This year’s Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Award shortlists have been revealed.

The annual prizes, which come with a $6,000 prize each, recognize artistic excellence in writing and illustration in English-language Canadian picture books, middle-grade, and young-adult literature. A nomination committee comprised of Katharine Tutko, Mary Searle, and Martha Martin selected the shortlists, and student juries from Faywood Arts-Based Curriculum School will choose the winning titles.

Nominated in the picture book category are:

• Hold That Thought! by Bree Galbraith and Lynn Scurfield, ill. (Owlkids Books)
• A Kid is a Kid is a Kid by Sara O’Leary and Qin Leng, ill. (Groundwood Books)
• Mii maanda ezhi-gkendmaanh / This Is How I Know by Brittany Luby and Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley, ill. (Groundwood Books)
• On the Trapline by David A. Robertson and Julie Flett, ill. (Penguin Random House)
• Out into the Big Wide Lake by Paul Harbridge and Josée Bisaillon, ill. (Tundra Books)

Nominated titles in the young adult/middle grade category are:

• Children of the Fox by Kevin Sands (Tundra Books)
• Firefly by Philippa Dowding (DCB)
• The School Between Winter and Fairyland by Heather Fawcett (HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray)
• Sunny Days Inside and Other Stories by Caroline Adderson (Groundwood Books)
• Tremendous Things by Susin Nielsen (Penguin Random House)

The winners will be announced in June 2022.