CBA Libris Book Awards Shortlist Announced

How thrilling! A Porcupine in a Pine Tree has been nominated for the Illustrated Children's Book of The Year by the Canadian Booksellers Association!

Here's the complete list of nominations.I'm delighted to see friends in almost every category!!!

Canadian Booksellers Association


CBA Libris Awards 2011 Shortlist

AUTHOR

Emma Donoghue

Kathleen Winter

Johanna Skibsrud

FICTION

Annabel by Kathleen Winter (House of Anansi)

Room by Emma Donoghue (HarperCollins)

The Sentimentalists by Johanna Skibsrud (Douglas & McIntyre and Gaspereau Press)

NON-FICTION

Harperland by Lawrence Martin (Penguin)

The Tiger by John Vaillant (Knopf Canada)

Changing My Mind by Margaret Trudeau (HarperCollins)

Mordechai Richler by Charles Foran (Knopf Canada)

BOOKSELLER

The Book Keeper (Sarnia, ON)

Westminster Books (Fredericton, NB)

Blue Heron Books (Uxbridge, ON)

SPECIALTY

Vancouver Kids (Vancouver, BC)

The Flying Dragon Bookshop (Toronto, ON)

Sleuth of Baker Street (Toronto, ON)

CAMPUS

University of Toronto

University of Calgary

McGill University

YOUNG READER

Pluto’s Ghost by Sheree Fitch (Random)

Zombiekins by Kevin Bolger (Penguin)

Words That Start with B by Vikki VanSickle (Scholastic)

EDITOR

Sandy Bogart Johnston, Scholastic

Iris Tulpholme, HarperCollins

Adrienne Kerr, Penguin

SALES REP

Liza Hageraats, Canadian Manda Group

Debbie Brown, Kate Walker & Company

Genevieve Laughlin, Hornblower

Lynn Reeder, Random House of Canada

PICTURE BOOKS

Mabel Murple by Sheree Fitch, illustrated by Sydney Smith (Nimbus)

Giraffe and Bird by Rebecca Bender (Dancing Cat Books/Cormorant)

A Porcupine in a Pine Tree by Helaine Becker & Werner Zimmermann (Scholastic)

DISTRIBUTOR

North 49 Books

Penguin Group Canada

HarperCollins

SMALL PRESS

Coach House Books

Cormorant Books

Gaspereau Press

PUBLISHER

House of Anansi Press

Penguin Group Canada

HarperCollins

Douglas & McIntyre and Gaspereau Press

Sci/Why? Why Not, I Ask You.

Those of you who love books, kids and/or science (that's er, everyone, I think?) will love love LOVE the new group blog site Sci/Why. It's just getting up and running now, so bookmark it, subscribe and wait to be entertained, educated and delighted.

A circle of like-minded science writers based in Canada  - and yes, I'm one of them - has decided to create this site to bring together some of the awesome news and views we've collected as part of our work. There was just too much cool stuff to keep to ourselves, or to fit into our books, or to hog in our own personal blogs. So now you will have one handy-dandy site to get all kinds of neat info about bugs or extraterrestrials, as well as tips on how to engage kids in science activity and critical thinking.

I can't wait to read my colleagues' posts. I am already eagerly planning mine - so much to say! So little time!

Check it out!

Sci/Why Blog

On Your Marks, Get Set, GO!

We're heading into the maniac season now. In other fields, people get Spring Fever. If the children's literature field, we get Spring Festival Fever. As all the book awards swing into high gear, so do we authors, racking up the kilometers on our cars and Aeroplan cards as we tour schools, schools, and more schools.

I love it - what could be better than having hundreds of kids cheering for you and your books? Not much, really. But a chance to sit still now and then, without a line of kids holding scraps of paper asking for autographs in front of you, is also nice.

Balance. I just want that elusive thing called Balance. If any of you ever find it, please let me know.

Anyhoo I'll be on the road for the next little while - first to the Frye Fest in New Brunswick, then doing rounds of school visits in association with Ontario's Silver Birch Awards, and then back to the Atlantic provinces for the Hackmatack Award's writers in the schools program. Good thing I take my vitamins, eh?

Before I disappear for a while, I just want to share some lovely news items.

1, The Hilarious History of Hockey has been nominated for next year's Hackmatack Award. Woot!

2. And the hot-off-the-press The Quiz Book for Girls just got a great, 4-star review from CM Magazine. You can read the full review here.