The 2023 Canadian Children's Book Centre Awards: Finalists announced

Today, the Canadian Children's Book Centre, our nationally-renowned authority on all things related to youngCanLit, announced the finalists for the 2023 English-language Canadian Children's Book Centre Awards. (See their website announcement here with pdf here and video of shortlists on Bibliovideo.)

This year, the children's book awards include seven awards, both long-established and newly founded:

• TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award ($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;
• Amy Mathers Teen Book Award ($5,000), Sponsored by Amy Mathers' Marathon of Books;
• Jean Little First-Novel Award ($5,000);
• Arlene Barlin Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy ($5,000), Sponsored by Elly Barlin-Daniels;

 (n.b. The French-language award short lists will be announced on October 18th and winners celebrated on November 8.)

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

TD Canadian Children's Literature Award

Berani

Written by Michelle Kadarusman

Pajama Press

Reviewed here 

Kunoichi Bunny

Written by Sara Cassidy

Illustrated by Brayden Sato

Orca Book Publishers 

Sitting Shiva
Written by Erin Silver
Illustrated by Michelle Theodore
Orca Book Publishers

Weird Rules to Follow
Written by Kim Spencer
Orca Book Publishers

The Witness Blanket: Truth, Art and Reconciliation
Written by Carey Newman and Kirstie Hudson
Orca Book Publishers

Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award

 

Boobies
Written and illustrated by Nancy Vo
Groundwood Books

Reviewed here

Fox and Bear
Written and illustrated by Miriam Körner
Red Deer Press

Reviewed here

I'm Not Sydney!
Written and illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay
Groundwood Books

Reviewed here

Lizzy and the Cloud
Written and illustrated by the Fan Brothers
Simon & Schuster Canada

Mina
Written and illustrated by Matthew Forsythe
Simon & Schuster Canada

Norma Fleck Award For Canadian Children's Non-Fiction

Better Connected: How Girls Are Using Social Media for Good (Orca Think)
Written by Tanya Lloyd Kyi and Julia Kyi
Illustrated by Vivian Rosas
Orca Book Publishers

Pink, Blue, and You! Questions for Kids About Gender Stereotypes
Written by Elise Gravel with Mykaell Blais
Illustrated by Elise Gravel
Anne Schwartz Books

Sun in My Tummy
Written by Laura Alary
Illustrated by Andrea Blinick
Pajama Press

Reviewed here

Why Humans Build Up: The Rise of Towers, Temples and Skyscrapers (Orca Timeline)
Written by Gregor Craigie
Illustrated by Kathleen Fu
Orca Book Publishers

The Witness Blanket: Truth, Art and Reconciliation
Written by Carey Newman and Kirstie Hudson
Orca Book Publishers

Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People

Hidden on the High Wire (A Holocaust Remembrance Book for Young Readers)
Written by Kathy Kacer
Second Story Press

How to Be a Goldfish
Written by Jane Baird Warren
Scholastic Canada

Reviewed here

The Ribbon Leaf
Written by Lori Weber
Red Deer Press

The Secret Diary of Mona Hasan

Written by Salma Hussain

Tundra Books

Weird Rules to Follow
Written by Kim Spencer
Orca Book Publishers

Amy Mathers Teen Book Award

As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow
Written by Zoulfa Katouh
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

The Red Palace
Written by June Hur
Feiwel and Friends

Reviewed here

Road of the Lost
Written by Nafiza Azad
Margaret K. McElderry Books

TJ Powar Has Something to Prove
Written by Jesmeen Kaur Deo
Viking Books for Young Readers

Wrong Side of the Court

Written by H.N. Khan
Penguin Teen Canada

Jean Little First-Novel Award

The Grave Thief
Written by Dee Hahn
Puffin Canada

 

How to Be a Goldfish
Written by Jane Baird Warren
Scholastic Canada 

Reviewed here

Scout Is Not a Band Kid
Written and illustrated by Jade Armstrong
RH Graphic

Weird Rules to Follow
Written by Kim Spencer
Orca Book Publishers

The Wolf Suit
Written and illustrated by Sid Sharp
Annick Press

 

Arlene Barlin Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy

Blood Scion
Written by Deborah Falaye
HarperTeen

 

Ghostlight
Written by Kenneth Oppel
Puffin Canada

Reviewed here

 

The Limitless Sky
Written by Christina Kilbourne
Dundurn Press 

Reviewed here

A Magic Steeped in Poison (The Book of Tea, Book 1)
Written by Judy I. Lin
Feiwel and Friends

Sneaks
Written by Catherine Egan
Knopf Books for Young Readers

 📚📚📚

The winners of these awards will be announced on October 23, 2023 at a ticketed event in Toronto. (Tickets go on sale September 25.)

Friends Find a Way!

Written by Heather M. O'Connor

Illustrated by Claudia Dávila

Scholastic Canada

978-1-4431-9386-3

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

September 2023

 

When Suze first joined Tyson's class in Heather M. O'Connor's Fast Friends (2020), there was some nervousness about a non-verbal child in a wheelchair becoming friends with a boy who couldn't slow down. But, the two children did become friends, and fast friends at that, with Suze enjoying the speed in her wheelchair as much as Tyson loved helping her race about. Now the class is heading to the zoo for a field trip and both Tyson and Suze are excited to see the cheetah, an animal known for speed.

From Friends Find a Way!, written by Heather M. O'Connor, illus. by Claudia Dávila

At the zoo, the class are buddied up–Tyson with Suze–and told to stay together. As they focus on visiting different animals, the kids help direct the class, using the map. Of course, when it's time to see the cheetah, Tyson and Suze know just where to go. But as Tyson remains enthralled with the cheetahs, the class moves on, and suddenly Tyson and Suze are on their own. Tyson hadn't been paying attention, but Suze had, and though she can't express herself verbally, she knows how to tell Tyson where the class has gone.

From Friends Find a Way!, written by Heather M. O'Connor, illus. by Claudia Dávila

While some readers may see Suze's disability as the focus of Friends Find a Way!, author Heather M. O'Connor spends less time on Suze's limitations and more on the connection that Suze and Tyson have. That friendship may have been based initially on their appreciation for speed, but it has evolved into one of camaraderie, similar interests, and cooperation. There is no judgment about who can do or can't do something but instead shows them working together to get what they both need and want. It's that working together to navigate the rambling paths of the zoo to the missing class and to get there as quickly as possible that is how this friendship works. And a story about friends finding a way, whether to rejoining their class or to making their lives fuller and better, is the way to go.

From Friends Find a Way!, written by Heather M. O'Connor, illus. by Claudia Dávila

Claudia Dávila, who illustrated Fast Friends as well as Friends Find a Way!, keeps her digital art colourful, upbeat and dynamic, just like Suze and Tyson. And her illustrations are as inclusive as Heather M. O'Connor's story. Claudia Dávila shows us people of all ages, abilities, cultures and more and makes them all part of the community. And with a delightful assortment of animals, from the sloth and red panda, Komodo dragon and kangaroos, she also takes us on a visit to the zoo alongside Suze and Tyson's class.

Friends do find a way to make things work and Tyson and Suze have found a friendship that works for them, whether at school or at the zoo. They are truly fast friends, both in the speed of their mobility and in the security of the connection, with new experiences strengthening that bond even more.

• • • • • • • 

 

Fast Friends (2020)

Friends Find a Way (2023)

The Most Magnificent Maker's A to Z

Written and illustrated by Ashley Spires

Kids Can Press

978-1-5253-0629-7

32 pp.

Ages 4-8

September 2023

I hope there are many, many schools and homes that encourage kids to make: to design and create and build and fix and keep going. Those makers will become the engineers, the mechanics, the inventors, the dreamers, and the innovators. They will become our tomorrows, and Ashley Spires, with her comprehensive alphabet of all things maker, will inspire them and answer all the questions they didn't know they needed answered in The Most Magnificent Maker's A to Z.

From The Most Magnificent Maker's A to Z by Ashley Spires

Revisiting the little girl from the award-winning The Most Magnificent Thing (2014) and The Most Magnificent Idea (2022), Ashley Spires's latest picture book delves into the process of making things by describing relevant words from A to Z. First we start with A, a girl and her assistant who brainstorm with creativity, which leads to experimenting, fixing, questioning, rethinking, and even walking away.

From The Most Magnificent Maker's A to Z by Ashley Spires

Each letter encourages kids to make things–because "Z is for ZILLIONS of possibilities"–and helps them see that every little step of imagining, planning, and building, from jotting notes in a notebook, to gathering objects and unmaking stuff that isn't quite right are all valuable to the process.

Sometimes going backward is

the best way to move forward.

Ashley Spires does not make everything look easy or straightforward, but she does make it real. Kids need to learn that makers don't always have a linear way of doing things and that sometimes there are sidesteps and backward steps and even steps that need to be erased to make that magnificent thing of which you dream.

From The Most Magnificent Maker's A to Z by Ashley Spires

Ashley Spires is a true maker of words, of ideas, of art, and undoubtedly more than is revealed in any single book. (Is the little girl Ashley Spires as a child?)  From creating her award-winning Binky the Space Cat and this Most Magnificent series, and every other picture book and early graphic novel, Ashley Spires makes readers witnesses to the creation of the wonderful. She excites kids to imagine, to try, and to endeavour that which might seem impossible. Her digital artwork of a captivated child, a cute dog, and an equally adorable cat, and loads and loads of recognizable stuff from books and a stand mixer, tape and bowls make making seem fun and easy. Even when Ashley Spires suggests that some things might not always be fun and easy–"Even the most magnificent things need a little tune up to get them rolling again"–it seems manageable.

 

To the future makers of the imaginable and the improbable, Ashley Spires shows young readers that they can make things magnificent.

• 🔨  • 📎 • 📓 •  📐•

The Most Magnificent Thing

The Most Magnificent Idea

The Most Magnificent Maker's A to Z

The Hockey Skates

Written by Karl Subban

Illustrated by Maggie Zeng

HarperCollins

978-1-443467230

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

September 2023

PK had been promised a new pair of skates by his parents. Though it was summer, they were hopeful that he'd have them in time for winter. So his mother ordered a pair of black skates, size 7, with one blade. PK waited patiently for his new skates to arrive, but getting his perfect new skates was not as easy as they'd thought.

From The Hockey Skates, written by Karl Subban, illus. by Maggie Zeng

Ah, the anticipation of that delivery! PK watched and waited and watched some more, until finally the mail carrier delivered a box just for him. But, horror of horrors, the box held a pair of white figure skates! So, PK's mother sends them back, reiterating in her order what she'd told them in the first place: black skates.

From The Hockey Skates, written by Karl Subban, illus. by Maggie Zeng

But, like Goldilocks, the skates were never quite right. Colour, size and type were wrong, wrong, wrong, and with each delivery and the approach of winter, PK and his family became more and more anxious. Would PK ever get his hockey skates in time to hit the ice with the rest of his friends?

From The Hockey Skates, written by Karl Subban, illus. by Maggie Zeng

Karl Subban may be the author of The Hockey Skates, but he is probably best known as the dad to NHL hockey players P. K. Subban, Malcolm Subban and Jordan Subban. As a hockey dad, he undoubtedly has some wild stories about his three sons, and this one, of getting a delivery of hockey skates for PK, will read like a Canadian version of Goldilocks with a touch of Roch Carrier's classic The Hockey Sweater. I don't know if this really happened to P. K. Subban, the professional hockey player, but for PK the child and every child who has ever waited for something special, whether a visitor, a gift, or something on order, the story of The Hockey Skates is very real. It's that mix of anticipation and disappointment that makes it so familiar and plausible, and by bringing humour into the story, Karl Subban makes the repeated letdowns worthy of a chuckle or two. 

The illustrations were created by Montreal's Maggie Zeng who does sweet very well (e.g., Room for More, This is the Boat That Ben Built) and she does it again in The Hockey Skates. But she also gets in on Karl Subban's humour, from making the skates ridiculously small with PK tottering in them and giving her characters amusing, but  honest, expression as they deal with shock, dissatisfaction, confusion, hope and finally success. 

I may be reviewing this picture book on one of the hottest days of our summer (with Humidex, it currently feels like 39°C at my location) but you can bet there are kids already thinking about hockey, whether playing or watching it. And, if they're hoping to play, they'll want to make sure their equipment fits. Hopefully, they won't have to wait months to ensure they're prepared to hit the ice when those lovely cool temperatures and frozen ponds call to them. With a little patience, a whole lot of kismet and opportunity, and by starting now, they should be ready in time.