2018 Canadian Children's Book Awards: Finalists announced

On September 6th, the Canadian Children's Book Centre, our nationally-renowned authority on all things related to youngCanLit, announced the finalists for the 2018 Canadian Children's Book Centre Awards. (See their website announcement here.)

The eight major children's book awards, which will be awarded at two invitation-only galas in October and November, include:

• TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award ($50,000) Sponsored by TD Bank Group;
• Le Prix TD de littérature canadienne pour l’enfance et la jeunesse ($50,000) Sponsored by TD Bank Group;
• Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award ($20,000) Sponsored by A. Charles Baillie;
• Norma Fleck Award For Canadian Children's Non-Fiction ($10,000) Sponsored by the Fleck Family Foundation;
• Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People ($5,000) Sponsored by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s Bilson Endowment Fund;
• John Spray Mystery Award ($5,000) Sponsored by John Spray of Mantis Investigation Agency;
• Amy Mathers Teen Book Award ($5,000) Sponsored by Amy Mathers' Marathon of Books; and
• Le Prix Harry Black de l’album jeunesse ($5,000) Sponsored by Mary Macchiusi

There is also the Fan Choice Award/Choix du public littérature jeunesse which invites young readers of ages 5-12 to to choose their favourite book from the titles shortlisted for the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award and Le Prix TD de littérature canadienne pour l’enfance et la jeunesse.  Voting takes place between September 6 and October 25 at https://www.cbc.ca/fanchoice.

Here are the short lists for each award category, as announced by the Canadian Children's Book Centre:



TD Canadian Children's Literature Award

Dragonfly Song
Written by Wendy Orr
Pajama Press

Picture the Sky
Written and illustrated by Barbara Reid
North Winds Press (Scholastic Canada)

Speaking Our Truth: A Journey of Reconciliation
Written by Monique Gray Smith
Orca Book Publishers

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
Reviewed here








Le Prix TD de littérature pour l'enfance et la jeunesse canadienne

ABCMTL
Written by Jeanne Painchaud
Photographs by Bruno Ricca
Éditions Les 400 coups

Bleu
Written and illustrated by Philippe Béha
Éditions de l’Isatis

Le chemin de la montagne
Written and illustrated by Marianne Dubuc
Comme des géants

Gilles
Written and illustrated by Mathieu Lavoie
Comme des géants

Pow Pow, t’es mort!
Written by Marie-Francine Hébert
Illustrated by Jean-Luc Trudel
Éditions Les 400 coups









Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award 

Little Blue Chair 

Written by Cary Fagan
Illustrated by Madeline Kloepper
Tundra Books

My Beautiful Birds
Written and illustrated by Suzanne Del Rizzo
Pajama Press
Reviewed here

Sam & Eva
Written and illustrated by Debbie Ridpath Ohi
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Reviewed here

Stolen Words
Written by Melanie Florence
Illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard
Second Story Press
Reviewed here

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

You Hold Me Up
Written by Monique Gray Smith
Illustrated by Danielle Daniel
Orca Book Publishers









Norma Fleck Award For Canadian Children's Non-Fiction

#NotYourPrincess: Voices of Native American Women
Edited by Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale
Annick Press

Meatless? A Fresh Look at What You Eat
Written by Sarah Elton
Illustrated by Julie McLaughlin
Owlkids Books

The Sockeye Mother
Written by Hetxw’ms Gyetxw (Brett D. Huson)
Illustrated by Natasha Donovan
HighWater Press

Rewilding: Giving Nature a Second Chance
Written by Jane Drake and Ann Love
Annick Press

When Planet Earth Was New
Written by James Gladstone
Illustrated by Katherine Diemert
Owlkids Books






Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People 

The Agony of Bun O’Keefe
Written by Heather Smith
Penguin Teen Canada

The Assassin’s Curse (The Blackthorn Key, Book 3)
Written by Kevin Sands
Aladdin

A Blinding Light
Written by Julie Lawson
Nimbus Publishing

Clutch
Written by Heather Camlot
Red Deer Press

Step Up to the Plate, Maria Singh
Written by Uma Krishnaswami
Tu Books/Lee & Low

John Spray Mystery Award







The Assassin’s Curse (The Blackthorn Key, Book 3)
Written by Kevin Sands
Aladdin

Blood on the Beach
Written by Sarah N. Harvey and Robin Stevenson
Orca Book Publishers
Reviewed here

The Hanging Girl
Written by Eileen Cook
Houghlin Mifflin Harcourt
Reviewed here 






 
Recipe for Hate
Written by Warren Kinsella
Dundurn

The Case of the Missing Mage (Tank & Fizz, Book 3)
Written by Liam O’Donnell
Illustrated by Mike Deas
Orca Book Publishers









Amy Mathers Teen Book Award

The Agony of Bun O’Keefe
Written by Heather Smith
Penguin Teen Canada

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

The Marrow Thieves
Written by Cherie Dimaline
DCB

Munro vs. the Coyote
Written by Darren Groth
Orca Book Publishers

The Way Back Home
Written by Allan Stratton
Scholastic Canada









Prix Harry Black de l'album jeunesse

ABCMTL
Written by Jeanne Painchaud
Photographs by Bruno Ricca
Éditions Les 400 coups

Le chemin de la montagne
Written and illustrated by Marianne Dubuc
Comme des géants

Je ne te vois plus
Written and illustrated by Paul Martin
Éditions Les 400 coups

Mammouth Rock
Written by Eveline Payette
Illustrated by Guillaume Perreault
Groupe d’édition la courte échelle

Riopelle, l’artiste magicien
Written by Marie Barguirdjian
Éditions Edito








Hosted by the Canadian Children's Book Centre and TD Bank Group, the Canadian Children's Literature Awards will celebrate great Canadian children's books and present the winners of the awards on the evenings of October 29, 2018 and November 19, 2018 in Toronto and Montreal, respectively.

At the Pond

Written and illustrated by Werner Zimmermann

North Winds Press (Scholastic Canada)

978-1-4431-4287-8

32 pp.

Ages 2-5

September 2018

On Wednesday, At the Pond became a nominee for a Governor General's Literature Award for Children's Book Illustration and today I want to share why this superb book of art is a worthy contender.

From At the Pond by Werner Zimmermann

At the Pond is a counting book at its simplest. One fish...two fish...and upwards to ten. But At the Pond is more art book than concept book. It is a compendium of beautifully rendered paintings that take the reader to see a pond up close and very personal. Every double spread is an opus of the natural world in colour and shape. The depth of realism that reflects the pond's life, botanical and zoological, is dramatic and intimate. From the goldfish to the water lilies, leopard frogs, insects that include water striders and dragonflies, and the great blue heron from whom the pond life scatters, At the Pond is a literary pond study for those for whom ponds are not readily accessible and even for those fortunate to have them in their backyards.

From At the Pond by Werner Zimmermann

Werner Zimmermann blends green and blue watercolour pigments to give life to the pond's water. There's a dynamic component to essentially still waters–ponds are after all defined as bodies of standing water–that comes from the strokes of his brushes and blending of tones, tints and shades. There are seemingly hundreds of greens in Werner Zimmermann's pond. Moreover, his depiction of the living components in the pond are natural and accurate and filled with life. (Watch the flowering of the water lily for evidence of this.)

From At the Pond by Werner Zimmermann

Teachers may well use At the Pond for counting or for STEM lessons, but for me, it's a study in extraordinary art of the natural world, bringing the outdoors in and sharing a glimpse of life At the Pond.