Finalists for the 2015 Canadian Children’s Book Centre Awards

The Canadian Children’s Book Centre (CCBC) has announced the finalists for its major children’s book awards – the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award, Prix TD de littérature canadienne pour l’enfance et la jeunesse, Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award, Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction, Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People, John Spray Mystery Award, the Monica Hughes Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy, and the Amy Mathers Teen Book Award.

The nominated books exemplify some of the best work by Canadian authors and illustrators. The following Tundra titles have been chosen:

MARILYN BAILLIE PICTURE BOOK AWARD

Hope SpringsHope Springs
Written by Eric Walters
Illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 6-9
ISBN: 978-1-77049-530-2
Hope Springs is based on the real life struggles of a young boy living in drought-stricken rural Kenya… Walters deftly engages readers from the first line of the first page and Fernandes’s vibrant illustrations happily carry us along as the story unfolds. The result is a multi-layered tale that not only enlightens readers about the need for access to fresh water, but also conveys a meaningful message about compassion, kindness and sharing… Perhaps most importantly, the book offers inspiration to young readers about the power of one person, even a young child, to make a difference.”

Nancy KnowsNancy Knows
Written by Cybèle Young
Hardcover | 40 Pages | Ages 3-7
ISBN: 978-1-77049-482-4
“A simple storyline, sparse text and ingenious illustrations come together beautifully in this delightful picture book… Readers follow Nancy, a charming little elephant, as she struggles to remember something very important. As readers ponder what that might be, they encounter on each page a new assortment of tiny treasures to explore, cleverly constructed paper sculptures that bring Nancy’s thoughts to life… This is a book to be read and enjoyed over and over again.”

JOHN SPRAY MYSTERY AWARD

The Voice Inside My HeadThe Voice inside My Head
Written by S.J. Laidlaw
Hardcover | 256 Pages | Ages 14+
ISBN: 978-1-77049-565-4
eBook: 978-1-77049-566-1
“A gripping portrayal of jealousy, mystery and the strength of family bonds… Losing a sibling is horrible. Not knowing how she died, or why, makes it even worse. Luke hears his sister Pat’s voice, urging him to catch her killer. Along the way, Luke finds out his sister was a bit of a mystery herself… The exotic setting of Utila, a small island off the coast of Honduras, drives this excellent, well-paced story… A gripping adventure story and a sensitive exploration of the power of family ties – The Voice inside My Head will satisfy readers who seek both thrills and insights.”

AMY MATHERS TEEN BOOK AWARD

What We HideWhat We Hide
Written by Marthe Jocelyn
Hardcover | 288 Pages | Ages 14+
ISBN: 978-1-77049-642-2
eBook: 978-1-77049-644-6
“Using a variety of narrative styles, Jocelyn gives us the opportunity to think deeply about the profound role of secrets in our lives – who has them, who keeps them, who does not, and why… Set in the 1970s and told from eight points of view, teenage boarding students’ secrets are revealed to create a layered and nuanced tale of prejudice, assumptions and lies… Letters, scripts and straight narration keep the pace of this character-driven novel moving forward in this thought-provoking meditation on the nature of truth and perspective.”

Thank you to the judges for their considerations and again, congratulations to our authors, illustrators, and our hardworking publishing team! The winners will be announced at the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Awards Gala in Toronto on November 18, 2015.

Canadian Library Association Honours List

We are happy to announce that the Canadian Library Association has included two of our titles as honour books during this year’s award. Congratulations to Charis and Susan!

CLA Book of the Year for Children Honour Book:

The SwallowThe Swallow
A Ghost Story

Written by Charis Cotter
Hardcover | 320 Pages | Ages 9-12
ISBN: 978-1-77049-591-3
eBook: 978-1-77049-593-7
“The novel alternates between Polly’s and Rose’s first-person points of view, and Cotter ably creates their two distinct voices, each of which is appealing in its own way. This is a novel about loneliness and friendship, feeling invisible, finding your voice, and long-buried secrets. But The Swallow is never heavy-handed, and, best of all, it’s genuinely spooky. Cotter builds suspense without artificially withholding information from the reader. And for bibliophiles, the author’s subtle hat tips to favourite books are a joy. Like all the best ghost stories, The Swallow tells us more about the living than the dead. It is a fantastic addition to Toronto literature, with all the makings of a classic.” – Starred Review, Quill & Quire

CLA Young Adult Book Award Honour Book:

The Voice Inside My HeadThe Voice inside My Head
Written by S.J. Laidlaw
Hardcover | 256 Pages | Ages 14+
ISBN: 978-1-77049-565-4
eBook: 978-1-77049-566-1
“With so much choice available on the Young Adult market, it’s refreshing to come across an engaging, authentic, and compelling first-person protagonist-and a male one at that. S.J. Laidlaw lays out a crisp, enticing, and realistic fictional piece of work with a grippingly vivid, unexpected ending. The beauty of the story here is one of the unfaltering friendship that can be found in siblings … the believable dialogue and dialect shines in The Voice inside My Head. This is quite simply a page-turner, and one that will leave voices inside your head for days after. Add it to your summer reading list, Central American island optional.” – Children’s Book Review

We are very excited for our colleagues at Penguin whose The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier won the Book of the Year for Children award. Congratulations to our honorees and all the other nominees!

The award will be presented during the CLA National Conference and Trade Show at the Shaw Conference Centre, Ottawa on Thursday, June 4th 2015 at the Book Awards Reception.

CLA’s 2015 Young Adult Book Award Shortlist

The Canadian Library Association is pleased to announce the shortlist for the 2015 Young Adult Book Award. The award is generously sponsored by Library Services Centre and recognizes an author of an outstanding English-language Canadian work of fiction (novel, collection of short stories or graphic novel), published in 2014 that appeals to young adults. Tundra would like to congratulate S.J. Laidlaw and Marthe Jocelyn!

2015 Young Adult Book Award Shortlist

The Voice Inside My HeadThe Voice inside My Head
Written by S.J. Laidlaw
Hardcover | 256 Pages | Ages 14+
ISBN: 978-1-77049-565-4
eBook: 978-1-77049-566-1
“With so much choice available on the Young Adult market, it’s refreshing to come across an engaging, authentic, and compelling first-person protagonist-and a male one at that. S.J. Laidlaw lays out a crisp, enticing, and realistic fictional piece of work with a grippingly vivid, unexpected ending. The beauty of the story here is one of the unfaltering friendship that can be found in siblings … the believable dialogue and dialect shines in The Voice inside My Head. This is quite simply a page-turner, and one that will leave voices inside your head for days after. Add it to your summer reading list, Central American island optional.” – Children’s Book Review

What We HideWhat We Hide
Written by Marthe Jocelyn
Hardcover | 288 Pages | Ages 14+
ISBN: 978-1-77049-642-2
eBook: 978-1-77049-644-6
“Jocelyn moves from one character’s voice to the next, each with its own sharp perspective, style, and emergent self- (and often sexual) knowledge. Warm-hearted, clever, funny and moving, this keeps readers thinking all the way to its end. Immensely satisfying for its interwoven stories and fully realized characters.” – The Toronto Star

Congratulations to the other shortlisted authors!

  • The Art of Getting Stared At by Laura Langston
  • The Death of Us by Alice Kuipers
  • The Gospel Truth by Caroline Pignat
  • Moon at Nine by Deborah Ellis
  • Rabbit Ears by Maggie DeVries
  • This One Summer by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki
  • Twisted by Lisa Harrington
  • Unspeakable by Caroline Pignat

Thank you to the jury members for their dedication and hard work! The winner of the award, and the Honour Books, will be announced during the week of April 20th. The award will be presented during the CLA National Conference and Trade Show at the Shaw Centre, Ottawa on June 4th, 2015 at the Book Awards reception.

2014 Holiday Gift Guide: The Heebie-Jeebies

Listed by age range:

Bob's Hungry GhostBob’s Hungry Ghost
Written by Geneviève Côté
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 3-7
ISBN: 978-1-77049-713-9
Bob wants a dog for his birthday, but instead he gets a ghost … and its name is Fluffy. Unfortunately, Fluffy doesn’t fetch, sit or go for walks. But he does eat everything, and soon all of Bob’s things and even Bob himself end up in Fluffy’s belly. Will Bob find a way to tame his unruly and very hungry ghost? Will Fluffy realize that eating Bob wasn’t a very nice thing to do?

The FlyThe Fly
Written by Elise Gravel
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 6-9
ISBN: 978-1-77049-636-1
The first in a series of humorous books about disgusting creatures, The Fly is a look at the common housefly. It covers such topics as the hair on the fly’s body (requires a lot of shaving), its ability to walk on the ceiling (it’s pretty cool, but it’s hard to play soccer up there), and its really disgusting food tastes (garbage juice soup followed by dirty diaper with rotten tomato sauce, for example). Although silly and off-the-wall, The Fly contains real information that will tie in with curriculum.

The WormThe Worm
Written by Elise Gravel
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 6-9
ISBN: 978-1-77049-633-0
The second in a series of humorous books about disgusting creatures, The Worm is a look at the earthworm. It covers such topics as the worm’s habitats (sometimes they live inside other animals), its anatomy (its muscle tube is slimy and gross), and its illustrious history (worms have been on earth for 120 million years).

The SlugThe Slug
Written by Elise Gravel
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 6-9
ISBN: 978-1-77049-655-2
The Slug is a look at the land slug. It covers such topics as the slug’s two pairs of tentacles, one pair for seeing, one pair for smelling (it can see you’re a kid and smell like broccoli), its breathing hole (on the side of its head!), and its pretty gross mucous covering (in order to find a partner, the slug can follow another slug’s mucous trail. True love!).

The RatThe Rat
Written by Elise Gravel
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 6-9
ISBN: 978-1-77049-658-3
The Rat is a look at the black rat. It covers such topics as the rat’s long, agile tail (it’s good for balancing and picking noses), long teeth (they can chew through anything, including books) and disgusting taste in food (delicious electrical wires in tomato sauce, anyone?).

The SwallowThe Swallow: A Ghost Story
Written by Charis Cotter
Hardcover | 320 Pages | Ages 9-12
ISBN: 978-1-77049-591-3
eBook: 978-1-77049-593-7
In 1960s Toronto, two girls retreat to their attics to escape the loneliness and isolation of their lives. Polly lives in a house bursting at the seams with people, while Rose is often left alone by her busy parents. Polly is a down-to-earth dreamer with a wild imagination and an obsession with ghosts; Rose is a quiet, ethereal waif with a sharp tongue. Despite their differences, both girls spend their days feeling invisible and seek solace in books and the cozy confines of their respective attics. But soon they discover they aren’t alone–they’re actually neighbors, sharing a wall. They develop an unlikely friendship, and Polly is ecstatic to learn that Rose can actually see and talk to ghosts. Maybe she will finally see one too! But is there more to Rose than it seems? Why does no one ever talk to her? And why does she look so … ghostly? When the girls find a tombstone with Rose’s name on it in the cemetery and encounter an angry spirit in her house who seems intent on hurting Polly, they have to unravel the mystery of Rose and her strange family … before it’s too late.

Zombie ElementaryZombie Elementary
The Real Story

Written by Howard Whitehouse
Hardcover | 256 Pages | Ages 9-12
ISBN: 978-1-77049-608-8
eBook: 978-1-77049-610-1
Larry Mullet is your typical fourth grader. He’s not the biggest kid or the smartest kid or the best looking kid. He rides his bike, plays baseball, takes the school bus, avoids cafeteria food, and–oh yeah, he’s a zombie hunting expert. Larry was just doing his usual thing when Alex Bates from Ms Hoag’s class tried to eat him. Sadly, that was only the beginning. Something odd was going on at Brooks Elementary… and it was up to Larry and his friends to take charge (for some reason). Hilariously told interview-style as a record of the REAL story, and peppered with zombie tips and facts, zombie cheerleaders and plenty of gore, this book will be a surefire hit for anyone interested in a ghoulishly good life-or-death comedy.

The Voice Inside My HeadThe Voice inside My Head
Written by S.J. Laidlaw
Hardcover | 256 Pages | Ages 14 and up
ISBN: 978-1-77049-565-4
eBook: 978-1-77049-566-1
Seventeen-year-old Luke’s older sister, Pat, has always been his moral compass, like a voice inside his head, every time he has a decision to make. So when Pat disappears on a tiny island off the coast of Honduras and the authorities claim she’s drowned – despite the fact that they can’t produce a body – Luke heads to Honduras to find her because he knows something the authorities don’t. From the moment of her disappearance, Pat’s voice has become real, guiding him to Utila, where she had accepted a summer internship to study whale sharks. Once there, he meets several characters who describe his sister as a very different girl from the one knows. Does someone have a motive for wanting her dead? Determined to get to the bottom of Pat’s disappearance, Luke risks everything, including his own life, to find the answer.

Bob Reading

Tuesdays with Tundra 36

Tuesdays with Tundra is a monthly post on our new releases. The following books are available today in stores and online!

The Voice Inside My HeadThe Voice inside My Head
Written by S.J. Laidlaw
Hardcover | 256 Pages | Ages 14+
ISBN: 978-1-77049-565-4
eBook: 978-1-77049-566-1
Seventeen-year-old Luke’s older sister, Pat, has always been his moral compass, like a voice inside his head, every time he has a decision to make. So when Pat disappears on a tiny island off the coast of Honduras and the authorities claim she’s drowned – despite the fact that they can’t produce a body – Luke heads to Honduras to find her because he knows something the authorities don’t. From the moment of her disappearance, Pat’s voice has become real, guiding him to Utila, where she had accepted a summer internship to study whale sharks. Once there, he meets several characters who describe his sister as a very different girl from the one knows. Does someone have a motive for wanting her dead? Determined to get to the bottom of Pat’s disappearance, Luke risks everything, including his own life, to find the answer.

The FlyThe Fly
Written by Elise Gravel
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 6-9
ISBN: 978-1-77049-636-1
The first in a series of humorous books about disgusting creatures, The Fly is a look at the common housefly. It covers such topics as the hair on the fly’s body (requires a lot of shaving), its ability to walk on the ceiling (it’s pretty cool, but it’s hard to play soccer up there), and its really disgusting food tastes (garbage juice soup followed by dirty diaper with rotten tomato sauce, for example). Although silly and off-the-wall, The Fly contains real information that will tie in with curriculum.

The WormThe Worm
Written by Elise Gravel
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 6-9
ISBN: 978-1-77049-633-0
The second in a series of humorous books about disgusting creatures, The Worm is a look at the earthworm. It covers such topics as the worm’s habitats (sometimes they live inside other animals), its anatomy (its muscle tube is slimy and gross), and its illustrious history (worms have been on earth for 120 million years). Although silly and off-the-wall, The Worm contains real information that will tie in with curriculum.

A Tinfoil Sky_paperbackA Tinfoil Sky
Written by Cyndi Sand-Eveland
Trade Paperback | 224 Pages | Ages 10+
ISBN: 978-1-77049-510-4
“. . . this touching picture of a child torn between her need for a stable home and her love for her troubled mother feels deeply authentic . . . this depiction of wounded people forming healing bonds goes straight to the heart.” – Booklist

Pub Date Giveaway: In the comments below, please tell us which new March release of Tundra’s you would love to read and one lucky reader will receive their requested book! One request per person and please review our rules. This giveaway ends at midnight on Monday, March 17, 2014!

UPDATE: Congratulations to Kris who has won a copy of The Voice inside My Head.

Tundra Book Group