Victoria Book Prizes Society announces their 2024 shortlists

The Victoria Book Prizes Society has announced the shortlists of the 2024 Butler Book Prize and the City of Victoria Children’s Book Prize. The annual prizes honour and celebrate Victoria's authors and illustrators. The winners will be announced on October 16 at the Union Club of British Columbia. To purchase tickets to the gala, click here. The finalists for the City of Victoria Children’s Book Prize are listed below, along with the jury citations.

Breaking News: Why Media Matters, written by Raina Delisle, illustrated by Julie McLaughlin (Orca Book Publishers)

"Engaging and accessible from the first page to the last, Breaking News: Why Media Matters offers a comprehensive look at how journalism shapes our world. This profound little book with big personality is essential reading for a future of responsible media consumers and creators." 

Maybe a Whale, illustrated by Crystal Smith, written by Kirsten Pendreigh (Groundwood Books)

"Crystal Smith manages to reveal the unseeable and ephemeral forms that grief can take. Light and colour emphasize the dark and make it bearable. The daughter of a lighthouse keeper, Smith’s illustrations capture the living coast, while they mourn those we have lost."

Out of the Dark, written by Julie Lawson (Nimbus Publishing)

"An extraordinarily close and unmitigated immersion in the life of a young girl forging through three major events—the Halifax explosion, World War I, and the Spanish flu—each of which irreparably changes Jane’s family, her neighbourhood, and Jane herself. Impeccably researched. Humanizing. Ambitious."

Pine Island Visitors, written by Polly Horvath (Puffin Canada)

"Read one page of Pine Island Visitors, and be held captive to the vibrant, foibled world of the McReady siblings and their crusty guardian, Al, as they learn how to love—and how to fight for what they love. Polly Horvath is a master of the children’s novel. Every page of this generous book is surprising, revealing, exuberant and funny."

Shamus the Urban Rez Dog, P.I., written by Leslie Gentile (DCB Young Readers)

"It isn’t easy to write a consummately light novel, but Leslie Gentile has achieved this with Shamus the Urban Rez Dog, P.I. The dog’s loopy, highly distractible (food!) narration is fun and genuinely funny. The Hardy Boys-type mystery is the breezy ride that kids will love to flop down with."

For more information, victoriabookprizes.ca.