For Immediate Release
Winner and Honour Title for the 2008 Canadian Library
Association/Association canadienne des bibliothèques Book of the
Year for Children Award Announced
(Ottawa, April 21, 2008) - Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul
Curtis, published by Scholastic Canada Ltd. in 2007, has been chosen as
the winner of the 2008 Book of the Year for Children Award.
In selecting this title, the committee members stated Elijah of
Buxton is a “story of real strength.” The protagonist
Elijah, who is the first free-born black child in Buxton, Ontario in
1859, is “a wonderfully developed sensitive soul with an engaging
sense of life.” Christopher Paul Curtis writes of
Elijah’s upbringing so expressively that “his innocence and
sense of fairness and freedom justify his actions, setting up the
‘most beautifullest, most perfectest’ story Curtis could
have written”. Christopher Paul Curtis “eloquently portrays
the underpinnings of brotherhood through a landscape of heartache,
tragedy, but in the end, loving devotion and convictions.”
Recognition is also extended to this year’s honour title,
The Eye of the Crow by Shane Peacock (Tundra Books).
The award will be presented at this year’s Book Awards
reception, on May 22, 2008, in Vancouver, British Columbia, during the
CLA/ACB 2008 National Conference & Trade Show.
The Canadian Library Association/Association canadienne des
bibliothèques is Canada’s largest national and broad-based
library association, representing the interests of public, academic,
school and special libraries, professional librarians and library
workers, and all those concerned about enhancing the quality of life of
Canadians through information and literacy.
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Media Contact: Jasmine Loewen,
Canmore Public Library.
Email: jloewen@canmorelibrary.ab.ca
