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National Awards

English Titles - continued

Denotes that the book is either a translation or is available in translation.
Denotes an award-winning book with a family theme.

MR. CHRISTIE'S BOOK AWARD
(Christie Brown & Co.)
For best English book age 12 and over.

RanVan the Defender

Diana Wieler
Toronto/Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre/A Groundwood Book, 1993
170 p. ISBN 0888991843
Ages 14 to 16.

Like the ill-equipped knight in his favorite video game, Stormers, 15-year-old Rhan comes to the aid of the beautiful 17-year-old Thalie. Intrigued by the mystery surrounding her, he gets in deeper and deeper. Suddenly, the difference between what's real and what's imaginary becomes harder and harder to tell. Has he become RanVan the Defender? Does he have super powers? Will he do the right thing? It is his grandmother, whom he lives with, and the vice-principal of his school, who provide the support he needs to deal with issues from his past and emerge with new insights.

NATIONAL CHAPTER OF CANADA IODE VIOLET DOWNEY BOOK AWARD
(Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire)
For best text.

Hero of Lesser Causes

Julie Johnston
Toronto: Lester, 1992
178 p. ISBN 1895555221
Ages 10 to 15.

Keely Connor was almost a teenager in the summer of 1946. She loved horses and imagined herself riding out to rescue the world on her charger. But this was the summer when her older brother, Patrick, was struck down with polio and she has a real cause to champion: helping her brother cope with his paralysis.

Courtesy of: Lester Publishing Limited

RUTH SCHWARTZ CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARD
(Canadian Booksellers Association)
For best book.

Something from Nothing: Adapted from a Jewish Folktale

Phoebe Gilman
Illustrations: Phoebe Gilman
Richmond Hill, Ont.: North Winds Press, 1992
27 p. ISBN 059073802X
Ages 4 to 8.

This charming picture book is set in an Eastern European Jewish village. Joseph's grandfather is a tailor. When the blanket his grandfather made him becomes torn and shabby, the grandfather makes it into a jacket for Joseph. When he grows too big for the jacket his grandfather makes him a vest. And so it goes until there is only enough material left to make a button. When Joseph loses his button even his grandfather admits that he can't make something from nothing -- but Joseph can!

The heart-warming illustrations were painted with alternating layers of egg tempera and oil glazes. While the story unfolds in the top portion of each illustration we are treated to the life of a family of mice who live beneath the floorboards and who profit from the scraps of material that fall between the cracks in the floor.

VICKY METCALF AWARD
(Canadian Authors Association)
For an author's body of work (with appeal to children and young adults, 7 to 17 years of age).

Phoebe Gilman

Born in New York City in 1940, Phoebe Gilman studied art at the Art Students' League in New York. Having lived in Europe and Israel, she immigrated to Canada in 1972. A successful painter and instructor, Gilman taught at the Ontario College of Art but now spends her time writing and illustrating children's books. Some of her titles include: The Balloon Tree, Grandma and the pirates, Little Blue Ben, The Wonderful Pigs of Jillian Jiggs and Something from Nothing. Many of her books have been translated into French.

YOUNG ADULT CANADIAN BOOK AWARD
(Canadian Library Association)
For best book.

There Will Be Wolves

Karleen Bradford
Toronto: HarperCollins, 1992
210 p. ISBN 0002238926 (bound), 0006473911 (paperback)
Ages 10 and up.

Ursula lives in the Holy Roman Empire in the 11th-century with her apothecary father. She wants to become a great healer and practises the healing arts from a book given to her by a dying monk. Accused of witchcraft, she is given a choice: be burned at the stake or go on a holy crusade to Jerusalem. She sets off on the long journey with her father and is joined by her friend Bruno. Together, they experience the brutality of the starving crusaders as they struggle for survival and Ursula emerges with a new level of maturity and understanding of the world around her.


Last Updated: 2001-05-27	Important Notices