2017 Governor General's Literary Awards: Finalists for Young People's Literature

Today, the Canada Council for the Arts announced the finalists for the highly prestigious Governor General's Literary Awards. These will be the first GGs presented by our new Governor General, Julie Payette, who was just sworn in two days ago.

The seven categories of books, both in French and English, for which awards are given are:

• Fiction
• Non-Fiction
• Poetry
• Young People's Literature (Text)
• Young People's Literature (Illustration)
• Drama
• Translation

Congratulations to the finalists 

for the literary awards of English or French language 

works for young people.

English-language: Young People's Literature (Text)

Everything Beautiful is Not Ruined
Written by Danielle Younge-Ullman
Razorbill

Reviewed here

Hit the Ground Running
Written by Alison Hughes
Orca Book Publishers

The Marrow Thieves
Written by Cherie Dimaline
Dancing Cat Books

The Way Back Home
Written by Allan Stratton
Scholastic Canada

Those Who Run in the Sky
Written by Aviaq Johnston
Inhabit Media

English-language:  Young People's Literature (Illustration)

Short Stories for Little Monsters
Written and illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay
Groundwood Books

Reviewed here

The Tragic Tale of the Great Auk
Written and illustrated by Jan Thornhill
Groundwood Books

Reviewed here

Town is By the Sea
Written by Joanne Schwartz
Illustrated by Sydney Smith
Groundwood Books

Reviewed here

When the Moon Comes
Written by Paul Harbridge
Illustrated by Matt James
Tundra Books

When We Were Alone
Written by David A. Robertson
Illustrated by Julie Flett
HighWater Press

French-language: Young People's Literature (Text)

Chroniques post-apocalyptique d'une enfant sage
par Annie Bacon
Bayard Canada

L'elixir du baron Von Rezine
par K. Lambert
Éditions Pierre Tisseyre

Les moustiques
par Jocelyn Boisvert
Soulières éditeur

L'importance de Matilde Poisson
par Véronique Drouin
Bayard Canada

Moi qui marche à tâtons dans ma jeunesse noire
par Roxanne Desjardins
Les Herbes rouges

French-language: Young People's Literature (Illustration)

Azadah
par Jacques Goldstyn
Les Éditions de la Pastèque

En voiture! L'Amérique en chemin de fer
par Pascal Blanchet
Les Éditions de la Pastèque

Fred Petitchatminou

par Christiane Duchesne 

Illustré de Marion Arbona

Les Éditions de la Bagnole

La légende de Carcajou

par Renée Robitaille 

Illustré de  Slavka Kolesar

Planète rebelle

Louis parmi les spectres

par Fanny Britt 

Illustré de Isabelle Arsenault

Les Éditions de la Pastèque

Winning titles will be announced 

on November 1, 2017

and 

presented on a later date at Rideau Hall.

Slug Days

Written by Sara Leach

Illustrated by Rebecca Bender

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-022-2

120 pp.

Ages 7-10

October 2017

Slug Days is told in the first-person narrative of a young girl on the Autism Spectrum Disorder. Lauren, who is probably seven or eight years of age, gives her commentary on several days at school and home, recounting both her slug days when she feels slow and slimy and people get angry with her and her occasional but glorious butterfly days, when she earns stickers in her school agenda and goes for ice cream with her mom.  Sadly, there is much that breaks Lauren’s routines and confuses her sensibilities resulting in those icky slug days: her bus driver is away, someone is sitting in her bus seat, her shoelace bows don’t match, she misses reading time, or her classmates don’t want to play with her.

From Slug Days 

by Sara Leach 

illus. by Rebecca Bender

Even though her teachers know the behaviours typical of ASD and how best to help her, Lauren doesn’t always interpret their actions as helpful, challenging them and even being convinced that they make her have slug days.  When a new girl from Sweden joins the class, Lauren comes to understand that she has the capacity to make butterfly days for herself and someone else.

From Slug Days 

by Sara Leach 

illus. by Rebecca Bender

Sara Leach makes Lauren’s voice young and blatant, focusing on what is important to the child and often ignoring what others deem priorities.  Who the girl is, is undisguised.  She needs her routines and obsesses about things that others might ignore.  She finds security in sticky messes and speaks her mind in an effort to be honest not disrespectful or challenging.  It's usually how others respond to her that gives her the most grief.  Often times she is misunderstood or challenged or ridiculed for her differences and, though she can overlook much, as a strategy to coping, she is as affected by others as most of us are, sadly leading to those slug days.

The voice is the most compelling element of Sara Leach's Slug Days, as it should be.  Here is Lauren's story, up close and personal.  Whether readers can empathize is not on Sara Leach but on the readers themselves because the author makes it clear and it is an arresting text spoken true by a child on the spectrum. Regardless, it’s evident that Lauren's life is full and complex and often wholly unpredictable.  But, with an arsenal of strategies, she will hopefully have fewer slug days and expand her days, as well as those around her, to those of butterflies.



(A version of this review was originally written for and published in Quill & Quire, as noted in the citation below.)



Kubiw, H. (2017, October). [Review of the book Slug Days by Sara Leach]. Quill & Quire, 83 (8): 26.

Sam & Eva: Book launch (Toronto, ON)

Author/illustrator

  Debbie Ridpath Ohi

is launching her second picture book!

Sam & Eva

Written and illustrated by Debbie Ridpath Ohi

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

978-1-48141-628-3

40 pp.

Ages 4-8

October, 2017

launches

on 

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

from 6-8 p.m.

at

A Different Booklist

777-779 Bathurst Street

Toronto, ON

There will be 

• refreshments

• a reading 

• a fun art demo

• doodle keepsake giveaways,

• book sales 

and 

• book signing. 

Get a sneak peek at Sam & Eva from this video uploaded by Debbie Ridpath Ohi just days ago.

Uploaded by Debbie Ohi to YouTube on September 30, 3017.

From Simon & Schuster

Harold and the Purple Crayon meets Tom and Jerry in this sweet and funny picture book about a boy and girl who must balance their creativity and figure out how to cooperate after their drawings come to life. 

When Sam starts drawing a super cool velociraptor, Eva decides to join in. But Sam isn’t too happy about the collaboration. Soon Eva and Sam are locked in an epic creative clash, bringing to life everything from superhero marmots to exploding confetti. But when their masterpieces turn to mayhem will Sam stay stubbornly solo or will he realize that sometimes the best work comes from teamwork?

When the Moon Comes: Book launch (Toronto, ON)

I know Canadians and those who love hockey will be anticipating the upcoming winter season.  

What better way to prepare than with this newest picture book from Tundra Books?

When the Moon Comes

Written by Paul Harbridge

Illustrated by Matt James

Tundra Books

978-1-101917770

40 pp.

Ages 4-8

September 2017

launches

on

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

7-9 p.m.

at

The Dakota Tavern

249 Ossington Avenue

Toronto, ON

Both author Paul Harbridge and illustrator Matt James will be at the launch

Details about the event were posted on the event's Facebook page:Both Paul Harbridge and Matt James will be on hand to speak briefly about the book and sign copies. Books will be sold on site by the incredible Another Story Bookshop (315 Roncesvalles Avenue). Following the signing The Très Bien Ensemble (http://thetresbienensemble.com/), featuring Matt James on guitar and vocals, will perform a short set. It promises to be more fun than an honest-to-goodness game of shinny.

From Penguin Random House Canada website at http://penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/251515/when-moon-comes#9781101917770:

In this atmospheric story, a group of kids play hockey on a frozen lake by moonlight. At once nostalgic and timely, this is a gorgeous book that will speak to readers young and old.

The beaver flood has finally frozen--perfect ice, without a bump or a ripple. For the kids in town, it's Christmas in November. They wait, impatiently, for the right moment. 

Finally, it arrives: the full moon. 

They huff and puff through logging trails, farms, back roads and tamarack swamps, the powdery snow soaking pant legs and boots, till they see it--their perfect ice, waiting. 

And the game is on.

From When the Moon Comes 

by Paul Harbridge 

illus. by Matt James

2018 Stephen Leacock Student Humorous Short Story Competition

The Stephen Leacock Medal for Canadian Literary Humour is a prestigious annual which honours the great humorist Stephen Leacock.  While the award is generally given for books for adults, the Stephen Leacock Associates foundation sponsors a student competition.  What a great way to get more humour in our lives, get your students writing with purpose and maybe even win a few dollars!

Here are the details for the competition, as well as a teacher's guide for writing humour, which are posted at https://www.leacock.ca/studentaward.php.

Stephen Leacock 

Student Humorous Short Story 

Competition 

2018

Criteria:
Write a humorous story or personal essay in English with maximum word count of 1500 words.
• titled
• typed, double-spaced on one side of the page only
• pages numbered and without any other identifying marks
• cover page must be included and provide: title, student's name, name of school, school's telephone and email address


Judging:
Judging by 3 published authors is blind i.e., cover pages with key information are removed and the entry is assigned a number which is logged with student's info in a register which is only seen after judging is complete.


Submission:
Send 3 copies of each entry (plus $5 entry fee) by April 15, 2018 deadline to:
Christine Spear
Contest Registrar
8-40 Victoria Crescent
Orillia, ON
L3V 6N6


Deadline:
Post marked no later than April 15, 2018


Participation:
Limited to Ontario secondary school (public or private) students.


Prizes: 
First prize:  $1,000
  + • 2  tickets to the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal Banquet gala (June 9, 2018)
     • accommodation for two
     • an autographed copy of the medal-winning
     • 2 tickets for the Authors Night (June 8, 2018) at which all winners will read their stories

Second prize: $700
  + • 2 tickets for the Authors Night (June 8, 2018)

Third prize: $300
  + • 2 tickets for the Authors Night (June 8, 2018)


Announcements and Presentations:
Winners announced: May 15, 2018

Authors Night (for all winners): June 8, 2018, Best Western Mariposa Inn, 400 Memorial Avenue, Orillia

Gala Dinner (for 1st place winner):  June 9, 2018, Geneva Park Conference Centre, Orillia
   

Contact:
Christine Spear
studentawards@leacock.ca

Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal

Retrieved from https://www.leacock.ca/studentaward.php on October 2, 2017.

Morgan the Brave

Written by Ted Staunton and Will Staunton

Illustrated by Bill Slavin

Formac Lorimer

978-1-459504974

96 pp.

Ages 5-8

September 2017

Being scared is normal.  Still, being seen as being scared and labelled a chicken or a scaredy-cat is something all children and many adults would avoid at all costs.  That's Morgan's dilemma.  He and everyone from his class have been invited to new kid Curtis's birthday party at which the boy plans to show the horror movie Brain Eater.  Worse, the rumours about the movie elevate the scariness factor.

From Morgan the Brave 

by Ted Staunton and Will Staunton 

illus. by Bill Slavin

"I heard they use real earwax," whispers Charlie.
"My brother watched it," says Matt, "and he passed out!"
Melissa hisses, "Did you hear what they make the spaghetti out of?" (pg. 11)

Worse, his frenemy Aldeen (she's the tall one with the witchy hair in Bill Slavin's illustration above) says that scary movies are boring and she's seen a million of them.  So he gives one a try. He watches The Wizard of Oz in the safety of his home with his parents and he still freaks out, closing his eyes.  Is there a way to go to Curtis's party and watch that movie and not lose face?

Somehow father and son authors Ted Staunton and Will Staunton get into the head of the freakishly normal Morgan, knowing how natural fears can escalate to horrific proportions with the right inputs from peers and an active imagination.  Because the scenario in which Morgan the Brave finds himself is so commonplace, the story becomes familiar and funny and clever.  Though cautionary tales are generally more folkloric, Morgan the Brave is still a lesson-learning story that worries can exacerbate fears and that the anticipation is usually far worse than the reality.

Parents, you can reassure your children with a reading of Morgan the Brave while teachers can do the same with their early readers who would probably be more accepting of the premise that they shouldn't give into their fears if they read it for themselves.  At a Reading Level of 2.2. (i.e., that of a child in the second month of Grade 2) and accompanied by Bill Slavin's comical art, it's not an intimidating read at all.

😱😱😱

Like Ted Staunton's original Morgan series, Morgan the Brave would be a great addition to the listing of #CanLitChoices for Grade 2 novel studies that I prepared almost exactly two years ago. Check out those titles here.

The Disappearance: Book launch (Hamilton, ON)

Join best-selling author

Gillian Chan

author of middle-grade and young adult

historical fiction, short stories and more

for the launch of her newest young adult book

The Disappearance

Written by Gillian Chan

Annick Press

978-1-55451-983-5

208 pp.

Ages 12+

September 2017

on

  Saturday, October 7, 2017

1:30 p.m.

at 

The Reading Room

Bryan Prince Bookseller

1060 King Street West

Hamilton, ON

I hope to review this book before the launch (thanks Annick Press for the review copy!) but, until it is posted, here is the publisher's take on what is sure to be a superbly suspenseful read:

A fast-paced, gritty mystery with a supernatural twist.

Jacob Mueller and Mike McCallum couldn’t be more different. After mystifying doctors, who finally decide that he is an elective mute, Jacob ends up in a juvenile group home, isolated, withdrawn, and bullied. Mike, also in the group home, is scarred physically and emotionally after the murder of his younger brother. He uses his horrific appearance, imposing size, sharp intelligence, and a calculated brutality to keep everyone at bay—until he encounters Jacob. Mike is fascinated by Jacob, particularly the way in which he seems able to shut out the world around him. This fascination becomes tinged with a mixture of awe and horror when Jacob starts to talk, and appears to have knowledge of Mike’s past, particularly of his dead brother. Mike takes it upon himself to solve the puzzle that is Jacob Mueller, and when he comes to the impossible conclusion that Jacob is from another time, he makes it his mission to return him home.

Retrieved from http://www.annickpress.com/Disappearance-The on September 28, 2017.

The lovely Gillian Chan promises

• a reading

• talk of books

• refreshments

• book sales and signing

and

possibly

• learning who disappeared and why.

Will you be there?