Canadian Children’s Book Centre 2023 awards shortlists announced

The Canadian Children’s Book Centre (CCBC) has announced the finalists for seven awards celebrating best Canadian books for young people.

The prizes are: TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award ($50,000); Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award ($20,000); Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction ($10,000); Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People ($5,000); Amy Mathers Teen Book Award ($5,000); Jean Little First-Novel Award ($5,000); and Arlene Barlin Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy ($5,000).

Each shortlist was selected by separate juries. Kim Spencer’s Weird Rules to Follow, Jane Baird Warren’s How to Be a Goldfish, and The Witness Blanket: Truth, Art and Reconciliation by Carey Newman and Kirstie Hudson all received multiple nominations. Four of the five nominated titles for the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award were published by Orca Book Publishers.

The winners of the awards will be announced at an in-person event on October 23, hosted by Wali Shah.

The CCBC also partners with Communication-Jeunesse to organize the French-language award: the Prix TD de littérature canadienne pour l’enfance et la jeunesse, for which prize shortlists will be announced on October 18, with winners announced virtually on November 8.

TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award

Berani by Michelle Kadarusman (Pajama Press)
Kunoichi Bunny by Sara Cassidy and Brayden Sato, illus. (Orca Book Publishers)
Sitting Shiva by Erin Silver and Michelle Theodore, ill. (Orca Book Publishers)
Weird Rules to Follow by Kim Spencer (Orca Book Publishers)
The Witness Blanket: Truth, Art and Reconciliation by Carey Newman and Kirstie Hudson (Orca Book Publishers)

Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award

Boobies by Nancy Vo (Groundwood Books)
Fox and Bear by Miriam Körner (Red Deer Press)
I’m Not Sydney! by Marie-Louise Gay (Groundwood Books)
Lizzy and the Cloud by the Fan Brothers (Simon & Schuster Canada)
Mina by Matthew Forsythe (Simon & Schuster Canada)

Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction

Better Connected: How Girls Are Using Social Media for Good by Tanya Lloyd Kyi and Julia Kyi, and Vivian Rosas, illus. (Orca Book Publishers)
Pink, Blue, and You! Questions for Kids About Gender Stereotypes by Elise Gravel with Mykaell Blai (Anne Schwartz Books/Penguin Random House Canada)
Sun in My Tummy by Laura Alary and Andrea Blinick, ill. (Pajama Press)
Why Humans Build Up: The Rise of Towers, Temples and Skyscrapers by Gregor Craigie and Kathleen Fu, ill. (Orca Book Publishers)
The Witness Blanket: Truth, Art and Reconciliation by Carey Newman and Kirstie Hudson (Orca Book Publishers)

Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People

Hidden on the High Wire: A Holocaust Remembrance Book for Young Readers by Kathy Kacer (Second Story Press)
How to Be a Goldfish by Jane Baird Warren (Scholastic Canada)
The Ribbon Leaf by Lori Weber (Red Deer Press)
The Secret Diary of Mona Hasan by Salma Hussain (Tundra Books/Penguin Random House Canada)
Weird Rules to Follow by Kim Spencer (Orca Book Publishers)

Amy Mathers Teen Book Award

As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers/Hachette Book Group)
The Red Palace by June Hur (Feiwel and Friends/Raincoast Books)
Road of the Lost by Nafiza Azad (Margaret K. McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster Canada)
TJ Powar Has Something to Prove by Jesmeen Kaur Deo (Viking Books for Young Readers/Penguin Random House Canada)
Wrong Side of the Court by H.N. Khan (Tundra Books/PRHC)

Jean Little First-Novel Award

The Grave Thief by Dee Hahn (Puffin Canada/Penguin Random House Canada)
How to Be a Goldfish by Jane Baird Warren (Scholastic Canada)
Scout Is Not a Band Kid by Jade Armstrong (RH Graphic/Penguin Random House Canada)
Weird Rules to Follow by Kim Spencer (Orca Book Publishers)
The Wolf Suit by Sid Sharp (Annick Press)