The Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award is a literary program for young readers in Atlantic Canada, inspired by (and for the same age group of 9-12 as) the Silver Birch Award in Ontario and the Red Cedar Award. Tundra Books would like to congratulate Charis Cotter! The Painting tied for first place in the English Fiction category!
The Painting
By Charis Cotter
288 Pages | Ages 9-12 | Tundra Books
ISBN 9781101918876
A haunting, beautiful middle-grade novel about fractured relationships, loss, ghosts, friendship and art.
Annie and her mother don’t see eye to eye. When Annie finds a painting of a lonely lighthouse in their home, she is immediately drawn to it–and her mother wishes it would stay banished in the attic. To her, art has no interest, but Annie loves drawing and painting.
When Annie’s mother slips into a coma following a car accident, strange things begin to happen to Annie. She finds herself falling into the painting and meeting Claire, a girl her own age living at the lighthouse. Claire’s mother Maisie is the artist behind the painting, and like Annie, Claire’s relationship with her mother is fraught. Annie thinks she can help them find their way back to each other, and in so doing, help mend her relationship with her own mother.
But who IS Claire? Why can Annie travel through the painting? And can Annie help her mother wake up from her coma?
The Painting is a touching, evocative story with a hint of mystery and suspense to keep readers hooked.