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R. ROSS ANNETT JUVENILE FICTION AWARD(WRITERS GUILD OF ALBERTA)
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BIG BOYTOLOLWA M. MOLLEL
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When Oli, a little boy in Tanzania, sneaks out of his house at nap time, he wishes that he could be "as big as a mountain and as strong as the wind". Imagine his surprise when Tunukia-zawadi, the magical bird in his mother's suppertime stories, grants his wish. Joyously he crosses hills in a single bound and surveys great distances, but he also causes a rock slide and he unleashes a tidal wave when he cools off in the ocean. Tired and discouraged by his exploits, he changes his wish, then wakens beneath a baobab tree to find himself safe in his mother's arms. As he snuggles in tight he realizes that, sometimes, it is good to be little.
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THE TUESDAY CAFEDON TREMBATH
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Harper Winslow is not an ideal 15-year-old. He is not doing well in school. He can't communicate with his parents. He gets caught setting a fire in his high school. When a juvenile-court judge assigns, as partial punishment, a 2000-word essay on how he is going to turn his life around, Harper's mother locates a writing class called The Tuesday Cafe in the yellow pages and enrolls him in it. Unexpectedly these weekly sessions for adults with special needs become very important to Harper. It is among this group of misfits that Harper finally receives the acceptance and encouragement he has been longing for.
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OUT OF THE DARKWELWYN WILTON KATZ
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When Ben's dad decides to return to his roots in Ship Cove, Newfoundland, the family is still reeling from the unexpected death of Ben's mother two years earlier. Because he doesn't – can't – fit in, Ben retreats into the stories of the Vinland Saga which his mom loved and spends his time carving (another activity he shared with his mom) a model of a Viking ship. His favourite Viking, the shipbuilder, Tor, becomes Ben's alter ego and their two stories run parallel throughout this complex and challenging novel, escalating to an emotionally gripping conclusion which allows Ben to bury his grief and get on with his life.
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AWAKE AND DREAMINGKIT PEARSON
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Theo is a nine-year-old dreamer and bookworm who reads about magic and families to escape the drudgery of the wretched, impoverished existence she shares with her inattentive and irresponsible mom. While she watches a "real" family with four children and two doting parents on the ferry to Victoria, it seems fitting that – poof – she magically becomes a part of their life. She can't believe her good fortune; everything seems perfect. Can it be real? Is she awake or dreaming? In the end, it is a ghost who drifts quietly in and out of the story that helps Theo accept reality and make the most of her life.
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THE KILLICK:
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Grandpa likes to shares his memories – of the two world wars, of cod fishing, and of the seal hunt – with his family. And one morning early in spring he wants to revisit another memory: the island across the bay where he spent most of his life and where his wife, his "comrade-in-arms" and "comrade-in-life", is buried. Twelve-year-old George takes him in the dory, but on the return trip a late winter storm vents its fury.... Remarkable full-page illustrations use clear, penetrating colours and strong, solid shapes to depict the power of the elements, the resilience of the Newfoundland people, and the essence of the story.
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GHOST TRAINPAUL YEE
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On one level, Ghost Train tells the story of impoverished Chinese immigrants who were exploited and killed during the construction of the transcontinental railway. On another level it tells of the bond between Choon-yi, an artistic child, and her father, one of the construction workers who lost his life. Visiting her in dream sequences after his death, Ba encourages Choon-yi to create a perfect painting of a fire-car to transport the souls of the dead Chinese workers back to their homeland so that they may rest in peace. Hauntingly beautiful oil paintings, evocative of the talent of Choon-yi, complement the finely honed narrative perfectly.
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BACK OF BEYONDSARAH ELLIS
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In this collection of short stories, real experiences of sibling rivalry, divorce, and anorexia are interwoven with seemingly impossible supernatural encounters. Rita is miraculously rescued from a dangerous situation in an underground parking lot by a security guard, and later learns that the lot does not employ security guards. Katie and Ellen, after spending the evening dancing with a pair of ethereal strangers, awaken the next morning to find that they have been dancing for hours on the edge of a cliff. These peculiar occurrences and others are set against the background of ordinary teenage life in Back of Beyond. Ellis's rich narrative involves the successful marriage of a mundane, everyday world to a mystical world of fairy lore and magic.
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BRINGING UP BEAUTYSYLVIA McNICOLL
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When Elizabeth Kerr's mother persuades the family to foster Beauty, a puppy going into guide-dog training, it begins as just another one of her family projects. But after Beauty's arrival in early September, most of the responsibility for her becomes Elizabeth's. Beauty causes lots of problems but she is always there for Elizabeth: when her father is downsized, when her sister Debra moves out, and when Elizabeth finds her first boyfriend and loses her best friend. The constant support helps Elizabeth through her 13th year, but eventually Beauty must leave.... This is a funny, fast-paced account of contemporary family life.
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STARSERIC WALTERS
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Stealing cars and outwitting the cops is a way of life for Joseph, a street-smart, wisecracking 14-year-old. When a high-speed car chase lands him in the hospital, he meets Gord, a kindly and dedicated social worker who recruits him for a program called STARS (Striving Through Adventure to Develop Responsibility and Success). Together with a group of boys facing similar problems, Joseph reluctantly heads to Northern Ontario for the six-week survival program. His first impulse is to ditch these "losers", and get back to the city. But as he overcomes the challenges of the landscape and learns to rely on others, Joseph's cynicism and hard edges gradually give way. A fast-paced and exhilarating adventure story, STARS also conveys an important message about the survival of the spirit.
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SHÕ AND THE DEMONS OF THE DEEPANNOUCHKA GRAVEL GALOUCHKO
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A young, pure-hearted girl repeatedly outsmarts the malevolent demons which haunt the dreams of the villagers in an ancient Japanese fishing community. Shõ teaches the village children how to play with their bad dreams and to expose them to the light of day. When one child draws pictures of his dreams and attaches them to a long string, the other villagers are hypnotised by this vision of light and colour floating in the sky. So begins a long tradition of kites and kite festivals around the world. Pages bordered in gold bands, an unusual typeface, and gorgeous multi-coloured illustrations create an almost mystical feeling which adds to the book's appeal.
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ON BOARD THE TITANIC: WHAT IT WAS LIKE WHEN THE GREAT LINER SANKSHELLEY TANAKA
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Seen through the eyes of 17-year-old Jack Thayer and 22-year-old Harold Bride, this book describes the excitement surrounding the maiden voyage of the magnificent Titanic and recounts the tragic events leading to its disastrous demise. Jack, a carefree first-class passenger, spends the first four days exploring the ship from top to bottom. Harold, a junior wireless operator, spends his hours in the ship's tiny radio room. Their stories offer the reader two ways of looking at the luxurious ocean liner, but their differences pale on that fateful night when they meet on an overturned lifeboat in the icy Atlantic. This compelling account is brought alive through crisp narrative, believable dialogue, and stunning illustrative material.
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MARGARET BUFFIE |
A native of Winnipeg and former teacher, Margaret Buffie won the Young Adult Canadian Book Award for her first book Who is Frances Rain? in 1988. She holds a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Manitoba, has worked as a freelance illustrator, and has always enjoyed reading and writing. When her daughter became a teenager, Buffie was intrigued by the wonderful material written for that age group and embarked on a writing career in the area of children's and young-adult literature. The supernatural is often featured in her novels. Many of her characters are searching for a sense of place or self; she answers this quest with magic and forces from the past. She describes herself as driven by her writing and gets emotionally involved with the characters she creates. Among the books she has written are: The Guardian Circle, My Mother's Ghost, and The Dark Garden.
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TIM WYNNE-JONES |
Tim Wynne-Jones was born in England, grew up in British Columbia and Ontario, and studied at the University of Waterloo and York University. His writing career began when he won the $50 000 Seal First Novel Award for Odd's End in 1979. Since then he has written picture books, short stories, and novels for children and adults, numerous radio dramas, a children's musical, an opera libretto, and songs for the television program, "Fraggle Rock". He has often been honoured with literary awards. For Some of the Kinder Planets he received the Governor General's Literary Award for Children's Literature in English, the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award, and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, an American award which recognizes outstanding fiction. Other books written by Tim Wynne-Jones include The Maestro, The Book of Changes, and the Zoom trilogy, illustrated by Eric Beddows.
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THE MAESTROTIM WYNNE-JONES
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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.
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TAKES: STORIES FOR YOUNG ADULTSEDITED BY R.P. MacINTYRE
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Chosen mainly because of strong writing and surprising plot twists, each of the 14 short stories in R.P. MacIntyre's collection describes the "take" of a young protagonist on a particularly troublesome or painful experience. In the preface, MacIntyre says that "the world is made of a billion ‘takes‘. Unlike pictures, they are never locked in space – only in time, from which they have been snatched." One of the stronger works in the collection is "The Initiation" by Megan K. Williams, which describes a young girl's attempt to fit into a mean-spirited school clique, and her eventual realization that the others consider her as much of a joke as the homely girl the others flout.
