IBBY Canada has announced their 2012 selections for the IBBY Honour List, a biennial selection of outstanding, recently published books that are representative of the best in children’s literature. Each IBBY National Section selects the best books in particular categories (depending on how many official languages are recognized by that country). The Honour List provides insight into the diverse cultural, political, and social settings in which children live around the world and is used to develop educational and literacy programmes to develop exemplary international collections.

Here are IBBY Canada’s selections:

English Text: The Nine Lives of Travis Keating by Jill MacLean (Fitzhenry & Whiteside)

Translation French to English: Today, Maybe (Aujourd’hui, peut-être), written by Dominique Demers, illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard, and translated by Sheila Fischman (Orca Book Publishers)

Translation English to French: L’œil de la corneille (Eye of the Crow), written by Shane Peacock and translated by Pierre Corbeil (Bayard Canada)

Illustration: The Imaginary Garden, illustrated by Irene Luxbacher and written by Andrew Larsen (Kids Can Press)

French Text: La saison des pluies, by Mario Brassard (Soulières Éditeur)

Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) Text: The Gift of the Stars / Ananagoog Meegiwaewinan by Basil Johnston (Kegedonce Press)

The selection jury consisted of Lisa Doucet (co-manager, Woozles Children’s Bookstore), Ann Foster (librarian, Saskatoon Public Library), Vikki VanSickle (children’s book author), Susane Duchesne (bookseller, Librairie Monet), Alice Lienard (assistant editor, La Courte echelle), Olivia Marleau (youth section librarian, Ville de Montreal), Patty Lawlor (First Nations Consultant, Southern Ontario Library Service), and Sheila Staats (Native Information Specialist, Goodminds.com).

Winners will be presented with their certificates at the 33rd IBBY Congress in London, England in August.

For more information, please visit www.ibby-canada.org.