paul Eid
Maple Tree Press
96 pp.
Ages 6-9
2009
Ontario in the early 1800s when much of the province is still wilderness

#14 SOS! Titanic!
by Frieda Wishinsky
Illustrated by Jean-Paul Eid
Maple Tree Press
96 pp.
Ages 6-9
2010
Aboard the Titanic in 1912

#15 Make It Fair!
by Frieda Wishinsky
Illustrated by Patricia Ann Lewis-MacDougall
Maple Tree Press
96 pp.
Ages 6-9
2010
Winnipeg in the early 1900s

#16 Arctic Storm
by Frieda Wishinsky
Illustrated by Patricia Ann Lewis-MacDougall
Maple Tree Press
96 pp.
Ages 6-9
2011
The Far North in 1976 with research scientists studying wolf and caribou migration and habitat

#17 Halifax Explodes!
by Frieda Wishinsky
Illustrated by Patricia Ann Lewis-MacDougall
Maple Tree Press
96 pp.
Ages 6-9
2011
Halifax, Nova Scotia, just as the Mont Blanc explodes in the harbour

Elephants Never Forget (Kids Can Press)
A graphic novel series about Otto, an elephant, whose looking for his childhood friend, George, the chimpanzee

Big City Otto
Written and illustrated by Bill Slavin
Kids Can Press
88 pp.
Ages 8-11
2011

Big Top Otto
Written and illustrated by Bill Slavin
Kids Can Press
80 pp.
Ages 8-11
2013

Big Star Otto
Written and illustrated by Bill Slavin
Kids Can Press
96 pp.
Ages 8-11
2015

Jasper John Dooley (Kids Can Press)
Early reader about Jasper John Dooley for whom life just seems to be an endless stream of normal but hilarious events, from Show-and-Tell to hyperactivity.

Jasper John Dooley: Star of the Week
by Caroline Adderson
Illustrated by Ben Clanton
Kids Can Press
128 pp.
Ages 6-9
2014
School, siblings and shenanigans

Jasper John Dooley: Left Behind
by Caroline Adderson
Illustrated by Ben Clanton
Kids Can Press
132 pp.
Ages 6-9
2014
Intergenerational relationship

Jasper John Dooley: You're in Trouble
by Caroline Adderson
Illustrated by Ben Clanton
Kids Can Press
124 pp.
Ages 6-9
2015
Energy drinks and hyperactivity

Jasper John Dooley: NOT in Love
by Caroline Adderson
Illustrated by Ben Clanton
Kids Can Press
132 pp.
Ages 6-9
2015
Boy-girl relationships

Jasper John Dooley: Lost and Found
by Caroline Adderson
Illustrated by Mike Shiell
Kids Can Press
128 pp.
Ages 6-9
2015
Toys







Justine McKeen (Orca Book Publishers)
Series about a plucky girl with a mega-heart and keen sense of environmentalism.

Justine McKeen, Queen of Green
by Sigmund Brouwer
Illustrated by Dave Whamond
Orca Book Publishers
56 pp.
Ages 7-9
2011
Recycling

Justine McKeen, Walk the Talk
by Sigmund Brouwer
Illustrated by Dave Whamond
Orca Book Publishers
64 pp.
Ages 7-9
2012
Air pollution and idling cars

Justine McKeen, Pooper Scooper
by Sigmund Brouwer
Illustrated by Dave Whamond
Orca Book Publishers
59 pp.
Ages 7-9
2012
School libraries and poop in parks

Justine McKeen, Eat Your Beets
by Sigmund Brouwer
Illustrated by Dave Whamond
Orca Book Publishers
55 pp.
Ages 7-9
2013
Wasted food and homeless animals

Justine McKeen and the Bird Nerd
by Sigmund Brouwer
Illustrated by Dave Whamond
Orca Book Publishers
64 pp.
Ages 7-9
2013
Birds

Justine McKeen vs. the Queen of Mean
by Sigmund Brouwer
Illustrated by Dave Whamond
Orca Book Publishers
53 pp.
Ages 7-9
2014
Species loss and caring for the environment







Kung Pow Chicken (Scholastic Canada)
Funny graphic novel series about the crime-fighting chicken, normally a second-grader named Gordon Blue, and his sidekick/little brother, Egg Drop. Let's Get Cracking won the Ontario Library Association's Silver Birch Express award for 2015.

#1  Let's Get Cracking
Written and illustrated by Cyndi Marko
Scholastic Canada
80 pp.
Ages 5-7
2014

#2  Bok! Bok! Boom!
Written and illustrated by Cyndi Marko
Scholastic Canada
80 pp.
Ages 5-7
2014

#3  The Birdy Snatchers
Written and illustrated by Cyndi Marko
Scholastic Canada
80 pp.
Ages 5-7
2014

#4  Heroes on the Side
Written and illustrated by Cyndi Marko
Scholastic Canada
80 pp.
Ages 5-7
2014

Martin Bridge (Kids Can Press)

Two to three stories in each book, all about eight-year-old Martin Bridge who loves space.

Martin Bridge, Ready for Takeoff!
by Jessica Scott Kerrin
Illustrated by Joseph Kelly
Kids Can Press
120 pp.
Ages 6-8
2005

Martin Bridge, On the Lookout!
by Jessica Scott Kerrin
Illustrated by Joseph Kelly
Kids Can Press
144 pp.
Ages 6-8
2005

Martin Bridge, Blazing Ahead!
by Jessica Scott Kerrin
Illustrated by Joseph Kelly
Kids Can Press
112 pp.
Ages 6-8
2006

Martin Bridge, Sound the Alarm!
by Jessica Scott Kerrin
Illustrated by Joseph Kelly
Kids Can Press
110 pp.
Ages 6-8
2007

Martin Bridge, Out of Orbit!
by Jessica Scott Kerrin
Illustrated by Joseph Kelly
Kids Can Press
112 pp.
Ages 6-8
2007

Martin Bridge, In High Gear!
by Jessica Scott Kerrin
Illustrated by Joseph Kelly
Kids Can Press
112 pp.
Ages 6-8
2008

Martin Bridge, The Sky's the Limit
by Jessica Scott Kerrin
Illustrated by Joseph Kelly
Kids Can Press
112 pp.
Ages 6-8
2008

Martin Bridge, Onward and Upwards!
by Jessica Scott Kerrin
Illustrated by Joseph Kelly
Kids Can Press
112 pp.
Ages 6-8
2009

Morgan (Formac)
Part of Formac First Readers collection, many of the Morgan books which total seventeen have already been re-issued with new covers in 2013.

Morgan Makes Magic
by Ted Staunton
Illustrated by Bill Slavin
Formac
64 pp.
Ages 6-9
1997
School, peer pressure, magic

Morgan's Secret
by Ted Staunton
Illustrated by Bill Slavin
Formac
58 pp.
Ages 6-9
2000
Secrets

Morgan Gets Cracking
by Ted Staunton
Illustrated by Bill Slavin
Formac
61 pp.
Ages 6-9
2012
Teasing

Morgan and the Money
by Ted Staunton
Illustrated by Bill Slavin
Formac
64 pp.
Ages 6-9
2013
Stolen money

Music by Morgan
by Ted Staunton
Illustrated by Bill Slavin
Formac
64 pp.
Ages 6-9
2013
Floor hockey, piano

Great Play, Morgan
by Ted Staunton
Illustrated by Bill Slavin
Formac
61 pp.
Ages 6-9
2013
Soccer

Morgan and the Dune Racer
by Ted Staunton
Illustrated by Bill Slavin
Formac
64 pp.
Ages 6-9
2013
Emotions

Pucker Up, Morgan
by Ted Staunton
Illustrated by Bill Slavin
Formac
64 pp.
Ages 6-9
2013
School play

Campfire Morgan
by Ted Staunton
Illustrated by Bill Slavin
Formac
61 pp.
Age 6-9
2013
Camping

Daredevil Morgan
by Ted Staunton
Illustrated by Bill Slavin
Formac
64 pp.
Ages 6-9
2013
Fairs

Morgan's Birthday
by Ted Staunton
Illustrated by Bill Slavin
Formac
64 pp.
Ages 6-9
2013
Birthday party

Morgan Makes a Splash
by Ted Staunton
Illustrated by Bill Slavin
Formac
64 pp.
Ages 6-9
2013
Courage

Morgan Makes a Deal
by Ted Staunton
Illustrated by Bill Slavin
Formac
59 pp.
Ages 6-9
2013
Paper routes

Super Move, Morgan!
by Ted Staunton
Illustrated by Bill Slavin
Formac
64 pp.
Ages 6-9
2006/2013
Action figures, stealing

Morgan's Pet Plot
by Ted Staunton
Illustrated by Bill Slavin
Formac
64 pp.
Ages 6-9
2013
Pets, allergies

Morgan on Ice
by Ted Staunton
Illustrated by Bill Slavin
Formac
56 pp.
Ages 6-9
2013
Skating

Morgan's Got Game
by Ted Staunton
Illustrated by Bill Slavin
Formac
55 pp.
Ages 6-9
2014
Toys






Looney Bay All-Stars (Scholastic Canada)
A series of adventures by Reese McSkittles and Looney Bay All-Stars sports team as they encounter, via a magic coin, an assortment of historical characters.

#1 Pirate Power Play
by Helaine Becker
Illustrated by Sampar
Scholastic Canada
61 pp.
Ages 7-9
2006
Hockey and pirates

#2 Attack by Knight
by Helaine Becker
Illustrated by Sampar
Scholastic Canada
66 pp.
Ages 7-9
2006
Lacrosse and knights of medieval times

#3 The Vikings Have a Field Day
by Helaine Becker
Illustrated by Sampar
Scholastic Canada
72 pp.
Ages 7-9
2007
Track-and-field and the Vikings at L'Anse aux Meadows

#4 Explorers Out of Bounds
by Helaine Becker
Illustrated by Sampar
Scholastic Canada
72 pp.
Ages 7-9
2007
Soccer and John Cabot

#5 The Emperor Strikes Out
by Helaine Becker
Illustrated by Sampar
Scholastic Canada
72 pp.
Ages 7-9
2007
Baseball and ancient Romans at the Coliseum

#6 Egyptian Slam Dunk
by Helaine Becker
Illustrated by Sampar
Scholastic Canada
72 pp.
Ages 7-9
2008
Basketball and ancient Egyptians

#7 Final Face-Off
by Helaine Becker
Illustrated by Sampar
Scholastic Canada
75 pp.
Ages 7-9
2008
Hockey and Queen Elizabeth I, Sir Francis Drake, Martin Frobisher and the Spanish Armada






Princess Pistachio (Pajama Press)
A more challenging read than Marie-Louise Gay's much-loved picture book series about Stella and Sam, Princess Pistachio focuses on the very imaginative Pistachio and her family. 

Princess Pistachio
Written and illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay
Pajama Press
48 pp.
Ages 5-8
2014
Family, imagination

Princess Pistachio and the Pest
Written and illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay
Translated by David Homel
Pajama Press
58 pp.
Ages 5-8
2015
Siblings








A Sam & Friends Mystery (Kids Can Press)
A spooky graphic novel mysteries that features Sam, a sheepdog, whose neighbour Jennie can hear her thoughts, helping them to solve neighbourhood mysteries.

Dracula Madness
by Mary Labatt
Illustrated by Jo Rioux
Kids Can Press
96 pp.
Ages 6-8
2009

Lake Monster Mix-Up
by Mary Labatt
Illustrated by Jo Rioux
Kids Can Press
96 pp.
Ages 6-8
2009

Mummy Mayhem
by Mary Labatt
Illustrated by Jo Rioux
Kids Can Press
96 pp.
Ages 6-8
2010

Witches' Brew
by Mary Labatt
Illustrated by Jo Rioux
Kids Can Press
96 pp.
Ages 6-8
2011







Travels with my Family (Groundwood Books)
Delightful stories of holidays with mom, dad, two boys, lovingly illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay

Travels with My Family
by Marie-Louise Gay and David Homel
Groundwood Books
120 pp.
Ages 7-10
2007

On the Road Again: More Travels with My Family
by Marie-Louise Gay and David Homel
Groundwood Books
144 pp.
Ages 7-10
2008

Summer in the City
by Marie-Louise Gay and David Homel
Groundwood Books
152 pp.
Ages 7-10
2012

The Travelling Circus
by Marie-Louise Gay and David Homel
Groundwood Books
144 pp.
Ages 7-10
2015





Look for my upcoming post about stand-alone novels that can be used for Grade 2 novel studies and are clearly great examples of #CanLitChoices.