writes about war from a young person's view #bannedbyrussia
Love having the opportunity to speak the backmatter and acknowledgements for the audio editions of my books. Today, I did that for Kidnapped from Ukraine: Under Attack, Scholastic. Thank you, Will Crann at Catherine North Studios in Hamilton! I have deep respect for professional narrators who do this all the time.
Thrilled to see that Trapped in Hitler’s Web has been shortlisted for the Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award!!! Congratulations to everyone shortlisted, including my friends Valerie Sherrard, Wesley King, Sigmund Brouwer and Heather Smith. Here‘s the complete nomination list.
Too Young To Escape published by Pajama Press won the inaugural Yellow Cedar award last year. This is the newest Ontario Library Association Forest of Reading readers’ choice award, where the kids do the voting. Usually the award itself is framed student artwork and is presented on stage with all the nominees on the stage. Last year it was all done virtually. Isn’t it awesome that we’re on the verge of doing this sort of thing in person again? Thanks,Meredith Gilbert Tutching for your dedication and flexibility in daunting times!
My favourite awards are readers’ choice awards because it means actual kids are enjoying one’s books. This was a humbling week when Too Young to Escape won TWO of these awards, voted by the kids themselves. The Red Cedar is an BC information book award. Here’s a video about my wonderful fellow nominees’ books.
The Yellow Cedar Award is part of the Ontario Library Association’s hugely popular Forest of Reading program. This is the first year for the Yellow Cedar and it combines two previous awards: the Silver Birch for non-fiction and the Red Maple for non-fiction. Watch the award ceremony here.
Last Friday, I was honoured by the Armenian Prelacy of Canada with the Armenian Genocide Centenary Recognition Award for my 6 novels set during and after the Armenian Genocide. — with Bishop Meghrig Parikian and Father Keghart Kosbakian.
What a thrill it was to see all the cars and buses pulling up to the theatre as I snuck inside unnoticed. Many kids were clutching copies of Making Bomb for Hitler, Stolen Child and Underground Soldier.
Here are Bairdmore students catching a few extra pages before heading up to the balcony!
The two young MCs were amazingly calm, cool and professional. I can’t imagine being so poised at their age!
When they announced me as this year’s winner, I got up from the audience and walked onto the stage. Here’s the awesome award:
I also got a cheque! I gave a short talk, reading, and kids asked questions…
… and then I was whisked away to the lobby to sign books. All of my books quickly sold out, and I found out later that one of the MCs did not get a copy because she was at the back of the line-up, so I gave one of the organizers my personal copy of Making Bombs for Hitler, signed to her.
Here are some of the students at the signing table:
On Thursday night, I had pre-signed 350 WWII trilogy bookmark as I had been told that there would be 315 kids in attendance. As it turned out, there were exactly 350 kids there. Eeek! The organizers made sure each student got exactly ONE signed bookmark. I also had some postcards for Dance of the Banished on hand and gave all of those out as well.
After all the buses left, the MYRCA committee treated me to a fabulous lunch at Chez Sophie on the bridge over top the river. Lovely view, great company and fantastic food!
After lunch, another kidcritter, Julie K, picked me up. We had coffee and a chat, and then Julie took me on a quick car tour of the city and dropped me off at the airport.
A whirlwind trip. I’m still on a high! Thank you Thin Air. Thank you, MYRCA!
One of the best things about winning the Crystal Kite is that I have been initiated into an amazingly talented group of fellow winners. From around the world, there are 15 of us in all, and I would like to introduce each of them on my blog.
First is Claire Saxby, the Crystal Kite winner for Australia and New Zealand. Congratulations, Claire!!!
And here is her winning book:
Claire Saxby writes fiction, non-fiction and poetry for children. Her poetry appears in magazines, anthologies, on train walls and in museum education resources.
Claire’s picture book publications include Ebi’s Boat (Windy Hollow Books), illustrated by Anne Spudvilas, which was a CBCA Notable Book in 2007. Her most recent picture book is There Was an Old Sailor (Walker Books Australia), a nautical take on an old rhyme, illustrated by Cassandra Allen. It was shortlisted for the 2010 Speech Pathology Awards and for the 3rd Korean Picture Book Award, and won the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award for Australia/New Zealand region. Her most recent book is Freaky Fact or Fiction: Human Body (Hinkler Books), the first of her books to combine her health-worker past and her writing present.