It’s award season, and yes, it’s hard to keep up. If you hail from north of the 49th parallel, you’ll be familiar with the Ontario Tree Awards…These are a big deal here, cuz they’re a reader’s choice award, and what author doesn’t want his/her readers to love their books! There are awards for fiction as well as non-fiction with 6 English categories and two French. Their site has a handy template that links each category to this year’s short list as well as short lists and winners for several previous years. I recommend printing the lists off for future reading.
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The short-list for the Governor General’s Literature Award For Children’s Text (see below)
The White Bicycle by Beverley Brenna
Becoming Holmes by Shane Peacock
Once Upon a Northern Night by Jean E. Pendziwol
Counting Back from Nine by Valerie Sherrard
and short-list for the Governor General’s Literature Award for Illustration (see below) were also recently announced.
Miss Mousie’s Blind Date illustrated by Rachel Berman
Oy, Feh, So? illustrated by Gary Clement
Northwest Passage illustrated by Matt James
The Dark illustrated by Jon Klassen
How To illustrated by Julie Morstad
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Our friends south of the Canuck border are also celebrating short-lists of their own. The finalists for the 2013 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature has just been announced.
The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp by Kathi Appelt (S&S/Atheneum).
The Thing About Luck by Cynthia Kadohata (S&S/Atheneum).
Far Far Away by Tom McNeal (Knopf).
Picture Me Gone by Meg Rosoff (Putnam).
Boxers and Saints by Gene Luen Yang (First Second).
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And finally, here in Victoria, BC we are celebrating Polly Horvath’s Bolen Books Prize win for Children’s Literature.
Sheryl McFarlane 