A Lot of Children's Book Awards: Sheffield, O'Dell, and More

Best Books for Kids: O’Dell, Costa, Sheffield & more…

Historical Fiction, Scott O’Dell Winner 2011, One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

Blurb from Read Roger:

“The summer Delphine is “eleven going on twelve,” she and her two younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, are sent from Brooklyn to Oakland to visit their mother, Cecile, who left the family soon after Fern was born. Beginning with the girls’ first scary but exhilarating plane ride, their summer of 1968 is a microcosm of the new directions in which the nation found itself traveling. Their mother, distrustful and secretive, has renamed herself Nzila; she sends the girls off every morning for breakfast and summer school at the Black Panthers’ People’s Center. Why does she have a printing press in her kitchen, and why does she refuse to call Fern anything but “Little Girl”? As expressed through the candid, questioning, and take-no-prisoners voice of the spirited Delphine, Williams-Garcia’s exploration of the nascent Black Power movement is always rooted in the particulars of the girls’ experience. In her sturdy self-reliance, Delphine recalls the heroine of a book she has brought along for the summer—Scott O’Dell’s Island of the Blue Dolphins. Readers won’t be able to forget her.”

This is great chapter book for middle grade about the Civil Rights Movement.

————————

Children’s Book Award, Costa Book Awards 2011, Out of Shadows by Jason Wallace

Out of Shadows Costa Children's Book Award Winner, Jason Wallace Pragmatic Mom

Blurb from Reuters:

A children’s story about a British boy who encounters racism and bullying in the classroom after emigrating to Zimbabwe in the early 1980s. “Out of Shadows,” set during Robert Mugabe’s early years in power, is Jason Wallace’s first novel, and is based in part on his own experiences as a child when he moved to Zimbabwe with his family at the age of 12.

————————

Sheffield Children’s Book Award

Overall winner 2010 & Best Picture Book: Morris the Mankiest Monster by Giles Andreae & Sarah McIntyre

Best Shorter Novel: Boom! by Mark Haddon

Boom! Mark Haddon, best children's book pragmatic mom

Best Longer Novel: Gone by Michael Grant

Gone Michael Grant best children's book pragmatic mom sheffield children's book award

————————-

The only book award judged by children, The Red House Children’s Book Award, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (overall Winner and Winner in Older Readers Category)

Bottoms Up! (in the Younger Childrens Category)
Mondays are Murder (in the Younger Readers Category)

———————–

TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award 2010 (from The Canadian’s Children’s Book Centre)

The Hunchback Assignments
by Arthur Slade
HarperCollins

What the jury said: “Arthur Slade’s foray into the steampunk genre is of world-class quality and makes The Hunchback Assignments a fresh and unexpected addition to Canadian children’s literature… A mystery thriller, the novel’s tone is grippingly suspenseful… Literary allusions to characters and plots, from the Hunchback of Notre Dame to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, enrich the subtext of reality and illusion.”

Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award

Timmerman Was Here
by Colleen Sydor; illustrated by Nicolas Debon
Tundra Books

What the jury said: “This is a sublimely humanistic and memorable story about the way we discover the difference between truth and appearances… Dramatic pictures equally involve the reader, while the artistic use of dark and light further affect our emotional response… This intriguing tale with a twist delves exceptionally well into values and perceptions, the rational and the irrational, achieving a conclusion that is profoundly self-affirming for the child… This emotionally rich and suspenseful story is capped by an uplifting ending that will stir hearts from 8 to 80… A perfect pairing of text and illustration.”

Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction

Adventures on the Ancient Silk Road
by Priscilla Galloway with Dawn Hunter
Annick Press

What the jury said: “A gripping account of three remarkable historic journeys; cultural, spiritual and commercial, enable the reader to imagine this fabled ancient route taken by the adventurous of long, long ago. Galloway’s excellent research, clear text, stunning photographs, art and maps updates this history for our times. A wonderful resource for research and reports.”

Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People

Vanishing Girl
(The Boy Sherlock Holmes, Book 3)
by Shane Peacock
Tundra Books

What the jury said: “Peacock delves into the young mind of one of the best-known characters in literature, creating a story that is well-plotted, with plenty of action, adventure and plot twists… Beautifully written and fast-paced… Peacock’s writing has a distinctive voice and tone that is perfectly suited to the story being told.”

——————————