News from the Canadian Children's Book Centre & Friends

Finalists announced for the 2024 CCBC Book Awards
The CCBC is excited to announce the finalists for eight major awards celebrating Canadian books for young people. The nominated titles represent exceptional quality of work by Canadian book creators from across the country. Each nominated title will capture the imaginations of young readers and was chosen by our juries to represent the best in their category.
The winners of the awards will be announced at an in-person event at the Toronto Reference Library on Monday, October 28 hosted by Ainara Alleyne, co-creator of Ainara’s Bookshelf. The event will be live streamed and ASL interpretation will be provided.
Tickets are on sale now. Space is limited.

Mark your calendar. I Read Canadian Day is Nov 6th!
I Read Canadian Day is a national celebration of Canadian books for young people, with the goal of elevating the genre and celebrating the breadth and diversity of these books. This year’s event will take place on November 6, 2024. Visit IReadCanadian.com/day for more details. We encourage schools, libraries and bookstores to invite a local author to your school, library or store to celebrate the day.
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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Best Books for Kids & Teens, Spring 2025
The CCBC is now accepting submissions for the spring 2025 edition Best Books for Kids & Teens (BBKT)—our semi-annual selection guide to the best Canadian children’s books, magazines, audio, and video.
The submission deadline is October 15, 2024.
We receive hundreds of submissions each year. Expert committees of educators, booksellers and school and public librarians from across Canada handpick the materials listed in the guide. Committees look for excellence in writing, illustration or performance. Most importantly, these committees focus on selecting materials that will appeal to children and young adults.
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IBBY Canada launches an educators’ resource and children’s activity kit for From Sea to Sea to Sea: Celebrating Indigenous Picture Books.

Free for educators and librarians, this new resource is filled with ideas, projects, and activities to engage children in the books both indoors and in nature. The kit can be downloaded for free here.
To date, three editions of the From Sea to Sea to Sea catalogue have been published and, in total, feature 150 of the finest Indigenous picture books published between 1993 and 2022 by First Nations, Métis, and Inuit authors and illustrators. These books reflec t authentic voices and offer insight into the distinct histories and current realities of diverse communities, and represent a vast range of voices and stories of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit from sea to sea to sea.
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Register now for the Get Published! Writing Picture Books virtual session.
What does it take to get a picture book published? What are children’s book publishers looking for? Let our panel of experts show you what you need to do to get your manuscript published! Panelists include industry professionals: Naseem Hrab, author, and publisher of Kids Can Press; Vikki VanSickle, author; and Jack Wong, author/illustrator.
Register now.
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Celebrate Fall with Beautiful Art
Fall is coming and why not celebrate with a beautiful piece of art?
Visit the Picture Book Gallery today to find one-of-a-kind art, perfect for gifts, library spaces, corporate use and more.
In November 2021, we launched the Picture Book Gallery as a way to generate funds for Canadian Children’s Book Week, which connects Canadian creators with children and teens across Canada.
The Picture Book Gallery supports our annual tour that allows 28,000 young Canadians to participate in over 400 readings and workshops in a single week. Illustrators set their own prices, with 60% of the value of their art sold donated to Book Week. This event is a great opportunity for illustrators to showcase their work to a wider audience, all while generously contributing to a love of reading in children across Canada.
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Stock Up on CCBC Illustrated Greeting Cards!
Support the CCBC today by purchasing our pack of eight greeting cards featuring art from past Canadian Children's Book Week posters. Each pack includes art by Barbara Reid, Julie Flett, Ian Wallace, Wallace Edwards, Bill Slavin, Elly MacKay, Gabrielle Grimard and Eugenie Fernandes.
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October is Canadian Islamic History Month, a time to learn more about the history and contributions of Muslims in Canada. This book list features stories that encourage young readers to appreciate the diversity of Canada's Muslim communities.
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October Book List: Chills & Thrills
Do you feel that chill in the air? It's the time of year to bring out the scary stories! Reading horror can help young readers to develop confidence and grow in empathy. Horror for kids and teens is about learning to face your fears and working together to beat the monsters and nightmares.
This book list features scary stories appropriate for all ages. Share a book with a young reader in your world who's up for a good scare!
Picture Books

The Barnabus Project
Written and illustrated by The Fan Brothers
Tundra Books, 2020
978-0-7352-6326-0
IL: Ages 5-9: Grades 2-3
In a world built for Perfect Pets, Barnabus is a Failed Project, half mouse, half elephant, kept out of sight until his dreams of freedom lead him and his misfit friends on a perilous adventure. A stunning picture book from international bestsellers The Fan Brothers, joined by their brother Devin Fan.

First Night of Howlergarten
Written & and illustrated by Benson Shum
Penguin Workshop, 2023
978-0-593-52127-4
IL: Ages 3-6; RL: Grades 2-3
Most kids go to kindergarten, but there is a special place for those who turn into werewolves. Instead of attending school during the day, these supernatural students go to howlergarten at night! There they practice tracking scents, listening to whispers on the wind, and more. But when one student named Sophie doesn't seem to possess the basic skills, she worries she won't become a werewolf at all. What will happen if she remains human when the full moon appears? Will she still be accepted as part of the pack, or will she be cast aside as an ordinary outsider?

Into The Goblin Market
Written by Vikki VanSickle
Illustrated by Jensine Eckwall
Tundra Books, 2024
978-0-7352-6856-2
IL: Ages 4-8; RL: Grades 2-3
A picture book ode to Christina Rossetti's classic poem and a clever homage to familiar fairy-tale villains, this story about two sisters will enthrall readers with its beautifully detailed art and enchanting writing.

Revenge of the Raccoons
Written by Vivek Shraya
Illustrated by Juliana Neufeld
Owlkids Books, 2022
978-1-77147-438-2
IL: Ages 4-8; RL: Grades 2-3
Raccoons are hitting the streets to finally tell their story. The bushy-tailed bandits take over the town, swinging from cranes, scampering through subway cars, and pestering the police. Amid the mischief, the raccoons describe themselves as humans see them: thieving “trash pandas” that steal doughnuts and cash, topple our green bins, and frighten our cats. But when asked why they’re invading the city, the raccoons insist they aren’t pests, but survivors of the real invaders: humans.
Junior Fiction

Bog Myrtle
Written and illustrated by Sid Sharp
Annick Press, 2024
978-1-77321-892-2
IL: Ages 6-11; RL: Grades 2-3
Two sisters, one stubbornly cheerful (Beatrice) and one relentlessly grumpy (Magnolia), live in a drafty old house with a family of helpful spiders. When Beatrice is gifted magic yarn from a giant forest spider obsessed with sustainability named Bog Myrtle, she and the spiders set to work knitting up a perfectly warm sweater. But greedy Magnolia sees only the opportunity for profit, and quickly converts the old house into a magic sweater factory. The exhausted spiders are driven to strike, and Bog Myrtle is not pleased...

Ghost Girl
(Orca Echoes)
Written by Brooke Carter
Illustrated by Alyssa Waterbury
Orca Book Publishers, 2023
978-1-4598-3688-4
IL: Ages 6-8; RL: Grades 2-3
It’s Samhain, a time when the spirits can cross over into the living world, and the old mansion has secrets whispering in the rafters and unused rooms. When Sly and their grandmother hear a voice calling, Sly unlocks a cabinet that reveals a ghost girl who is trapped in a mirror. Then they accidentally speak the words of the spell that enchanted the girl in the first place, and Sly and their grandmother risk being imprisoned in the mirror as well. With the clock ticking until the end of Samhain, it’s up to Sly to solve the ghost’s riddles and puzzles and locate a long-lost book of spells in hopes of freeing them all.

The Ghost Tree
(Spooky Sleuths, Book 1)
Written by Natasha Deen
Illustrated by Lissy Marlin
Random House Books for Young Readers, 2022
978-0-593-48887-4
IL: Ages 7-10; RL: Grades 2-3
Asim's new town is freaking him out! There are weird noises at night, eerie lights, and now an evil tree that is growing way faster than it should. He's sure there's something supernatural going on. His friend Rokshar believes that everything can be explained by science. But even she's worried when the tree takes control of their teacher! It's starting to look like an evil spirit straight out of Guyanese folklore is to blame. Can Asim and his friends save their teacher—and the town—from the ghost tree? Find out... if you dare! A new spooky series based on ghost stories from Guyana.

The Skull: A Tyrolean Folktale
Written and illustrated by Jon Klassen
Candlewick Press, 2023
978-1-5362-2336-1
IL: Ages 6-9; RL: Grades 2-3
In a big abandoned house, on a barren hill, lives a skull. A brave girl named Otilla has escaped from terrible danger and run away, and when she finds herself lost in the dark forest, the lonely house beckons. Her host, the skull, is afraid of something too, something that comes every night. Can brave Otilla save them both?
Middle-Grade Fiction

Night of the Living Zed
Written by Basil Sylvester and Kevin Sylvester
Illustrated by Kevin Sylvester
HarperCollins Publishers, 2024
978-1-4434-6920-3
IL: Ages 8-12 RL: Grades 3-4
Zed and Gabe are back to their treasure-hunting, literary-sleuthing ways in this spooky new adventure! After some lackluster cases involving lost books and a missing pet, the two friends have finally come across a mystery worth their attention: the secrets of Glyndebourne Manor.

Misadventures in Ghosthunting
Written by Melissa Yue
HarperCollins Publishers, 2024
978-1-4434-7091-9
IL: Ages 9-12; RL: Grades 4-5
Emma Wong is struggling to tell her parents about a lot of things. Getting a D on her math test, for one. Seeing ghosts, for another. When a mysterious figure sets Emma’s family altar on fire, that’s one more secret to add to her list, which is growing perilously long.

Pages of Doom
Written by Jeff Szpirglas
Illustrated by Andrew P. Barr
Orca Book Publishers, 2024
978-1-4598-3801-7
IL: Ages 9-12; RL: Grades 4-5
Middle grader Tanya has managed to stop famed horror writer Joel Southland from stealing people's nightmares for his books. The malevolent, sentient ink that had been the source of all his powers and successes now belongs to Tanya. But the ink—which feeds on nightmares—is growing hungrier and hungrier. It urges Tanya to plunder the dreams of others so it can feed. Among Tanya's struggles to outwit the ink are 11 other creepy tales representing the dreams and nightmares of other characters in the book. From tales of dentists who are actually giant alien insects in disguise to a kid spotting a tombstone with his own name and death date, these stories are sure to thrill and chill.

Sneaks
Written by Catherine Egan
Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2022
978-0-593-30640-6
IL: Ages 8-12 RL: Grades 3-4
When Ben Harp sees his teacher's watch crawling across the hallway, he thinks he must be dreaming. But no, he’s just seen his first Sneak—an interdimensional mischief-maker that can borrow the form of any ordinary object. He figured this school year would be bad—his best friend moved away, the class bully is circling, and he’s stuck doing a group project with two similarly friendless girls, Charlotte and Akemi. Still, he wasn’t expecting aliens!
Young Adult Fiction

Beast
Written by Richard Van Camp
Douglas & McIntyre, 2024
978-1-77162-414-5
IL: Ages 14 and up; RL: Grades 9-10
This latest feat of storytelling magic by celebrated author Richard Van Camp blends sharply observed realism and hair-raising horror as it plays out against a 1980s-era backdrop replete with Platinum Blonde songs and episodes of Degrassi Junior High. Unfolding in the fictional town of Fort Simmer—the setting of previous Van Camp stories—Beast delivers a gripping, spirited tale that pits the powers of tradition against the pull of a vengeful past.

Lockjaw
Written by Matteo Cerilli
Tundra Books, 2024
978-1-77488-230-6
IL: Ages 14 and up; RL: Grades 9-10
Chuck Warren died tragically at the old abandoned mill, but Paz Espino knows it was no accident—there's a monster under the town, and she's determined to kill it before anyone else gets hurt. She'll need the help of her crew—inseparable friends, bound by a childhood pact stronger than diamonds, distance or death—to hunt it down. But she's up against a greater force of evil than she ever could have imagined.

Tender Beasts
Written by Liselle Sambury
Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2024
978-1-6659-0352-3
IL: Ages 14 and up; RL : Grades 9-10
With the death of Sunny’s mother, matriarch of the wealthy Behre family, Sunny’s once picture-perfect life is thrown into turmoil. Her mother had groomed her to be the family’s next leader, so Sunny is confused when the only instructions her mother leaves is a mysterious note: “Take care of Dom.” The problem is, her youngest brother, Dom, has always been a near-stranger to Sunny… and seemingly a dangerous one, if found guilty of his second-degree murder charge. Still, Sunny is determined to fulfill her mother’s dying wish. But when a classmate is gruesomely murdered, and Sunny finds her brother with blood on his hands, her mother’s simple request becomes a lot more complicated...

The Unfinished
Written by Cheryl Isaacs
Heartdrum, 2024
978-0-06-328738-9
IL: Ages 13 and up; RL: Grades 8-9
When small-town athlete Avery’s morning run leads her to a strange pond in the middle of the forest, she awakens a horror the townspeople of Crook’s Falls have long forgotten. The black water has been waiting. Watching. Hungry for the souls it needs to survive. Avery can smell the water, see it flooding everywhere; she thinks she's losing her mind. And as the black water haunts Avery—taking a new form each time—people in town begin to go missing. Though Avery had heard whispers of monsters from her Kanien’kéha:ka (Mohawk) relatives, she has never really connected to her Indigenous culture or understood the stories. But the Elders she has distanced herself from now may have the answers she needs.
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Creator's Corner: Matteo L. Cerilli

Matteo L. Cerilli (he/him) is a transmasc author and activist specializing in speculative fiction for all ages. His debut YA horror novel Lockjaw follows a group of queer teens growing up in a community that doesn’t accept them. His activism work has included setting up gender care for trans students at York University, helping to found the Students for Queer Liberation—Tkaronto, and organizing with the No Pride in Policing Coalition.
We had the joy of talking with Matteo Cerilli to ask him more about Lockjaw.
Freedom? Nostalgia? What is it about a group of kids on bikes getting into—and out of—trouble that captures writers’ and readers’ imaginations?
I grew up in a suburb mostly made of lawns and parking lots—it was impossible to walk anywhere efficiently, so having a bike was my earliest memory of freedom. With that comes your first look at identity: as soon as you can ride off on your own and experience the world, you’re actually forced to decide who you are in the grand scheme. It’s incredibly daunting, especially as a little kid who often doesn’t have much power to change any of the scariness out there; when the streetlights come on, you have to go home. Being 11-12 is so systemically dehumanizing, uncomfortable, and terrifying… and yet you have to start building a real personality!
The next time I felt that was at 18 (suddenly I was supposed to know who I was going to be?), which is why I wanted to have a cast of both 11-year-olds and recent high school graduates. Teen readers have so much in common with both their younger siblings, and their younger selves. Even at 25 while I’m trying to figure out who I’m going to be as a “real adult,” I find myself thinking about my middle school self grappling with identity and the weight of the world for what felt like the first time. So yes, I think it’s fond nostalgia that makes us crave these stories, but part of Lockjaw is about cutting through that Instagram filter of pretending that everything was so much softer and easier and nicer back then. It might seem that way in retrospect, but in the moment, those problems were as big as our “grown-up” problems now. It’s so much more relatable and cathartic when we remember that. I think that’s what hooks the imagination more than anything: the reminder that we’re really not so different from kids on bikes, no matter how old we are.
Like many classic horror stories, Lockjaw is set in a small town. How would you describe Bridlington and what makes this small town so scary?
Bridlington is your typical “everywhere-ville”—it has a main street with shopping, and a corner store, and a motel, and a bunch of perfect little cul de sacs. That idea of “perfection” is always a bit unnerving. Nothing in nature is perfect; you have to artificially tweak and tweeze and snip. When we’re talking about perfect towns, this snipping means ignoring or shutting in anything that doesn’t fit the ideal. Anything too cookie-cutter feels like it has skeletons waiting in every closet… Bridlington has skeletons a-plenty.

The story revolves around a diverse crew of 11-year-old outcasts. Can you tell us more about the identities and representation in Lockjaw?
The story splits itself between Paz and her crew, and a few teen characters in town trying to ignore her monster hunt. Among the teen group, there’s Asher, an unhoused trans runaway who refuses to admit that he’s in over his head; Beetle, an autistic-coded Vietnamese genderqueer guy who left town as a kid to attend an alternative school, and is now back for just one summer before he runs far away from this hellscape; and Marcela, Paz’s “practical” sister trying to pick up the slack as the only other Latina girl in town by dating Caleb, the star citizen son of the police captain who harbours some disappointing secrets of his own.
But as for Paz and her friends, while they’re definitely coded as neurodivergent and queer, they don’t have established labels—it’s reflective of my own childhood. As someone born in ’99 (like Paz and her crew), I didn’t grow up knowing what “transgender” or “autistic” was, at least not in a way that ever felt relevant to me personally. I’m so grateful today’s kids can find labels that make them feel less alone, but in the years when Lockjaw is set, that’s not the norm yet. Instead, Paz and her crew are “different.”
Which of your characters is most like you?
I was completely blown away the first time I saw the final cover; Paz is dressed exactly how I was at that age. Of course, I was much quieter than Paz. All of my characters have a bit of me in them: Marcela inherits my eldest sister stress, Beetle’s coming out story shares a lot of similarities with mine, Asher’s fight with toxic masculinity is ripped from my own life, and even Caleb captures some whispers of my family. Writing a book is its own form of therapy—you’re really just facing yourself from every possible angle. If I had to pick someone, maybe it’d be Ben, Paz’s friend who’s afraid of Goosebumps and stims by shaking out his hands. That’s also taken from my own childhood.
Lockjaw has a lot to say about the kinds of horrors that surround us in real life. What do you hope teen readers take away from reading your book?
That we’re all responsible for caring for each other and building a better world, even if we’ve made mistakes. I set out to write realistic queer characters, which means they’ve all been through hardship one way or another, and they’re not exactly better for it. Some of them are selfish, or cruel, or ignorant, and it hurts the people around them. But I don’t believe in lost causes. Everyone can learn to do better, which these characters hopefully do (no spoilers here!). I hope teens really take that to heart. Not just to give grace to the people around them, but to themselves too. The system is built to make us give up on each other; the second we start believing in moral superiority and “good people and bad people,” we’re done for.
Follow Matteo Cirelli on Instagram: @matteolcerilli
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Picture Book Gallery Profile: Celia Godkin

This month's Picture Book Galley profile is Celia Godkin. Celia has enjoyed a number of complimentary and overlapping careers, including work as a biologist, a teacher of studio arts and an author and illustrator of children’s natural science books.
She has hundreds of published illustrations to her credit, in trade and educational books, scientific journals and children’s books. Her work has been reproduced on zoo signs, exhibits at the Royal Ontario Museum and coins issued by the Royal Canadian Mint. Celia specializes in naturalistic images of plants and animals. You can find out more about Celia at celiagodkin.com.
You studied biology and even worked for the Reptile Breeding Foundation before beginning a career as a scientific illustrator. How did you first discover your love of animals?
I can't remember a time when I didn't love animals. My first memory is of seeing a hedgehog when I was about two years old. I've always been fascinated by the natural world and curious to learn more about how it works. You can spend a lifetime studying animals and nature and never be bored because there are always new things to learn, new surprises along the way.

Your books, like Skydiver and The Wolves Return, include detailed illustrations that help inform and educate young readers along with the text. How do you research and prepare to draw the illustrations?
Whenever possible I visit appropriate locations to take reference pictures. For Skydiver I went to a raptor centre to take pictures of a peregrine falcon. For The Wolves Return I visited Yellowstone National Park and took pictures of the landscapes and animals I encountered there.
When I first started illustrating books it was much more difficult than it is now because there was no internet and I spent a lot of time collecting reference material. I used the picture reference collection at the main branch of the Toronto Public Library, where they had filing cabinets full of pictures, mostly cut from magazines. I also had subscriptions to nature magazines and an extensive collection of field guides and animal anatomy books.
These days it's very easy to find reference images of anything you want online. But no matter where I get my reference material from, unless it's a photo I've taken myself, I don't copy it because that would be a violation of copyright. Instead, I use a combination of images plus my understanding of animal anatomy to create convincing drawings of the animals. I move each animal drawing around the landscape I've created as a backdrop, changing their size and orientation as needed, until I have a convincing scene and a composition I like. All of this is worked out in graphite pencil on tracing paper before I go to colour.
As a scientific illustrator, your work has appeared in all kinds of places, including textbooks, scientific papers, zoo signs, and even collectable coins. What advice do you have for aspiring scientific illustrators?
Scientific illustrators should be trained in both art and science, as I was. When I got started in this field there weren't any scientific illustration courses in Canada, which meant I was uniquely placed to initiate courses in this subject myself. One of my students subsequently set up a program at Sheridan College. A quick internet search (always a good place to start) reveals that the University of Alberta and McGill now also have courses, as does the Masters Program in Biomedical Communications at the University of Toronto, which is where I taught.

In addition to taking courses, I recommend that anyone interested in this field get involved with organizations such as the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators, a US group that offers professional development and workshops. If you live in the GTA, check out Southern Ontario Nature and Science Illustrators. There are also many botanical art societies, a subset of scientific illustration that specializes in depicting plants and fungi.
Throughout your career, you’ve visited many schools and libraries. What is your favourite part of reading to children?
I love it when children ask me questions that only a child would ask. Once, when I was getting a class to tell me why jellyfish aren't fish, I told them that a jellyfish's gut only has one opening. A little boy asked me “how do they go to the bathroom?” Hilarious!
View Celia Godkin's art in the Picture Book Gallery.
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Experts' Picks

Anne of the Library-on-the-Hill
Written by Catherine Little
Illustrated by Sae Kimura
Plumleaf Press, 2024
978-1-73816-524-7
IL: Ages 5-9; RL: Grades 2-3
Growing up in Toronto, Anne loves spending time with her father, especially when they visit her very favourite place: the Library-on-the-Hill. There they would gather bagloads of books to bring home and read together. But everything changes for Anne when her father leaves to fight in the Great War. Mother must then work extra hard and they both miss him fiercely. But on Anne's 10th birthday, her mother shares a special gift with her: a book that had been a gift to Anne's mother from her father when they were first married. A book called Anne of Green Gables.
This gentle, poignant picture book celebrates the power of books to shape young lives, to forge connections and to help heal broken hearts. It is a beautiful tribute to libraries, LM Montgomery and little girls with big imaginations. Sae Kimura's detailed illustrations are soft, gently-lined, warm and inviting, and they bring this Anne's world to life. While this book is very much about this other Anne, LM Montgomery's cameo appearance in the story and the subtle references to her life and work make it a unique and lovely homage to this beloved author.
—Lisa Doucet, Co-Manager, Woozles Children’s Bookstore

Ghost Girl
(Orca Echoes)
Written by Brooke Carter
Illustrated by Alyssa Waterbury
Orca Book Publishers, 2023
978-1-4598-3688-4
IL: Ages 6-8; RL: Grades 2-3
Ghostly whispers call in Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award nominee Ghost Girl by Brooke Carter. Ten-year-old Sly visits their fortune-telling grandmother on the eve of Samhain (the Celtic roots of Halloween) and becomes drawn into a spirited mystery.
Madsen Mansion is full of secret rooms, old paintings, and a ghost trapped in a mirror. Facing their fears, Sly must solve riddles and puzzles to break a centuries-old family curse. Alyssa Waterbury’s atmospheric black-and-white illustrations are a bewitching blend of sweetness and suspense. This book in the Orca Echoes series is an out-of-the-ordinary treat for beginning readers
— Linda Ludke, Collections Management Librarian, London Public Library