Archive for June 21, 2012


The Canadian Children’s Book Centre (CCBC) has announced the finalists for their seven major children’s book awards.  I will list below the ones that are for English-language titles.  There is an additional prize, Prix TD de littérature canadienne pour l’enfance et la jeunesse.

TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award

  

The Dragon Turn by Shane Peacock

No Ordinary Day by Deborah Ellis

Off to Class: Incredible and Unusual Schools around the World by Susan Hughes

 

Seal Song by Andrea Spalding

Stones for My Father by Trilby Kent

 

Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award

  

Cinnamon Baby by Nicola Winstanley, illustrated by Janice Nadeau

Picture a Tree by Barbara Reid

Pussycat, Pussycat, Where Have You Been? by Dan Bar-el, illustrated by Rae Mate

 

Small Saul by Ashley Spires

Without You by Genevieve Cote

 

Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction

  

Beyond Bullets: A Photo Journal of Afghanistan by Rafal Gerszak with Dawn Hunter

Biomimicry: Inventions Inspired by Nature by Dora Lee, illustrated by Margot Thompson

Loon by Susan Vande Griek, illustrated by Karen Reczuch

 

Off to Class: Incredible and Unusual Schools around the World by Susan Hughes

Scribbling Women: True Tales from Astonishing Lives by Marthe Jocelyn

 

Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for young People

  

The Hangman in the Mirror by Kate Cayley

I’ll Be Watching by Pamela Porter

Shot at Dawn: World War I by John Wilson

 

This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein by Kenneth Oppel

The Whole Truth by Kit Pearson

 

John Spray Mystery Award

  

The Case of the Missing Deed by Ellen Schwartz

Charlie’s Key by Rob Mills

The Dragon Turn by Shane Peacock

 

Held by Edeet Ravel

True Blue by Deborah Ellis

 

Monica Hughes Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy

  

Dreamline by Nicole Luiken

Hunted by Cheryl Rainfield

Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier

 

Tempestuous by Lesley Livingston

What Happened to Serenity by P.J. Sarah Collins

bink and gollie two for one

Bink & Gollie: Two for One by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee, illustrated by Tony Fucile

Oh how I adore these two characters!  I was thrilled to see Bink and Gollie returning for a second book.  This time the friends head to the state fair.  Bink wants to play Whack a Duck but her aim is not as good as she might think.  She manages to hit the man running the booth with hysterically funny results.  The two girls then head to what Gollie wants to do, which is to enter the talent show.  She assures everyone that she has several talents and Bink continues to tell people that, but it doesn’t quite work out like Gollie had expected.  Finally, the friends head to the fortune teller’s tent where they are told just what they both want to hear most.  The entire book is a laugh-out-loud funny, warm and cozy work that is simply glorious.

I really enjoyed that the different chapters in the book have very different feelings.  The first is so wildly funny that I was chortling out loud to myself and had to share it with others in my family.  The writing throughout the book is smart, clever and funny.  Readers will be able to see the jokes coming, but the writing takes it to a different level.  Above all, these two are friends who stand together and celebrate their differences.

Fucile’s art is a huge part of both the humor and the warmth of the book.  Throughout the vaudeville humor of the first chapter, I was amazed at how much physical humor could be portrayed on a page.  He has his own sense of comic timing that adds so much.

Highly recommended, if you haven’t read Bink & Gollie yet, make sure to try both books.  Fans will adore this second in the series and long for the next one immediately.  This is a modern children’s classic.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from library copy.

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