Crystal Smith (illustrator) | House of Anansi Press
From the jury: Crystal Smith manages to reveal the unseeable and ephemeral forms that grief can take. Light and colour emphasize the dark and make it bearable. The daughter of a lighthouse keeper, Smith’s illustrations capture the living coast, while they mourn those we have lost.
Polly Horvath | Penguin Random House Canada
From the jury: Read one page of Pine Island Visitors, and be held captive to the vibrant, foibled world of the McReady siblings and their crusty guardian, Al, as they learn how to love — and how to fight for what they love. Polly Horvath is a master of the children’s novel. Every page of this generous book is surprising, revealing, exuberant and funny.
Raina Delisle | Orca Book Publishers
From the jury: Engaging and accessible from the first page to the last, Breaking News: Why Media Matters offers a comprehensive look at how journalism shapes our world. This profound little book with big personality is essential reading for a future of responsible media consumers and creators.
Leslie Gentile | DCB
From the jury: It isn’t easy to write a consummately light novel, but Leslie Gentile has achieved this with Shamus the Urban Rez Dog, P.I. The dog’s loopy, highly distractible (food!) narration is fun and genuinely funny. The Hardy Boys-type mystery is the breezy ride that kids will love to flop down with.
Julie Lawson | Nimbus Publishing
From the jury: An extraordinarily close and unmitigated immersion in the life of a young girl forging through three major events — the Halifax explosion, World War I, and the Spanish flu — each of which irreparably changes Jane’s family, her neighbourhood, and Jane herself. Impeccably researched. Humanizing. Ambitious.
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