Winners of Governor General Literary Awards 2011 Announced

Canada Council announcement
Winners of the Governor General Literary Awards 2011 were announced today, including those in the two (English) Children's categories:

Children’s Text:

From Then to Now: A Short History of the World

Written by Christopher Moore

Illustrated by Andrej Krystoforski
Tundra Books 

distributed by Random House of Canada

978-0-88776-540-7

Children’s Illustration:

Ten Birds

Illustrated and written by Cybèle Young

Kids Can Press

distributed by University of Toronto Press

978-1-55453-568-2

Congratulations to all nominees and winners.

Out of the Box

by Michelle Mulder

Orca Book Publishers

978-1-55469-328-3

150 pp.

Ages 9+

2011

Michelle Mulder, author of After Peaches (Orca, 2009), skillfully introduces young readers to two issues rare in their fiction: mental health, usually addressed only peripherally, and the Argentinian "disappeared" people of the 1976-1983 military dictatorship.

Except in fiction for young adults, most children's fiction incorporates mental illness as supplementary to the main storyline (e.g., Meeting Miss 405 by Lois Peterson (Orca, 2008); The Crazy Man by Pamela Porter (Groundwood, 2005), although a few titles, including Out of the Box, integrate it as the conflict that propels the plot.

Thirteen-year-old Ellie eagerly travels to Victoria to spend the whole summer with her fun-loving aunt Jeanette who recently lost her partner, Alison, to leukemia.  But, it's not her aunt who is having troubles dealing with life.  It's Ellie's mother whose anxiety and stress seem to be driving wedges between herself and her husband, daughter and sister.

While tackling the basement clean-up, Ellie discovers a bandoneón (an Argentinian concertina), the perfect instrument to take her away from her mother-imposed violin lessons and to support her love of tango music.  But, within the red lining, Ellie retrieves a stash of American and Argentinian money, two airplane tickets from 1976 and other papers.  While endeavouring to solve the mystery of the bandoneón and its contents' provenance, and establishing a new friendship, Ellie must endure her mother's emails and phone calls as well as her aunt's attempts to help Ellie enjoy her summer without always bowing to her mother's demands for help.

Mulder does a commendable job of portraying Ellie's mom's illness from all perspectives, such that no one character comes off as callous or self-centered or fabricated.  Mom, Dad, and Ellie have merely developed coping mechanisms that are no longer working for them, and Jeanette is thrust into the role of an intermediary to help both her sister and her niece accept other possibilities.  Linking their relationships' with those of the family represented by the bandoneón demonstrates the differences that can exist between the family perceived and the family experienced.  This disparity in appearances is reinforced with Jeanette and Ellie's interactions with the homeless people at the soup kitchen at which they volunteer weekly.

Michelle Mulder's Out of the Box balances the voices and the messages superbly, suggesting its inevitable inclusion on "must have" book lists.


For more Canadian children's literature dealing with mental health, check out Meghan's blog for the Canadian Children's Book Centre: Mental Illness Awareness Week: Recommended Books for Young People

Is Canadian writing Canadian?

With the recent list of Giller nominees still fresh in everyone's minds (and prominently displayed in many bookstores), discussions about what constitutes "Canadian writing" or who is a "Canadian author" have been posted in all media.  Is it Canadian writing if the author was not born in Canada?  Is it Canadian writing if the setting is outside of our nation's boundaries?  If the author is a landed immigrant, have they been here long enough to be identified as a Canadian author?

Throughout my years of selecting books to review for Canadian book awards, titles have been scrutinized carefully for eligibility, usually put to rest with two simple questions. First, was the author born or currently live in Canada?    Second question: is the publisher Canadian or one with a Canadian subsidiary or imprint? 

Frequent tree award (e.g., Silver Birch, Red Maple, Red Cedar, Snow Willow) nominee, Gordon Korman, is a Canadian by birth although he has lived in the US for decades.  Adam Gopnik, though American born and current resident of the USA, was raised in Montreal, including attending McGill, and is considered by some as a transplanted Canadian.  Governor General award winning author, Pamela Porter, was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but emigrated to Canada with her husband.  Each has won awards for both Canadian and American authors.

With regards to the publishers, and not knowing all the logistics regarding publishers and their different imprints, we would often simply check a book's copyright page or ask the book distributor for advice.  If deemed Canadian or having a Canadian connection, the publisher was deemed eligible. Authorship and publication questions are relatively easy to answer but each award's requirements for "Canadian" must be articulated and transparent.

Often the discussions that are the most vague and problematic are those involving the settings.  I am a firm believer that the setting of a Canadian book need not be Canada.  Amongst recent award nominees and winners, I could see many discounting Rosa Jordan's Lost Goat Lane (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2005) for its rural Florida setting; Martin Mordecai for Blue Mountain Trouble's (Scholastic Canada, 2009) Jamaican locale; and highly decorated The Shepherd's Granddaughter (Groundwood, 2008) by Anne Laurel Carter for its use of Palestine as a setting. (To those who will criticize my use of the term "Palestine" for the land depicted in this book, get over it. Not the point being made here.)

Though many may question the setting's singular importance in establishing the atmosphere of a story, I have often believed that a Canadian author's writing gives voice to the atmosphere, regardless of its location.  Adam Gopnik's children's fantasy, Steps Across the Water (Doubleday, 2010),  juxtaposes and connects by a crystalline staircase the characters' well-loved New York City with U Nork, its dismal twin city.  Probably written in U Nork, Gopnik's story is cumbersome, with its unwieldy plot and inconceivable characters.  Perhaps it is just too American for my reading tastes.

The Canadian-icity of a piece of writing is revealed in many ways: the voice of its characters, the craftsmanship of the writer; the expectations of the reader; and the nature of the plot.  This blanket of Canadianicity embraces the writing in more ways than a birth certificate, copyright or degree could ever do, warming the text to perfect degree. Just like a Hudson's Bay blanket.

The Case of the Missing Deed

by Ellen Schwartz
Tundra Books
978-0-88776-959-7
189 pp.
Ages 8-12
2011

In mystery writing, the cozy is a sub genre that emphasizes characters with amateur detective skills and the depiction of no or little violence or sex.  The Case of the Missing Deed, which appears to be the first in a series called Teaspoon Detectives, is surely a cozy, with five cousins helping locate the deed to their grandmother's cottage before Tantalus Mining acquires it and other properties on Otter Island to excavate a tantalum mine within the island's Pacific Northwest beauty.

The five cousins, from Victoria and Vancouver, have come to spend their holidays with their Grandma who, recently widowed, cannot locate the deed to her home, and seems emotionally unprepared to pursue it.  Luckily her grandchildren (Sébastien, Geneviève, Claire, Alex and Olivia) are determined to decipher the riddles and clues their Grandpa left on recipes and various objects on the island.  So while sharing a number of great recipes (Emergency Fudge, Muriel's Berry Pandowdy, Chocolate Cinnamon Sparkle Cookies, etc.), decoding a cryptic message, and still having fun at the cottage, the kids bring this cozy to a fitting conclusion.  Of course, because this is a cozy (defined by the warm feeling with which the reader is left), the deed will be located, the bad guys will get their just rewards, and all loose ends will be resolved.  

Even at 189 pages, this is a light read, with few subplots or issues to complicate the mystery, although some obvious red herrings were included.  Young readers will enjoy the straightforward plot but appreciate the recipes and complicated codes that challenge them.  But, it is hoped that Schwartz will share more of her characters with her readers in subsequent books in this series as she has the basis for a rich and varied group of Teaspoon Detectives here. 

End of Days

by Eric Walters

Doubleday Canada

978-0-385-67006-7

316 pp.

Ages 10-15

2011

Science fiction is a genre that most readers either love completely or dislike vehemently.  I am generally in the latter group, reading the odd sci-fi novel or short story as required, never by choice.  So when presented with a tome in which the end of the world is forecast due to an asteroid speeding towards Earth, I was reluctant to even begin my read.  Fortunately, the author is Eric Walters who is well-known for spinning a great tale, whether its theme is Perry's journey to the pole (The Pole, Penguin, 2008); school uniforms (Branded, Orca, 2010); post-traumatic stress experienced by soldiers during various conflicts (Shattered, Penguin, 2006; Wounded, Penguin, 2009); the 9/11 terrorist attacks (We All Fall Down, Doubleday, 2006; United We Stand, Doubleday, 2009); or the healing power of art for street youth (Sketches, Penguin, 2007).  His versatility in crafting a complex, action-packed plot from any germ of an idea is epic.  Science fiction writing for Walters would undoubtedly be riveting.  It is.

Daniel Sheppard and other scientists have their deaths faked by the International Aerospace Research Institute in Switzerland so that they may work discretely on finding a solution to an impending global disaster: a massive asteroid (over 200 km in diameter) expected to impact Earth in 24 years.

Seven years later, their mission is revealed by brilliant and extremely wealthy innovator, Joshua Fitchett, whose alleged death the next day is attributed to the Judgement Day group who believe that scientists are working against God's will to purify the world. Apparently ridding the world of scientists and their research facilities is also God's will.  Meanwhile, panic ensues and society crumbles with shortages (food, water, fuel), violence and desperation.

Fitchett, who staged his own death, is finding his own solution to the looming disaster, recruiting hundreds of bright children, with 16-year-old Billy the Kid (gang leader known for his kindness and compassion) as their leader.  In the last year before the asteroid is expected to hit, while Sheppard and his staff at the Institute undertake their plans to destroy the asteroid, Fitchett, in their underground facility in Idaho, reveals full details of his work to Billy, and ultimately to Sheppard.

Walters' plot and subplots are so well constructed that the reader is emotionally engaged throughout, anticipating a disaster, despairing over a world headed for anarchy, and finally gratified with an ending sure to satisfy.

No Ordinary Day

by Deborah Ellis
Groundwood Books
978-1-55498-108-3
159 pp.
Ages 9-12
2011

An ordinary day for Valli in Jharia, India would be collecting coal, living with her aunt's family, being hungry and being treated like nothing.  But her ordinary days are no more when she fortuitously learns that her aunt is not family and so Valli, having no reason to remain in Jharia, stows away in a coal truck.

Reaching Kolkata,  Valli is taken to Mrs. Mukerjee's where she is given food and shelter, until her burned but painless feet and white-patched skin are revealed.  Thrown out, Valli begins a new life on the streets, guided by the wisdom of an elderly man who encourages her to see herself as rich and to do something great.  So, scrounging for food and money, sleeping where she might, stealing as she needs, and sharing what she can, Valli persists in her "adventure" until meeting the kindly Dr. Indra.  Beyond identifying Valli's condition as Hansen's Disease (leprosy) and offering to treat her at her clinic, Dr. Indra provides the young girl with the regard and appreciation she deserves for her will to learn and to survive.


Though Deb Ellis has donated royalties from this book to "The Leprosy Mission", Valli's story is more than a vehicle for educating the reader about this disease (although I learned much).  It's a social treatise on the impact of poverty, gender inequality and disease in determining the futures of youth in countries such as India.  Valli's story, though heart-breaking, has a happy ending, which is probably not the outcome of most true stories such as this.  By depicting Valli's disease only tangentially to her story of survival, Ellis has made young readers aware of lives of tragedy, perhaps compelling them to learn more and to act, rather than to cause them despair.

Fanatics

by William Bell

Doubleday Canada

978-0-385-67027-2

289 pp.

Ages 12+

2011

Garnet Havelock and Raphaella Skye from Bell's award-winning book, Stones (Doubleday Canada, 2001) are still together, having graduated from high school in Orillia and pursuing careers in furniture-making and stage management, respectively.  For a nominal lease on the coach house (for his workshop) at the estate of the recently-deceased Professor Corbizzi, Garnet reaches an agreement with Mrs. Stoppini, the professor's housekeeper and companion, to make repairs to the fire-damaged library and to catalogue the scholar's book collection. After stumbling across a hidden cupboard with a manuscript titled "Fanatics", a medal and an ornate cross, and enduring nightmares of a tortured man, Garnet enlists Raphaella's psychic tendencies to learn more about the circumstances surrounding the late professor's demise.

As in Stones, a parallel but contemporary storyline reinforces the theme, here of religious intolerance.  In his attempt to return a found GPS, Garnet discovers a covert camp of men in camouflage gear (including firearms) and speaking an unfamiliar language.  He parlays this information to deter his mother, the investigative journalist, from pursuing another dangerous assignment, one in Afghanistan.  As Garnet and Raphaella learn of the fanaticism and fate of the 15th c. Dominican friar, Girolamo Savonarola, they must also discover the means by which to exorcise his spectre from the library.

I've read reviews by those who declare parallel plot lines, in the past and the present, to be contrived and unimaginative.  But, as the selection committee for the Canadian Library Association's Young Adult Canadian Book Award undoubtedly recognized in its 2001 choice, Stones, the folding of one story into another does not compromise either, but rather enhances the texture (not unlike folding egg whites into batter - as Mrs. Stoppini would know from making her zuccotto).

Just as Garnet crafts a piece of furniture or Mrs. Stoppini creates an Italian dessert, William Bell builds his plots from the commonplace through meticulous detail to a riveting and satisfying resolution.  No detail, such as Garnet and Raphaella's relationship, is misplaced or extraneous. The read is enriching and satiating.