Category: honours

Posted on

The 2010 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Award

The winners of the 2010 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Award were announced today. As usual, we were all invited to attend the ceremony at the school. The winners were selected by two juries: students in grades 3 and 4 chose the children’s picture book winner and students in grades 7 and 8 picked the young adult/middle reader award winner.

Congratulations to our authors and illustrator!

Winner of the Children’s Picture Book Award Category
Proud as a Peacock, Brave as a Lion
Written by Jane Barclay
Illustrated by Renné Benoit

Winner of the Young Adult/Middle Reader Book Award Category
Vanishing Girl: The Boy Sherlock Holmes, His 3rd Case
Written by Shane Peacock

Renné Benoit and Jane Barclay get their pictures taken with the grade 3 and 4 students and the awards committee:

Shane Peacock with the grade 7 and 8 student jurors:

Renné, Jane, and Shane stayed to sign books for the students:

Not to break tradition, there were cupcake treats at the end of the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Award!

Thank you to the Ontario Arts Foundation, the Ontario Arts Council, the Awards Committee, the Canadian Booksellers Association, the students, librarians, teachers, and school principal!

Posted on

2010 Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Book Awards

 

Congratulations to Eva Wiseman! Puppet is the winner of the 2010 Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Book Awards in Youth Literature.

Jury citations:
Puppet recounts the story of a blood libel trial that took place in Tisza-Eszlar, Hungary, in 1883, marrying historical accuracy seamlessly with dramatic events and rounded characters. Moral dilemmas are treated with subtlety: the chief witness against the Jews is a young Jewish boy, Morris Scharf, desperate to free his father and brainwashed by the authorities to believe his own lies. Meanwhile, his gentile friend. Julie, the story’s engaging young narrator, struggles with her own dilemma: Should she reveal evidence that will exonerate the Jews? Maintaining the suspense of a good detective story, Puppet keeps the readers on the edge of their seats until the truth comes out, dramatically, at the end of the trial. But Wiseman goes beyond plot, evoking the atmosphere of an impoverished Hungarian town whose visitors find relief in blaming Europe’s traditional scapegoat for their hardships. The Jury commends Puppet for introducing young readers to a relatively unknown event, and for broaching moral issues that will provoke intense discussions at home and in school.

Please join us at the award ceremony!
Thursday, May 27, 2010
8:00 PM | FREE
Al Green Theatre, Miles Nadal JCC
750 Spadina Ave (at Bloor Street)

Posted on

Day 2: Festival of Trees 2010

Here we are at day 2 (click here for Day 1) of the Forest of Reading’s Festival of Trees! Today we attended all three Silver Birch Award ceremonies to cheer for our authors and illustrators.

The day starts off with the Silver Birch Award’s Nonfiction category. Mark Thurman is busy watching the presenters talk about the authors. *Waving to the creators of Alien Invaders* Jane Drake spots us in the first photo and then Ann Love does!

Alien Invaders didn’t win, but congratulations to Larry Verstraete, his book At the Edge did!

Next up, Shane Peacock’s Death in the Air was nominated in the Silver Birch Award’s Fiction category.

Death in the Air didn’t win, but congratulations to Robert Paul Weston, his book Zorgamazoo did!

The last ceremony of the day, we had two nominees for the Silver Birch Award’s Express category. Cary Fagan with Ten Lessons for Kaspar Snit and Cyndi Sand-Eveland’s Dear Toni. Will we win anything?

Drumrolls and the finalists are announced, both of our authors are in it! Congratulations to Cary Fagan, Ten Lessons for Kaspar Snit was named a Silver Birch Express Honour Book! Listen to the scream, cheers, and chants!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqwN5YsOi6c]

Wait for it… Cyndi Sand-Eveland’s Dear Toni is the winner of the Silver Birch Express Award!!!

Doesn’t the award look great?

The instant stardom!

Congratulations to all our authors and illustrators, thank you to each and every one of you for coming out to the festival and the award ceremony! Most of all, thank you to all the readers who voted!

Posted on

Day 1: Festival of Trees 2010

The Ontario Library Association hosts the Forest of Reading Programs  where readers vote for their favourite books! There are 7 different reading programs, categorized by grade level and age. The 2010 winner for each award is announced at the Festival of Trees at the Harbourfront Centre on May 12 and 13th. Despite the cold weather, the students came to the award ceremony to support their favourite books.

First up was the Red Maple Award! Just look at the audience:

Let’s zoom in to see the authors:

DRUMROLL please! Here’s a video on the announcement of the Finalists and the Winner:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvTZJJVXz24]

Congratulations to Susin Nielsen, Word Nerd is the winner of the 2010 Red Maple Award! Here she is giving her acceptance speech:

Coming off the stage, readers ask to have their photos taken with Susin:

Readers crowding around Susin to get her autograph! She’s feeling like a total ROCK STAR!!!

Lovely isn’t it? Where will Susin hang this?

Next up was the Blue Spruce Award ceremony, the sign holders were adorable:

Tim Beiser and Rachel Berman, creators of Bradley McGogg, the Very Fine Frog sitting beside Jeremy Tankard (in the blue jacket):

Congratulations to Jeremy Tankard, his book Boo Hoo Bird won the Blue Spruce Award!

Thank you to all the organizers, volunteers, authors, illustrators, teachers, and students for all their work! Congratulations to all the authors and illustrators!

Posted on

Sweet Congratulations

The Information Book Award Winner of the 2009/2010 Red Cedar Book Awards is…

Sweet! The Delicious Story of Candy
Written by Ann Love and Jane Drake
Illustrated by Claudia Dávila
Trade Paperback | 64 pages
Ages 9-12
ISBN: 978-0-88776-962-7

Through time and across continents, stories of sweets and their inventors intrigue and entertain us. Learn about primal sweets – from honey, sweet milk, and nuts to sugar candy, chocolate, and “sweet” stories of success.

Sweet! The Delicious Story of Candy takes us through history from 4,000 B.C., when islanders in Papua New Guinea cut sugarcane for its sap, and 2,600 B.C., when the first-known beekeepers produced honey to embalm the dead, to 500 A.D., when the Chinese made pear and plum syrups from unripe fruit, and all the way through to the world’s first chocoholics and modern-day candy factories.

From cravings to the scoop on ice cream, Ann Love and Jane Drake present a comprehensive and irresistible story of candy through the ages, complemented by a detailed timeline and playful illustrations from artist Claudia Dávila.

Congratulations to Ann Love, Jane Drake, and Claudia Dávila! To prove that they know what they’re doing, look who’s been nominated for next year’s award!

2010-2011 Red Cedar Information Book Nominees:
Alien Invaders: Species that threaten our world
Written by Jane Drake and Ann Love
Illustrated by Mark Thurman

2010-2011 Red Cedar Fiction Nominees:
 Dear Toni
Written by Cyndi Sand-Eveland

Tundra Book Group