At the 2025 CCBC Book Awards in Toronto, author Elizabeth MacLeod and illustrator Mike Deas took home the inaugural Sharon Fitzhenry Award for Canadian Children's Non-Fiction for their book Meet Jim Egan.
The award, named in honour of Sharon Fitzhenry, former President & CEO of Fitzhenry & Whiteside, recognizes excellence in Canadian children’s non-fiction books for grades 4-12. Meet Jim Egan, a Scholastic Canada Biography, tells the life story of a courageous Canadian journalist and LGBTQ2S+ activist. Through Jim's story, young readers are introduced to the history of LGBTQ2S+ rights in Canada.
We caught up with Elizabeth and Mike to ask them about crafting biographies and the recent recognition of their book.
Meet Jim Egan is part of the Scholastic Canada Biography series that highlights the lives of influential Canadians. What has it been like working together on the series?
Elizabeth MacLeod (EM): I love working on this series with Mike. We’re both lucky to be working with editor Erin O’Connor and designer Andrea Casault.
Mike’s characters are fun and they draw in readers. He’s terrific at showing their emotions, whether it’s anger or sadness, etc. I also love the way Mike makes the characters work with their speech balloons.
I think Mike gets a lot of directions and comments from Erin and Andrea and me. I get the sense that he pays attention to them, but when he has a good idea, he’s not afraid to give an illustration his own touch. That’s what makes the characters real and alive.
Mike Deas (MD): This has been an amazing series to work on from the start. We have a genuinely, fantastic team working together on these projects. Elizabeth MacLeod has an ability to weave these important Canadian stories into something that is both exciting and digestible. From Scholastic, our editor, Erin O’Conner and art director, Andrea Casault, add their own dedication and knowledge to these books. Their efforts aim to keep these stories honest and consistent, which as historical books, is a substantial task.
When researching the remarkable individuals in this series for my portion of the work, I always find myself so inspired and telling anyone who will listen all about what I have learnt. It has been wonderful to immerse myself in these histories and hopefully encourage young readers to also be inspired.
Elizabeth, why did you choose to write about the life of activist Jim Egan? What makes him a compelling subject for a biography?
EM: Jim is the first openly gay person in the series. It’s important that kids see themselves in the people we profile. The famous Canadians in the series come from diverse cultures and live in various parts of the country. With Jim, LGBTQ2S+ readers can see themselves reflected in this book.
Kids, and most adults, don’t know that it was illegal to be gay in Canada until 1969. That’s hard to imagine: that you could go to jail just for loving the person you loved. Readers need to know that.
We also included Jim in the series because he’s got many parts to him. He was a merchant seaman, writer, husband, gay rights activist and more. So there are lots of fascinating things to write about him. As well, there are interesting things for Mike to illustrate — check out Jim’s and his partner Jack’s Chihuahuas on page 20!
Mike, how did you approach illustrating the different stages of Jim’s life?
MD: Jim’s life was fun to dive into. As much as I could, I tried to see the world from his eyes. As his early life growing up in an urban area in the 1930’s was so different than my own childhood, I spent time digging through photographic archives making sure the details and feelings lined up.
Jim always seemed to have a positive and outgoing approach to life, which made his adventures, from his time in the Navy or writing his groundbreaking newspaper letters and articles, a treat to illustrate.
Later in his life when he was living on Vancouver Island, I found myself in more familiar territory as I was growing up in BC not far away at a similar time.
Can you share your perspective on the importance of Canadian children’s non-fiction? Why should kids read about Canadian history?
EM: Many people have said it, but I agree that if you don’t know where you’ve come from, it’s hard to know where you’re going. So kids need to read about Canadian history. I also feel it’s important for kids to know that we have a very different history from other countries, especially the nation that has a lot of influence on us, the United States.
I love Canadian history. Not only is it full of amazing stories but those stories are all true. It’s important for kids to feel proud of the country where they live and reading Canadian history can give them that pride.
When the people I write about were kids, they weren’t famous. No one knew they’d grow up to change history. That’s just like the kids reading this series of biographies. I hope what they read will inspire them to do something world shaking!
MD: Canadian children’s non-fiction is so important as it allows young readers to learn about the world around them. With it becoming harder to discern fact from fiction, I feel that it is so critical that the youth learn the ability to curate the information presented to them.
Canadian history can be so inspiring, especially reading about people, like Jim Egan, who have managed to improve the world we live in. I believe it allows kids learn from the past and see their own ability to change the world around them in positive ways.
As the first ever winners of the Sharon Fitzhenry Award for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction, what does it mean to you to have your work recognized?
EM: It’s wonderful of the Fitzhenry Family Foundation to recognize Canadian children’s non-fiction. Non-fiction often seems to be forgotten. There are many fewer awards for non-fiction than there are for fiction.
I’m near the end of my writing career and this is a lovely pat on the back and a reminder that there’s still room for older writers like me. As well, this is the fifteenth book in the Scholastic Canada Biography series so it’s great to know that reviewers and judges are still reading these books and they appreciate what Mike, Erin, Andrea and I are creating for kids.
MD: Meet Jim Egan winning the first ever Sharon Fitzhenry Award for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction, means so much to me. After spending long days in a studio, it’s easy to forget the reach some books can have. This honour from the Fitzhenry Family Foundation allows the important topics in these books to be amplified. This recognition is inspiring and I feel very grateful.