2007 Finalists - Children's Literature (text)
Hugh Brewster, Toronto, for Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose: The Story of a Painting (Kids Can Press; distributed by University of Toronto Press) (ISBN 978-1-55453-137-0)
Richly evocative in word and image, Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose is a fictional account of the creation of a painting, which also tells the larger story of the creative act. As he paints, artist John Singer Sargent is meticulously observed by young Kate, who longs to be immortalized in a great work of art – a beautiful book.
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Christopher Paul Curtis, Windsor (ON), for Elijah of Buxton
(Scholastic Canada; distributed by the publisher) (ISBN 978-0-439-93647-7)
Elijah Freeman, the first child born of freed slaves in Canada, is the protagonist in this tale which is by turns hilarious and tragic, and always an engaging historical adventure. Christopher Paul Curtis’ creation stands shoulder to shoulder with Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.
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Iain Lawrence, Gabriola Island (BC), for Gemini Summer
(Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House; distributed by Random House of Canada) (ISBN 978-0-385-73089-1 (trade) / 978-0-385-90111-6 (glb))
Gemini Summer is an exquisite portrayal of two brothers’ fascination with the Gemini missions at the height of the space race in the early 1960s. A spiritual bond with a stray dog and complex issues of family, life, and death are at the heart of this beautiful novel by Iain Lawrence.
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John Wilson, Lantzville (BC), for The Alchemist’s Dream (Key Porter Books; distributed by H. B. Fenn) (ISBN 978-1-55263-934-4)
In this engrossing historical adventure, John Wilson paints a vivid picture of a bygone era involving Henry Hudson’s fateful search for the elusive Northwest Passage, an alchemist, mysterious passengers, and enigmatic maps. The Alchemist’s Dream fascinates from start to finish.
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Eva Wiseman, Winnipeg, for Kanada (Tundra Books; distributed by Random House of Canada) (ISBN 978-0-88776-729-6)
In Nazi-occupied Europe, fourteen-year-old Jutka dreams of the Canada she has seen in a book, but before her family can flee to safety, the Nazis invade Hungary and Jutka and her family are sent to Auschwitz. There she engages in a daily battle for survival while never relinquishing her dream of one day making it to Canada.
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