FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Ottawa (March 1, 2011) – The Canadian Library Association / Association canadienne des bibliothèques is pleased to announce the shortlists for the 2011 Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator’s Award, the Book of the Year for Children Award and the Young Adult Book Award. The winners of the awards and the Honour Books will be announced prior to the National Canadian Library Association Conference and Trade Show. The award will be presented at the conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia on May 26 at the annual awards reception. The shortlists are below.

Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator’s Award

Sponsored by Library Services Centre, this award recognizes an illustrator of a noteworthy Canadian book, published in 2010, that appeals to children up to the age of 12 years.

The finalists for the 2011 Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator’s Award, in alphabetical order by title, are:

Book of Big Brothers / Illustrated by Luc Melanson (Groundwood Books)
Counting On Snow / Illustrated by Maxwell Newhouse (Tundra Books)
Fishing With Gubby / Illustrated by Kim La Fave (Harbour Publishing)
The Good Garden / Illustrated by Sylvie Daigneault (Kids Can Press)
I Know Here / Illustrated by Matt James (Groundwood Books)
Owls See Clearly At Night: A Michif Alphabet / Illustrated by Julie Flett (Simply Read Books)
Making the Moose Out of Life / Illustrated by Nicholas Oldhand (Kids Can Press)
Roslyn Rutabaga and the Biggest Hole on Earth! / Illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay (Groundwood Books)
Singing Away the Dark / Illustrated by Julie Morstad (Simply Read Books)
Spork / Illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault ( Kids Can Press)

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the 2010-2011 CLA Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator’s Award Committee:

Delilah Deane Cummings, Coordinator, Community Outreach & Program Services, London Public Library, Chair
Joy Huebert, Librarian, Esquimalt Public Library
Lynn Thorimbert, Librarian/Consultant Services, Marigold Library System
Stirling Prentice, Librarian, Kanata, Ontario
Diana Gauthier, Secretary-Treasurer, Canadian Association for School Libraries (CASL), Ottawa

For more information contact:
Delilah Deane Cummings at 519-661-5100 x 7422

CLA Book of the Year for Children Award

Sponsored by Library Services Centre, this notable award recognizes a Canadian author of an outstanding book published in Canada in 2010, which appeals to children up to and including age 12.

The finalists for the 2011 CLA Book of the Year for Children Award, in alphabetical order by author, are:

Plain Kate by Erin Bow (Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic)
Winter Shadows by Margaret Buffie (Tundra Books)
Burn by Alma Fullerton (Dancing Cat Books)
The Present Tense of Prinny Murphy by Jill MacLean (Fitzhenry & Whiteside)
Dear George Clooney Please Marry My Mom by Susin Nielsen (Tundra Books)
Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel (HarperCollins Publishers)
The Secret Fiend by Shane Peacock (Tundra Books)
The Glory Wind by Valerie Sherrard (Fitzhenry & Whiteside)
Stolen Child by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch (Scholastic Canada)
The Dark Deeps by Arthur Slade (HarperCollins Publishers)

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the 2010-2011 CLA Book of the Year for Children Award Committee:

Kay Weisman, Teacher-librarian (retired), Vancouver – Chair
Megan Clare, Librarian, Waterloo
Myra Junyk, Literacy Advocate and Author, Toronto
Helen Kubiw, Teacher-Librarian, Guelph
Alexandra Yarrow, Librarian, Ottawa

For more information contact:
Kay Weisman at 604-222-4123

CLA Young Adult Book Award

Sponsored by Library Services Centre, this award recognizes an author of an outstanding English-language Canadian work of fiction (novel, collection of short stories or graphic novel), published in 2010, that appeals to young adults between the ages of 13 and 18.

The finalists for the 2011 CLA Young Adult Book Award, in alphabetical order by author, are:

The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag by Alan Bradley (Doubleday Canada)
Waiting For No One by Beverley Brenna (Red Deer Press)
Room by Emma Donoghue (HarperCollins Canada)
Pluto’s Ghost by Sheree Fitch (Doubleday Canada)
Folly by Marthe Jocelyn (Tundra Books)
Free as a Bird by Gina McMurchy-Barber (Dundurn Press)
Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel (HarperCollins Publishers)
The Dark Deeps by Arthur Slade HarperCollins Publishers
Borderline by Allan Stratton (HarperTrophyCanada)
Dust City by Robert Paul Weston (Puffin Canada)

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the 2010-2011 CLA Young Adult Book Award Committee:

Lisa Doucet, Woozles Children’s Book Store, Halifax – Chair
Carol Rigby, Contract Cataloguer, Iqaluit, NU/Maberly, ON
Barb Janicek, Kitchener Public Library
Kim Hebig, Wheatland Regional Library
Jen Hoyer, Edmonton Social Planning Council

For more information contact:
Lisa Doucet at 902-423-7626

The Canadian Library Association / Association canadienne des bibliothèques is Canada’s largest national and broad-based library association, representing the interests of public, academic, school and special libraries, professional librarians and library workers, and all those concerned about enhancing the quality of life of Canadians through information and literacy.