News from the Canadian Children's Book Centre & Friends
September Book List: Back to School
Creator's Corner: Khodi Dill
Illustrator's Studio: Karlene Harvey
Experts' Picks
News from the Canadian Children's Book Centre & Friends
Calling all authors and illustrators! If you are looking to level up your classroom and library presentations, the CCBC has a webinar series for you! This series would also be useful to those who support book creator presentations—like publicists, educators and librarians. Register now.
The Canadian Children’s Book Centre (CCBC) is excited to announce the finalists for the following seven major awards celebrating Canadian books for young people:
- Richard Allen Chase Memorial Award ($2,500)
- Arlene Barlin Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy ($5,000)
- Jean Little First-Novel Award ($5,000)
- Amy Mathers Teen Book Award ($5,000)
- Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People ($5,000)
- Sharon Fitzhenry Award for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction ($10,000)
- Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award ($20,000)
The nominated titles represent exceptional quality of work by Canadian book creators from across the country. Each nominated title captures 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 DoubleTree by Hilton’s downtown Toronto location on Monday, October 27, where $52,500 in prize monies will be awarded. The event will be live streamed. Tickets go on sale mid-September. More details.
Canada’s largest children’s book festival returns for its 17th annual year! Telling Tales is a free two-day family festival at Royal Botanical Gardens, Hendrie Park (Burlington, ON), Oct. 4 and 5, 9:45 am to 5 pm. Meet over 100 of Canada’s top children’s authors, illustrators, storytellers, and musicians. Explore multi-sensory activities, active play centres, quieter spaces, and creativity zones. Perfect for families, educators, caregivers, and all booklovers from tots to teens.
Admission is free with registration.
The Ontario Book Publishers Organization (OBPO) is campaigning to have the government create a dedicated pocket of funds for Ontario schools and libraries to purchase books published by Ontario indies. Learn more and voice your support.
Canadian Authors & Illustrators Against Book Bans (CAIABB) has launched a petition to Tell the Alberta Government: No Book Bans.
For more information, you can also read the CCBC's Statement on Alberta Book Bans.
September Book List: Back to School
It’s back to school time! First day jitters are no joke! Thankfully, these books are here to remind young readers that school isn’t all about test scores and perfect projects. More important are the lessons we learn and the friends we make along the way.
Picture Books
The Biggest Smallest Thing
Written by Sara de Waal
Illustrated by Ana Stretcu
Annick Press, 2025
IL: Ages 5-8 RL: Grades 2-3
It’s time for the Scintillating Science Symposium, and Mo is determined to win this year’s competition. He knows his classmates are talented, but none of them are serious scientists like him... especially not Muriel. After all, Mo wants to be a chemist when he grows up; Muriel wants to be a cat. Besides, Mo has the best idea to turn something small into something big. He just can’t forget his secret ingredient...
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Maya Inside
Written by Alison Hughes
Illustrated by Brady Sato
Orca Book Publishers, 2025
IL: Ages 3-5 RL: Grades 1-2
Maya went into her box when a classmate teased her, and again when another hurt her feelings. Now she’s there most of the time. It’s safe and quiet and best of all it can be anything she wants it to be. She brings it on bike rides and to school, and while kids used to notice it, now they barely see her at all. But Maya can't help but wonder if there might be something she's missing. Yes, it's noisy and scary out there, but it's also exciting and fun. Finally, Maya bravely decides to step out into the sunshine and find her place in the world—outside her box.
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The One and Only Question
Written by Norma Charles and Andrea Charles
Illustrated by Ken Daley
Groundwood Books, 2025
IL: Ages 4-8 RL: Grades 2-3
It's Zeke's first day at his new school and his head is filled with one big question: what will he do when they call him the N-word like they did at his old school?
Zeke is expecting the worst day ever, and that's what it's turning out to be. His favourite shirt has a mustard stain on it, the bus driver is unfriendly, and his teacher covers material Zeke has heard a million times. It’s not until another student performs a small act of kindness that Zeke realizes that no one has called him the N-word all day. Not once. And tomorrow could be even better…
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Rez Kid
Written by Andrea Landry
Illustrated by Isabella Fassler
Kids Can Press, 2025
IL: Ages 4-7 RL: Grades 1-2
“Rez kid!” The girl ignores the taunt as she hurries to the back of the school bus. She just wants to get home to the reservation, where she can feel safe. One by one, she tells her mom, nóhkom, moshum and aunty about what happened. And one by one they offer her advice on what to do. Each one has a different idea, but each idea is the same at heart: share something from the reservation with the other children. The girl listens, but decides to come up with her own idea. And, as with everything else about her life as a rez kid, her idea grows out of all she has been given by those who came before her.
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RJ and the Ticking Clock
Written by Ian Duncan
Illustrated by Scot Ritchie
Henry Holt and Co., 2025
IL: Ages 4-7 RL: Grades 1-2
RJ is panicking! His teacher has given the class 30 minutes to finish their Father’s Day cards. RJ has done the math, and he knows he won’t have enough time to make two perfect cards for his two perfect dads. Time ticks by, and while the other kids have no trouble finishing their cards, the more RJ tries to focus and get the job done, the more overwhelmed and distracted he feels.
RJ manages to finish one card, and just when he decides that this will have to do, his teacher and classmates surprise him. They used their extra time to create a second card for him. So, when his dads pick him up at the end of the day, RJ greets them joyfully and gives each of them their own handmade card.
Chapter Books
Brianna Banana, Helper of the Day
(Orca Echoes)
Written by Lana Button
Illustrated by Suharu Ogawa
Orca Book Publishers, 2025
IL: Ages 6-8 RL: Grades 2-3
Nine-year-old Brianna struggles to fit in. She can be impulsive and distracted, and sometimes she loses her temper, but she's also thoughtful and brave and ready to be a friend. Brianna thinks that being chosen for classroom helper duty will make the other kids like her. When new girl Rumi is named Helper of the Day instead, Brianna is disappointed. But could a new friend be just around the corner?
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Divya Far from Home
(Divya Dubey)
Written by Sita Jit
Illustrated by Abhilasha Khatri
Capstone Press, 2024
IL: Ages 8-11 RL: Grades 2-3
Nine-year-old Divya’s life is turned upside down when her family moves from Delhi, India, to a new city halfway across the world. Divya goes from living as an only child with her own quiet bedroom to sharing a room with her cousin in a crowded home with extended family. Plus, everything is different at her new school too. Everyone keeps saying change is good—but not if you didn’t want to leave home in the first place!
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How to Save a Library
Written by Colleen Nelson
Pajama Press, 2025
IL: Ages 8-12 RL: Grades 3-4
Every year Casey’s life seems to be boxed up and shipped to a new city. His dad thinks moving is an adventure, but at this point Casey is so over adventure. In Armstrong's Point, Casey life finally feels stable. His talent on the soccer field has made him a natural fit with the popular kids and he loves the apartment he shares with his dad.
But when Casey discovers the local library, where his dad works, is in need of extensive restorative repairs, his future once again feels uncertain. In order to save the one place in the world that feels like home, Casey joins the Kids Community Action Network (C.A.N) where his team will compete for community funding. Unfortunately, this means working with Addison—a former friend, turned not-so-friend—who isn’t going to make it easy on him.
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Salma Speaks Up
(The Salma Series)
Written by Danny Ramadan
Illustrated by Anna Bron
Annick Press, 2025
IL: Ages 6-9 RL: Grades 2-3
Salma’s best friend Riya has had a secret: she dreams of becoming a poet! So when their school’s Speech Club announces an assembly where the winner will get a spot in a city-wide writing workshop, Riya convinces Salma to join the club with her. But Nathan, another member of the club, keeps criticizing the girls for not speaking English “correctly.”
Salma grows increasingly frustrated: why does Nathan get to decide which accents are good or bad? Also, Salma is worried about her beloved Khalou Dawood, who keeps canceling their dinner plans, although he claims he’s not sick. Through research and discussions with her family, Salma discovers what might be impacting Khalou and also gains the courage and confidence to embrace her voice and speak up for herself and others.
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Take a Breath Olive Tran
(Olive Tran)
Written by Phuong Truong
Illustrated by Christine Wei
Second Story Press, 2025
IL: Ages 6-8 RL: Grades 2-3
The school talent show is coming up, and Olive Tran is desperate to enter. The best act wins a party for their entire class, and Olive is determined to be the hero who brings home the pizza!
But Olive has one big problem: What exactly is her talent? The more she struggles to find it, the more anxious she becomes. How can she win the talent show with no talent? It doesn’t help that her brother Ben is a piano prodigy. If only good intentions and a sassy attitude were enough! Can Olive find a way to score the pizza party for her friends? And why does she want to win so badly anyway?
Middle Grade
The Forbidden Room
(The Last Hope School for Magical Delinquents)
Written by Nicki Pau Preto
Penguin Young Readers Group, 2025
IL: Ages 8-12 RL: Grades 3-4
Lavinia "Vin" Lucas has finally found a home. At Last Hope School, she's made friends (including a magical fire sprite!) who love her for who she is, and gifted headmistress Ava Hope is guiding her in her newfound abilities as a Chameleon. But after the chaos and danger of last year, and the attack on the school, the eye of the Magical School Board is trained on Last Hope, and they are desperate to get Ava Hope and her unconventional methods removed from the school for good.
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Is There a Boy Like Me?
Written by Kern Carter
Scholastic Canada, 2024
IL: Ages 10-14 RL: Grades 5-6
London feels stuck. His school friends think he’s this confident kid who likes video games and will kick your butt if you get on his bad side. His high-achieving parents think he’s a genius coder and are pushing him to pursue that as a future career. None of this is true. London feels anxiety in crowds, and what he really wants to do is be by himself and read books. Not knowing what else to do, London starts an anonymous online comic called “Is There A Boy Like Me,” where he expresses his true feelings and explores what his life would be like if he could just be who he wanted to be. When the comic goes viral, it starts a global conversation about what being a boy really means, with London directly in the middle of it all.
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Izzy Wong’s Nose for News
Written by Marty Chan
Orca Book Publishers, 2024
IL: Ages 9-12 RL: Grades 4-5
A sixth-grade student with a purpose, Izzy wants to start her own hit investigative podcast. When the girls' washroom at her school mysteriously floods, she's finally got the perfect subject. It doesn't take long to figure out that a student did it on purpose—but who? Izzy sets out on an investigation to find the culprit and interviews anyone who might know anything, including teachers, students and even the principal. But when she runs into difficulty finding the truth and is presented with a juicy lead that may or may not be gossip—but brings in lots of new listeners—Izzy finds herself in hot water. Will her podcast get shut down before she has a chance to find the perpetrator?
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The New Girl: A Graphic Novel
Written and illustrated by Cassandra Calin
Graphix/Scholastic, 2024
IL: Ages 9-12 RL: Grades 4-5
Lia and her family are waiting to board a flight across the Atlantic, leaving behind family, friends, and Romania—the only home Lia has ever known. But Lia's heartache is overshadowed by the discomfort of her first period. As if things weren't difficult enough! Now Lia is thrust into a world where everything is different: her home, her language, and even her body. With so many changes happening at once, Lia struggles with schoolwork, has trouble communicating with classmates, and has no idea how to manage her unpleasant periods. Will she ever feel like herself again?
***
Way Off Track
Written by Carl Brundtland
Illustrated by Claudia Dávila
Kids Can Press, 2025
IL: Ages 8-12 RL: Grades 3-4
Make way for a fresh and funny new voice in middle-grade graphic novels. Nansi has never lost a race... until snobby Tania beats her in an unofficial event. Surely it's Tania's flashy shoes that gave her the edge. Nansi has to get a pair before the track tryouts! But how will she kick up $338?
Young Adult
A Mastery of Monsters
Written by Liselle Sambury
Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2025
IL: Ages 14-18 RL: Grades 9-10
When August’s brother disappears before his sophomore semester, everyone thinks the stress of college got to him. But August knows her brother would never have left her voluntarily, especially not after their mother so recently went missing.
The only clue he left behind was a note telling her to stay safe and protect their remaining family. And after August is attacked by a 10-foot-tall creature with fur and claws, she realizes that her brother might be in more danger than she could have imagined.
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The Chandler Legacies
Written by Abdi Nazemian
Balzer + Bray, 2023
IL: Ages 13-18 RL: Grades 8-9
At Chandler, the elite boarding school, five teens are brought together in the Circle, a coveted writing group where life-changing friendships are born—and secrets are revealed. Their professor tells them to write their truths. But is the truth enough to change the long-standing culture of abuse at Chandler? And can their friendship survive the fallout?
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Messy Perfect
Written by Tanya Boteju
Quill Tree Books, 2025
IL: Ages 13-18 RL: Grades 8-9
Cassie Perera is a star student in St. Luke's junior class. But the new school year brings an unwelcome surprise—the return to St. Luke's of Cassie's former friend, Ben, who left a few years ago after a homophobic bullying incident Cassie knows she didn't do enough to prevent.
Still harbouring guilt from her inaction, Cassie decides, in her usual, overzealous way, to team up with the neighbouring public school to found an underground Gender and Sexuality Alliance—as a complicated strategy for making things up to Ben. Secretly, Cassie is also tempted by the possibility of opening up about her own sexuality for the first time.
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This Place Kills Me: A Graphic Novel
Written by Mariko Tamaki
Illustrated by Nicole Goux
Abrams Fanfare, 2025
IL: Ages 14-18 RL: Grades 8-9
At Wilberton Academy, few students are more revered than the members of the elite Wilberton Theatrical Society—a.k.a. the WTS—and no one represents that exclusive club better than Elizabeth Woodward.
Breathtakingly beautiful, beloved by all, and a talented thespian, it’s no surprise she’s starring as Juliet in the WTS’s performance of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy. But when she’s found dead the morning after opening night, the whole school is thrown into chaos.
Transfer student Abby Kita was one of the last people to see Elizabeth alive, and when local authorities deem the it-girl’s death a suicide, Abby’s not convinced. She’s sure there’s more to Wilburton and the WTS than meets the eye. As she gets tangled in prep school intrigues, Abby quickly realizes that Elizabeth was keeping secrets. Was one of those secrets worth killing for?
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You Started It
Written by Jackie Khalilieh
Tundra Books, 2025
IL: Ages 12-18 RL: Grades 7-8
Seventeen-year-old Jamie Taher-Foster has big plans for senior year. She's made a list of things and places in Toronto she and her boyfriend of three years, Ben Cameron, need to check off before graduating. And the biggest plan of all: a very special night for the two of them at the upcoming Winter Formal. But then Ben arrives back home after a summer away with an unthinkable announcement: he wants to break up.
And when Jamie discovers him with Olivia Chen the next day, she is determined to get him back. Even if that means fake dating the younger, curly-haired, TikTok dancer Axel Dahini, whose bicycle she accidentally ran over.
Though she and Axel have nothing in common aside from their shared Arab heritage—she's a messy, type A with anxiety; he's carefree but meticulous—their forced time together brings them to better understand one another. And for Jamie, it just might mean learning that not all experiences or people need to be crossed off a list.
Non-Fiction
Adventures in Math: How to Level Up Your Math Game
Written by Carleigh Wu
Illustrated by Sean Simpson
Kids Can Press, 2025
IL: Ages 8-12 RL: Grades 3-4
A unique math book, Adventures in Math builds students' social-emotional skills in math by debunking common myths that inhibit learning and confidence. Rather than teaching readers how to master math concepts, it urges them to change their mindset about math altogether. Using stories and practical tips, it encourages readers to be curious when faced with math problems, to accept that there will be setbacks in solving them and to recognize the creativity at the root of doing math. And, just as important, it helps readers understand math's relevance in their own lives through fascinating stories about real people who have used math to do amazing things.
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Allyship as Action: 7 Ways to Advocate for Others
(Orca Take Action!)
Written by Tanya Boteju
Illustrated by Bithi Sutradhar
Orca Book Publishers, 2025
IL: Ages 9-12 RL: Grades 4-5
As a young person, it can be difficult to take a stand for others when the need to fit in is so strong. But everyone can be an ally. Learn to acknowledge the privileges you have based on your identity, the difference between allyship and being a performative ally and how to address mistakes when we make them. In this book, young readers will work through realistic scenarios that show allyship in action and develop tools to become the best allies they can be.
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The Rez Doctor
Written by Gitz Crazyboy
Illustrated by Veronika Barinova, Azby Whitecalf and Toben Racicot
HighWater Press, 2024
IL: Ages 12-18 RL: Grades 7-8
Young Ryan Fox gets good grades, but he’s not sure what he wants to be when he grows up. It isn’t until he meets a Blackfoot doctor during a school assembly that he starts to dream big.
However, becoming a doctor isn’t easy. University takes Ryan away from his family and the Siksikaitsitapi community, and without their support, he begins to struggle. Faced with more stress than he’s ever experienced, he turns to partying. Distracted from his responsibilities, his grades start to slip. His bills pile up. Getting into med school feels impossible. And now his beloved uncle is in jail. Can Ryan regain his footing to walk the path he saw so clearly as a boy?
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stay up: racism, resistance, and reclaiming Black freedom
Written by Khodi Dill
Illustrated by Stylo Starr
Annick Press, 2023
IL: Ages 12-18 RL: Grades 7-8
Racism is a real and present danger. But how can you fight it if you don’t know how it works or where it comes from? Using a compelling mix of memoir, cultural criticism, and anti-oppressive theory, Khodi Dill breaks down how white supremacy functions in North America and gives readers tools to understand how racism impacts their lives. From dismantling internalized racism, decolonizing schools, joining social justice movements and more, Dill lays out paths to personal liberation and social transformation.
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The Sustainable School
Written by Erica Fyvie
Illustrated by Scot Ritchie
Kids Can Press, 2025
IL: Ages 8-12 RL: Grades 3-4
When construction at Birch Elementary uncovers a time capsule buried by the school's sixth-grade class in 1900—the year the school was built!—Mr. Marons's current sixth-grade class is fascinated to discover letters from the students among the artifacts inside. Each of the letters describes the marvels of innovation in the new building in one of four categories—electricity, plumbing, building or transportation. These letters inspire an intriguing science assignment for the students: Come up with a prediction, related to one of the categories, for how the school will become more energy efficient by 2100!
Creator's Corner: Khodi Dill
Khodi Dill is a writer, anti-racism educator, public speaker, and spoken word artist in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. His debut picture book, Welcome to the Cypher, was a finalist for the David Booth Children's and Youth Poetry Award. His activist board book, Little Black Lives Matter, shares inspiring, life-affirming rhyming couplets and triplets about Black heroes for the littlest readers.
Written for a young adult audience, Khodi Dill's powerful non-fiction work stay up: racism, resistance, and reclaiming Black freedom was recently included on list of 596 books banned by the U.S. Department of Defense for use in its schools.
We caught up with Khodi Dill to ask him about challenging book censorship and making your voice heard.
stay up is a mix of memoir, criticism, and theory. How do you describe the book in your own words?
stay up, to me, is all these things plus maybe a manifesto. It’s a declaration of my deepest thoughts, values, and observations about race relations in our time and in our place.
There are moments of tenderness, moments of anger, and moments of hope and resolve for what we can accomplish together as awakened people who stand for justice, if we are willing to put in the work. That means learning, unlearning, resisting, and undoing. stay up is a guidebook for how to accomplish these aims.
How did you learn stay up was being banned by Department of Defense Schools and what was your reaction?
My editor, Khary Mathurin, at Annick Press sent me an email shortly after the banned list became public. He also offered support on behalf of Annick, and we will be making a plan around how to respond to the ban as time allows. There are other Annick titles as well as other Canadian titles on the list, most of them by authors from marginalized backgrounds.
When I first read the news about the ban, the thing that shocked me was who was doing the banning. I had a feeling the book would be banned in some capacities and in some places, but a federally sanctioned ban on the title in all US military schools was not on my 2025 bingo card.
Among the banned titles are books about race, racism, gender, stereotypes and social justice. Why do you think it’s important for young people read about these topics?
Whether young people are experiencing marginalization or not, learning about how systemic oppression works is key for both personal well-being and a healthy society. Understanding how certain groups either benefit from or experience disadvantage as a result of oppression allows young people to either understand the social obstacles they may be facing, which are often invisible, or to see the impact of their own privilege and take responsibility for confronting and ending unjust systems.
For young people who do face racism and other forms of oppression, understanding how these complex systems work helps prevent serious mental health problems whose roots may lie in their experiences with oppression. The importance of learning about these topics is paramount.
Book bans are discouraging but they are not the end of the story. What would you like to tell the students, teachers, and librarians at schools where stay up has been removed?
Go read it at the public library! There is a reason the folks in power don’t want you reading and teaching critical titles; because they will awaken you to the injustices that they themselves are perpetrating. They know that knowledge is power, and that words have the potential to change lives and society itself. If you want to be a part of that change, go seek out these titles wherever they are available. Don’t let them narrow your mind or your focus, or stifle your response to social injustice.
For school staff especially, consider booking a social justice author into your school to speak to students or to staff about how to respond to systems of oppression, of which book bans are a part.
Book bans are on the rise in Canada. How would you encourage Canadians to defend the freedom to read?
Share your favourite banned titles widely. Celebrate the authors whose work you know is impacted. Tell your friends and family about the books you know and love, and share them on social media. Better yet, use the tools and knowledge you’ve learned from reading critical titles to educate others directly. Let’s hear your take on things in your reels and your posts online, at your dinner table conversations and grocery store encounters, and in your collegial discussions. Let’s help wake each other up in spite of those who would try to keep us asleep.
Now's the time to speak louder. What can you tell us about your next book?
My next work is tentatively titled The Flying Africans, and Other Mystical Tales of Black Resistance and will be published by Kids Can Press in 2028. I’m so excited about this project, which will be illustrated and which collects three stories of Black resistance with ties to the supernatural! I’m also polishing up a coming-of-age novel draft that I’m really looking forward to submitting for review this fall.
Stay tuned to Khodi Dill on Instagram, follow @KhodiDill.
Illustrator's Studio: Karlene Harvey
Karlene Harvey is an illustrator and writer, who lives on the unceded and ancestral home territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tseil-Waututh people. Karlene is Tsilhqot’in and Syilx and grew up on territories of the Semiahmoo and Kwantlen Nations. They have illustrated several children’s book, including Drum From The Heart, Every Child Matters, Maggie Lou, Firefox and Kaiah’s Garden.
Karlene studied at Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, earning a BFA in Visual Arts. She earned a Master of Arts in English Literature from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in 2022. Professionally, Karlene has developed a career that centres on community building and developing leadership capacity amongst women and youth. They work at UBC as an Academic Advisor in the Faculty of Arts. Karlene is happy to share they are currently working on several children’s books that will have release dates in 2025 and 2026.
We caught up with Karlene Harvey to ask about capturing joy, love, and family relationships in their illustrations.
It’s not easy to show the way a child feels about their sibling or grandparent in an illustration—but you do it so well in picture books like Kaiah’s Garden and The Hawk Shadow. How do you bring family relationships to life on the page?
Growing up, I learned a lot about my family through their various expressions, gestures, and family connection. For instance, my late grandfather was a quieter man but I developed a closeness to him by watching his mannerisms — likewise, I always appreciated the ways in which he coaxed my shyness away. As I got older, this skill translated into my ability to watch others carefully to pick up on cues from Elders or noting when a cousin or friend feels a bit withdrawn or when they were secretly amused or curious.
Intuitively, I think these observations helped me emotionally catalogue unique expressions and what they meant for different people. Whether that’s through laughter or mischievous expressions or the look of a parent or grandparent watching over their young ones with great compassion. This has really helped me consider what kind of feelings are shared in certain illustrative scenes between family members.
I also think expressions are so important for children to learn about and reflect on. I have a four-year old and I often ask her what she thinks a character is feeling in certain scenes in children’s books. As an artist, I hope this adds a visual layer for learning and conversations between caregivers and young children as they read the books I illustrate.
Full of smiles, hugs, shouting and laughter, the characters and families in your illustrations radiate joy. Why is joy so important to your work?
I was raised in a boisterous house full of laughter, yelling, and teasing. When I was a teenager, my adolescent cousins would come down to our house every summer and it was like one big summer camp with so much energy and chaos and juice stained smiles. To me, growing up with laughter is inherent to connection. I just came home from a trip up to my home territory where I spent it laughing over stories with my aunties and cousins, it made me feel happy in the moment but it also restored something deep within me.
So many Indigenous people use laughter to feel a form of togetherness and we use it to help us through hard times. It’s a form of healing that transcends generations. I feel strongly about this aspect of Indigenous identity being represented in children’s books because Indigenous kids need to know their laughter has the power to spread like wildflowers, their ideas deserve to be heard and sometimes yelled, and most importantly, they should be empowered to feel and express themselves as big as they need to.
Your illustrations often feature bright, rainbow colours in ribbons, beadwork, flowers, land and sky. How do you select the colours for an illustration?
I often start with a palette of five dominant colours which slowly expands past my initial colour choices. Usually, I start with the characters' clothing or the interiors of a residence, like the colour of the walls of a home. Then I work from there.
When I went to art school, I focused on painting for a few years and I loved to nerd out on colour theory and textures/patterns. I often consider how complimentary colours can activate a particular vibrancy when placed next to one another. I am pretty intentional with how I use colours to make particular features or characters stand out.
I’m also really inspired by Indigenous artists who create beadwork designs and ribbon skirts. These makers often come up with very creative colour combinations and patterns and sometimes there are some unconventional colour pairings that I make note of for my illustration work!
In the Maggie Lou series, Maggie Lou is a larger-than-life character ready to shake up the world. What is it like to illustrate such a rambunctious character?
I absolutely love Maggie Lou, I really feel her energy as a character. I was excited to be invited back to illustrate the sequel of this book because Maggie Lou is a bit older and a little more mischievous and headstrong. In the first book, I depicted her as a bit of a rascal with her hand on her hip and a scraped knee. In the second novel, she’s older and I wanted her to have a cheeky defiance in her expression—a bit of a “Yeah? You and what army?” type of look.
Maggie Lou was the kind of friend I was always drawn to as a kid. I wouldn’t necessarily start the mischief but I was definitely along for the ride. Maggie Lou’s expressions are a culmination of friends that I’ve known throughout my childhood. And I have to admit that perhaps some of that sparkle in her eye is inspired by my own rambunctious child, too.
You Were Made for This World is a groundbreaking collection of letters and art that brings together Indigenous voices from across Turtle Island. How does it feel to be included in this collection featuring so many celebrated writers and artists?
I am honoured to be invited to this project. It wasn’t until very recently that I learned who the other participating artists and writers were. I remember when I received the shipment of books earlier this summer. I sat down on the floor and started flipping through the pages to look at every illustration and to read all of the heartfelt letters written to youth. I remember looking up at my partner, my eyes welled with tears, and I said, “I can’t believe they thought I was good enough to be a part of this project!”
I'm filled with gratitude and humility to be invited to create an illustration for this publication, it’s an honour to stand beside the fellow contributors of this collection of words and artwork.
You Were Made for this World is a celebration of strength and love and I can’t wait to see how it reaches the hearts of many.
To keep up with Karlene Harvey, follow @holysmoookes.
Experts' Picks
Expert booksellers and librarians share their top picks for young readers. Check out what our experts are reading this September!
One Can
written by Lana Button and Eric Walters
illustrated by Isabelle Malenfant
Groundwood Books, 2025
IL: Ages 3-6 RL: Grades 1-2
The History of Everything
IL: Ages 13 and up RL: Grades 8-9
In her first book, Victoria Evans has created an exquisitely-illustrated graphic novel that tackles typical trials of teen life with sensitivity. She explores the challenges of friendship, navigating a first crush/boyfriend and a fraught mother-daughter relationship with keen insight. Tender and sweet, this book's greatest strength is the magnificent artwork. A darker, more subdued palette with splashes of red and purple and thick, loose outlines perfectly evoke the book's somewhat nostalgic vibe and capture the full range of emotions.
Recommended by Lisa Doucet, Manager, Woozles Children's Bookstore