2019 Writers’ Trust Awards

The Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People is given annually to the author of an exceptional body of work in children’s literature and the winner is selected by a three-member judging panel. We would like to congratulate Susin Nielsen who was the recipient of this year’s award!

From the jury citation:

In one of her book titles, Susin Nielsen reminds us we are all made of molecules. Deftly, in her writing, she has managed to mould these molecules into unforgettable characters that lead us in and out of the seismic shifts of adolescence in the earthquake zone of Vancouver, where her stories are set. Nielsen celebrates the amazing resilience of young people as well as the adults around them as they face such trials as mental health issues, bullying, homelessness, and the deaths of siblings and parents. Few writing today can match her ability to make even peripheral characters memorable through a wonderful distillation of dialogue and details. A testimony to her talent is that she manages to put everything together with a humour that can only draw us in and keep us laughing even as we reach for a box of tissues. Witty, tender, fearless in the face of tackling big issues, Nielsen has staked out her territory in children’s literature — and it’s a place worth visiting often.

Word Nerd
By Susin Nielsen
ISBN 9780887769900
Ages 9-12 | Tundra Books

In this brilliantly observed novel, author Susin Nielsen transports the reader to the world of competitive Scrabble as seen from the honest yet funny viewpoint of a boy who’s searching for acceptance and for a place to call home.

Dear George Clooney, Please Marry My Mom
By Susin Nielsen
ISBN 9781770492950
Ages 10+ | Tundra Books

When her mother takes up with the unfortunately named Dudley Wiener, Violet and her friend Phoebe decide that they need to take control. If Violet’s mom can’t pick a decent man herself, they will help her snag George Clooney.

The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen
By Susin Nielsen
ISBN 9781770496545
Ages 10+ | Tundra Books

Thirteen-year-old Henry’s happy, ordinary life comes to an abrupt halt when his brother, Jesse, picks up a hunting rifle and leaves the house one morning.

We Are All Made of Molecules
By Susin Nielsen
ISBN 9781770497801
Ages 12+ | Tundra Books

Written in alternating voices, Susin Nielsen deftly explores family tragedy and family ties; sibling rivalry and union; and adolescent confusion and revelation.

Optimists Die First
By Susin Nielsen
ISBN 9781770497832
Ages 12+ | Tundra Books

This touching, hilarious tragi-comedy by award-winning author Susin Nielsen proves: Life is out to get you. But so is love. A quirky alternative to the “sick lit” genre for YA readers.

No Fixed Address
By Susin Nielsen
ISBN 9780735262751
Ages 10+ | Tundra Books

From beloved Governor General Literary Award–winning author Susin Nielsen comes a touching and funny middle-grade story about family, friendship and growing up when you’re one step away from homelessness.

Princess Puffybottom … and Darryl
By Susin Nielsen
Illustrated by Olivia Chin Mueller
ISBN 9781101919255
Ages 3-7 | Tundra Books

What’s a pampered cat to do now that she has to compete for attention with an ill-mannered puppy? Award-winning author Susin Nielsen delights in this laugh-a-minute twist on the classic sibling rivalry story.

Pink Shirt Day

Stand up against bullying! Today is Pink Shirt Day, a day when we wear pink to show that we are all working together as a community to prevent bullying in all forms.

Not only are we wearing pink and spreading the word, we’re also hosting a giveaway! And what better author to talk about bullying than our very own Susin Nielsen? Her upcoming book, We Are All Made of Molecules, deals with themes of bullying and the power of having someone stand up for another person.

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Two lucky winners will receive: one We Are All Made of Molecules T-shirt, one signed ARC of We Are All Made of Molecules, one signed paperback of Dear George Clooney, Please Marry My Mom, one signed paperback of The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen, and one signed paperback of Word Nerd.

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Ooo, comfy T-shirt! (Person not included in giveaway.)

Pink Shirt Day was started by two Nova Scotia students in 2007 when a younger boy was bullied for wearing pink. You can read a full account of the story here.

Fill out the entry below to enter our giveaway! One entry per person and please make sure you review our rules. This giveaway is open to residents of Canada only (sorry, US fans!) and ends on Wednesday March 4, 2015. We Are All Made of Molecules will be released on May 12, 2015, so this is your chance for an early read!

Entry form closed!

Update: Congratulations Karen and Sharon, we hope you enjoy your signed books! Thanks to everyone who participated! #PinkItForward

Scrabble Day

Read Word Nerd and play a game of Scrabble today with your friends and family!

Word Nerd
Written by Susin Nielsen
Ages 9+ | 256 pages
HC ISBN: 978-0-88776-875-0
TR ISBN: 978-0-88776-990-0
eBook: 978-1-77049-075-8

Twelve-year-old Ambrose is a glass-half-full kind of guy. A self-described “friendless nerd,” he moves from place to place every couple of years with his overprotective mother, Irene. When some bullies at his new school almost kill him by slipping a peanut into his sandwich — even though they know he has a deathly allergy — Ambrose is philosophical. Irene, however, is not and decides that Ambrose will be home-schooled.

Alone in the evenings when Irene goes to work, Ambrose pesters Cosmo, the twenty-five-year-old son of the Greek landlords who live upstairs. Cosmo has just been released from jail for breaking and entering to support a drug habit. Quite by accident, Ambrose discovers that they share a love of Scrabble and coerces Cosmo into taking him to the West Side Scrabble Club, where Cosmo falls for Amanda, the club director. Posing as Ambrose’s Big Brother to impress her, Cosmo is motivated to take Ambrose to the weekly meetings and to give him lessons in self-defense. Cosmo, Amanda, and Ambrose soon form an unlikely alliance and, for the first time in his life, Ambrose blossoms. The characters at the Scrabble Club come to embrace Ambrose for who he is and for their shared love of words. There’s only one problem: Irene has no idea what Ambrose is up to.

In this brilliantly observed novel, author Susin Nielsen transports the reader to the world of competitive Scrabble as seen from the honest yet funny viewpoint of a boy who’s searching for acceptance and for a place to call home. But you don’t have to take our word for it, see what some readers have been saying:

BlogFest 2010

Welcome and thank you for joining us for BlogFest 2010! From our host and organizer, A Journey of Books:

What is BlogFest?
BlogFest is a massive carnival of giveaways with a great collection of participating blogs. Each blog has a giveaway and the idea is to hop from blog to blog, entering all the giveaways your little heart desires. Hopefully you might even come across a few blogs you might want to bookmark and continue visiting.

How do I enter to win?
Each blog has their own giveaway and their own rules. The giveaways will start at midnight EST on the morning of September 10th and run through 11:59pm on the night of the 12th. That’s a whole 72 that you get to visit as many blogs as you want and enter their amazing giveaways.

Are you ready for our giveaways? This is what you could win:

Prize Pack of Novels!
Word Nerd by Susin Nielsen
Me & Death by Richard Scrimger
No Moon by Irene N. Watts
Lucy Unstrung by Carole Lazar
Avalanche Dance by Ellen Schwartz

    

Prize Pack of Picture Books!
All Aboard! by Monica Kulling, illustrated by Bill Slavin
Splinters by Kevin Sylvester
Lulu’s Piano Lesson by Arlene Alda, illustrated by Lisa Desimini
A Night on the Town by Caroline Merola
Humpty Dumpty and Friends illustrated by Oleg Lipchenko

    

To enter our BlogFest Giveaway:

  • Please leave a comment telling us which prize pack you’re hoping to win! Yes, you can enter for both!
  • Let us know if you do the extra ballots in your comment.
  • We will ship to Canada and the U.S.A. – so keep in mind you will need a Canadian or American mailing address to receive the prize.
  • The giveaway closes on September 12, 2010 at 11:59 pm EST.
  • Tundra Books is not responsible for entries that are lost or misdirected.
  • The winner will be chosen by random draw and notified by e-mail.

Extra ballots:

  • +2: Subscribe to our blog using the widget on the top right-side column.
  • +1: Follow us on twitter!
  • +1: Like our page on facebook!
  • In your comment, remember to tell us if you subscribed, followed, or liked.

The following are blogs participating in BlogFest 2010. Each should have an amazing giveaway in store for you:
1 Karissa’s Reading Review
2 Kritters Ramblings
3 From the Shadows
4 At Home With Books
5 icefairy’s Treasure Chest
6 Enna Isilee
7 I’d So Rather Be Reading
8 The Unread Reader
9 Tynga’s Reviews
10 Manga Maniac Cafe
11 Insane Hussein
12 Broken Teepee
13 Alisha’s World
14 JoJos Book Corner
15 Good Choice Reading
16 CMash Loves To Read
17 The O.W.L.
18 Leksi Designs
19 Blog de Suck
20 Every Last Page
21 Paperback Dolls
22 Creatively Green
23 Helen Smith
24 Smash Attack Reads
25 Mundie Moms
26 My Reading Room
27 Little Yayas
28 The Hiding Spot
29 Late Bloomer Online
30 From the TBR Pile
31 You Have How Many Kids??
32 Geeky Bloggers Book Blog
33 Confessions of a California Cheer Mom
34 Diabetic Snacker
35 Natural Diet Solutions, Healthy Recipes
36 Diva’s Bookcase
37 Reading Angel
38 Jodibee Designs
39 Book of Secrets
40 denise weber
41 A Little Hope…Amidst the Chaos
42 Dream For Your Life
43 To Read or Not To Read
44 Page Turners
45 DebsHere
46 Niki’s Book Reviews
47 KMN Books
48 Rae Summers
49 Play Smart Blog
50 Simply Ali
51 Books, According to Nicole
52 Wicked Readings by Tawania
53 Blkosiner’s Book Blog
54 Booksnob
55 Michelle and Leslie’s Book Picks
56 Among The Muses
57 Love To Read For Fun
58 Musings of an All Purpose Monkey
59 Arena Blake
60 Say it Rah-shay
61 Young Adult Books Reviewed
62 Chronic Bookaholic-Strictly Happy Endings!
63 Once Upon a Twilight
64 The Hidden Haven
65 Baba’s Farm Life
66 Let’s Just Give It Away
67 Boo’s and rawr’s
68 Elephants On Trapezes
69 A and C Book Junkies
70 Oh My Books!
71 Cate Masters
72 Seductive Musings
73 true media solutions
76 Dream Books LLC
77 Crochetize world
78 Leontine’s Book Realm: A Naughty Romance Reader At Play
79 Candace’s Book Blog
80 Fang-tastic Books
81 Roxanne’s Realm
82 Si, se puede
83 Confessions of a Bookaholic
84 Tiffany’s Bookshelf
85 The Book Worm’s Library
86 vvb32 reads
87 Lovin’ & Livin’ Life Reviews
88 World According to Books
89 Chubby Cheeks Thinks
90 Survey Junkie
91 Surviving Motherhood
92 One Big Adventure
93 I Heart Monster
94 Review Retreat
95 Edgy Inspirational Romance
96 Lale on Lit
97 My Place by the Sea
98 Bitten by Books
99 Family Volley
100 Books with a Cup of Coffee
101 bitten by paranormal romance
102 Chrissy’s World Of Books
103 Farmgirl Writes
104 Being Tazim
105 Ex Libris
106 Ex Libris
107 Earl’s Daughter
108 The Many Thoughts of A Reader
109 Reading At The Beach
110 Gelati’s Scoop
111 Gelati’s Scoop
112 Country Bookshelf
113 Vampire Book Club
114 Supernatural Snark
115 Genre Reviews
116 Saving Obsession
117 Leeswammes’ Blog
118 The Bookkeeper
119 Tethered Mommy
120 Mom vs. the Boys
121 today & everyday
122 Writing is a Blessing
123 Dr. Bill’s Book Bazaar
124 Reader Girls
125 Still Blonde after all these YEARS!
126 I Just Wanna Sit Here and Read!
127 A Moment With Mystee
128 noodleBubble niceBlog
129 Dark Faerie Tales
130 a book adventure
131 Ten Cent Notes
132 Patiently Waiting Books
133 Happy Birthday Author
134 The Smiling Pains of Novelist Destiny Booze
135 Fangs, Wands, & Fairy Dust
136 Life With 4 Boys
137 In the Hammock Blog
138 Crazy Cat Lady’s Library
139 Stiletto Storytime
140 margaret West Paranormal Romance Author
141 Rayment’s Readings Rants and Ramblings
142 Pure Imagination
143 A Mommy In Mayhem
144 Reading Through Life
145 Mom to Bed by 8
146 Lisa (A Life Bound By Books)
147 Dollycas’s Thoughts
148 Minding Spot
149 Cherry Mischievous
150 Books and Things
151 Bluerose’s Heart
152 about happy books
153 Mommy’s Minute
154 Two Little Cavaliers
155 The Bibliophilic Book Blog
156 Malevolent Dead
157 Budget Savvy Diva
158 Brain Foggles
159 Amusing Reviews
160 starmetal oak book blog
161 Happy Mom Of 5
162 What Book is That?
163 A Blog about Nothing
164 Colloquium
165 Ashley’s Bookshelf
166 Book Dads
167 TheCouponQueenBee
168 girlsinthestacks.com
169 Authors By Authors
170 BookHounds
171 Marilyn’s Romance Reviews
172 Romance Author Buzz
173 The punching bag fights back
174 Girls Just Reading
175 Bookish Delights
176 Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing
177 Wendi Zwaduk: Romance To Make Your Heart Race
178 Eating YA Books
179 Reading, Reading & Life
180 Simply Stacie
181 Just Another New Blog
182 Book Obsessed
183 Books and Needlepoint
184 Brizmus Blogs Books
185 IB Book Blogging
186 Simplify with Sybil
187 PrincessReviews
188 Bookvisions
189 Graced With Books
190 Notorious Spinks Talks
191 bookmarked
192 Roof Beam Reader
193 Curling Up By The Fire
194 The Romance Reviews
196 Reflections with Coffee
197 Odyssey Books
198 A Reader’s Adventure
199 Reading Without Restraint
200 One Book Shy of a Full Shelf
201 MoonCat Farms Meanderings
202 Girls After Dark
203 JaMonkey
204 She Reads
205 Fiction Flurry
206 Inspiring Sisters
207 Travel The Ages
208 Lille Punkin’ Reviews
209 Novels On The Run
210 Alice Audrey
211 Cuzinlogic
212 Cleverly Inked
213 Not So Ordinary Girls
214 The Bibliophilic Book Blog
215 My Disorganized Ramblings
216 Darkly Reading
217 Peaceful Reader
218 Inspired by Fiction
219 Coffeelicious Bookaholic
220 BK Walker Books Etc
221 Walker’s Muse
222 Immortality and Beyond
223 An Avid Reader’s Musings
224 Rants n’ Rascals
225 {…is a book whore}
226 The Home of the Seven Tails
227 Mia Ma Miah’s Diaries
228 Crazy-for-Books
229 Book-lover Carol’s Reviews
230 A Bibliophile’s Paradise
231 Desperado Penguin
232 Sapphire Romance Realm
233 The Neverending Shelf
234 Chew & Digest Books
235 That’s Swell!
236 Madame Perry’s Salon
237 Allison’s Attic of Books
238 Biz Mommy
239 Once Upon A Chapter
240 Reading, Writing and Waiting
241 Talking with Tundra (You’re here!)
242 Harris Channing, Author of Erotic Fiction
243 Book Bookie
244 Review Blog 101
245 Read All Over Reviews
246 Krista D Ball’s Blog (Zombie-Free)
247 DK’s Everything Romance Books
248 a thousand Books with Quotes
249 Cherry Mischievous
250 Roof Beam Reader
251 Stephanie Barko, Literary Publicist
252 Dollycas’s Thoughts
253 A Little Bookish
254 Jordan Deen
255 Narratively Speaking
256 Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews