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Read Up On It Home |
English Titles
![]() | Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Canadian Picture Book Award (International Board on Books for Young People - Canada) For best illustrations. Josepha: A Prairie Boy's Story Jim McGugan Illustrations: Murray Kimber Red Deer, Alta.: Red Deer College Press, 1994, 32 p. ISBN 0889951012 Ages 9 and up |
Josepha is the poignant story of a gawky, gangling 14-year-old immigrant boy, at the turn of the century, who is forced to sit in the primary row at his prairie schoolhouse because he doesn't speak enough English. With bold strokes and vivid imagery, the story explores Josepha's relationships with the younger school children and, at the same time, explains his deep need for independence. The award-winning illustrations, which sweep across the pages in rich prairie hues of yellow, gold, orange, and blue, speak of the determination of the human spirit against a backdrop of the vast prairie landscape.
![]() | Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People (Canadian Children's Book Centre) For best historical fiction book. The Dream Carvers Joan Clark Toronto: Viking, 1995, 226 p. ISBN 0670858587 Ages 14 and up |
It is the year 1015 and 14-year-old Thrand, a Greenland Viking, is abducted by a Native clan while part of an expedition to Newfoundland. Although he is as bewildered by his red-ochred captors as they are by his paleness, racial and cultural differences are surpassed as he learns to respect and understand the beliefs of these gentle people. While he gradually wins acceptance into the community, his greatest challenges are in overcoming his desire to return home, and in winning the trust of Abidith, a strong-willed and spiritually gifted young Native woman, who can see into his dreams. An intriguing work of fiction about some of Newfoundland's earliest residents.
![]() | Governor General's Literary Award/Children's Literature (The Canada Council) For best text. The Maestro Tim Wynne-Jones Vancouver: A Groundwood Book, Douglas & McIntyre, 1996, ©1995, 223 p. ISBN 0888992637 Ages 12 and up |
On a beautiful spring day, hopeful, wary Burl Crow follows his abusive father through the verdant undergrowth of Northern Ontario. In a scene fraught with the potential for violence, the two characters are interrupted by an unexpected and wondrous sight. A grand piano hanging from a low-flying helicopter appears in the hot blue May sky and sets the tone for the rest of the novel. Burl's flight from home, his encounters with a world-famous pianist and others, his search for independence and self-realization are described with lyrical, fast-paced sensibility in this novel which celebrates the optimism and potential of youth.
![]() | Governor General's Literary Award/Children's Literature (The Canada Council) For best illustrations. The Last Quest of Gilgamesh Retold by Ludmila Zeman Illustrations: Ludmila Zeman Montreal: Tundra Books, 1995, 24 p. ISBN 0887763286 Ages 6 and up Available in French: La Dernière Quête de Gilgamesh (Montréal: Livres Toundra, 1995) |
Fearful of the effect of his death upon his people, Gilgamesh, the mighty, all-powerful king of Uruk (a city-state in ancient Mesopotamia) sets out to find the secret of immortality. He faces many challenges and overcomes much adversity on his long and arduous quest. In the end he learns that death is inevitable; it is through courage and good deeds that he will live on in people's hearts and memories. In this retelling of one of the world's oldest stories, Ludmila Zeman's deceptively simple text and powerful other-worldly illustrations are used to good effect to transmit the enigmas of the past and the mysteries of the human condition.
![]() | Information Book Award (The Children's Literature Roundtables of Canada) For best non-fiction book. A Pioneer Story: The Daily Life of a Canadian Family in 1840 Barbara Greenwood Illustrations: Heather Collins Toronto: Kids Can Press, 1994, 240 p. ISBN 155074237X (bound), 1550741284 (paperback) Ages 9 and up |
Step back in time with the Robertson family — Ma, Pa, their six children, and Granny — to learn about life in backwoods Ontario in 1840. From the opening chapter, when 10-year-old Sarah finds the first egg of the year, to the last, when she eats oatcakes to celebrate Hogmanay, the reader will be enchanted with a cornucopia of facts, fiction, and detailed illustrations which document the daily routines and special events of this fictionalized but competely believable and endearing pioneer family. Other commendable features are the suggested activities, an index, and a glossary of difficult terms.