|
||||||
|
 |
|||||
Press Release
For Immediate Release
Canadian Library Association Announces 2009 Young Adult Book Award Winner and Honour Books
(
Chanda’s Wars by Allan Stratton, published by HarperCollins, is the winner. The Honour Books are Would You by Marthe Jocelyn, published by Tundra Books, and The Apprentice’s Masterpiece by Melanie Little, published by Annick Press.
In Chanda’s Wars, Chanda struggles to raise younger siblings in the shadow of her mother’s death from AIDS. Looking to heal old wounds, Chanda reaches out to her estranged relatives, only to find their willingness to reconcile comes at a high cost. Set against the backdrop of this unfolding drama, a civil war is threatening to tear her family apart in ways Chanda could never have imagined. Allan Stratton has created an epic sequel to Chanda’s Secrets (2004).
In Marthe Jocelyn’s Would You, Natalie and her older sister Claire have one last summer together before Claire heads off to college. But one night changes everything, and Natalie is left with the realization that things will never be the same. Would You is a moving portrait of coping with grief.
Melanie Little’s The Apprentice’s Masterpiece takes place in Medieval Spain during the Spanish Inquisition. Ramon is a converted Jew, and Amir, a Muslim slave to Ramon's family. Both can feel the forces of oppression closing in and must take action. Written in verse, The Apprentice’s Masterpiece is a fascinating story of survival.
A complete list of the 2009 finalists, as well as information on past winners, is available on the CLA web site, http://www.cla.ca/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Young_Adult_Canadian_Book_Award
The Young Adult Book Award was established by the Young Adult Caucus of the Saskatchewan Library Association in 1980 and was subsequently transferred to the Young Adult Services Interest Group (YASIG) of the CLA/ACB. The award recognizes an author of an outstanding Canadian English-language work of fiction (novel or collection of short stories) that appeals to young adults between the ages of 13 and 18. Previous winners include Martha Brooks, William Bell, Shyam Selvadurai, Miriam Toews, and Polly Horvath.
The award will
be presented at this year’s Book Awards reception, on
The Canadian Library Association/Association canadienne
des bibliothèques is
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the 2009 CLA/ACB Young Adult Book Award Committee:
Thomas Long,
Vancouver Public Library, Chair
Elsa Ngan, Toronto Public Library
Lisa Doucet, Woozles Children’s Book Store, Halifax
Carol Rigby, Contract Cataloguer, Iqaluit, Nunavut
Barb Janicek, Cambridge Libraries
-- 30 --
Media
Contact: Thomas Long,
|
|