WINNER
THE CRAZY MAN by Pamela Porter
Groundwood Books 2005 0-88899-695-0 IL: 5-8
For 12 year old Emaline, losing her father, her dog and her health because of a terrible farm accident seems like an insurmountable tragedy. Things become even more complicated when her mother hires Angus, a patient from the local mental hospital to work their fields, despite the neighbors’ disapproval. However, healing comes about in some unexpected ways…
HONOUR BOOKS
POND SCUM by Alan Silberberg
Hyperion 2005 0-786-85634-3 IL: 5-7
Oliver is a lonely 10 year old boy who loves to watch TV and pull the wings off flies just to hear them snap. Then his family moves to a run down house near a pond. Amazing things start to happen when Oliver finds a magical gem, which allows him to change into what ever pond creature he is touching. Suddenly, he enters the pond world where he becomes friends with a salamander named Mooch and crow named Antoine. Oliver soon becomes involved, with his new friends, in a fight to save the pond, for creatures that he had never before given a second thought.
WALKING WITH THE DEAD by L.J. Falcone
Kids Can Press 2005 1-55337-709-5 IL: 5-7
12 year old Alex’s mother died three years ago and his still grieving father is opening a museum of oddities that features an ancient Greek corpse. When a surge of electricity wakes up the mummy, Alex and his best friend Freddie fall through a door into the night sky and find themselves on a mission to help a cadaver named Costas to cross the river Styx and clear his name from a false accusation for murder. To help Costa clear his name, they undertake the classic hero’s journey into the underworld where they encounter several characters from Greek mythology.
NOMINEES
THE CONVICTS by Iain Lawrence
Delacorte Books for Young Readers 2005 0-385-73087-X IL: 6+
After seeing his father hauled off to debtor’s prison, 14 year old Tom Tin sets out to take revenge on Mr. Goodfellow, but the fog-filled London streets are teeming with sinister characters. Accused of murder, Tom is given a 7 year sentence on an old ship where boys are temporarily held, as juvenile convicts. He decides to escape, but, if he is to succeed, his luck needs to turn. This is not a book for the faint of heart. Are you ready for the adventure?
EMILY’S PIANO by Charlotte Gingras
Annick Press 2005 1-55037-912-7 IL: 5-7
The family has broken up and the family piano has been sold, 10 year old Emily feels that if she can get the piano back, happiness will return to the family. She sets off on a journey to find the piano and bring the healing power of music back into her life.
FOUR STEPS TO DEATH by John Wilson
KCP Fiction/Kids Can Press 2005 1553377052 IL: 5+
It is 1942. The Battle of Stalingrad is raging, and three young people have been caught up in its horrors: Vasily, a Russian soldier, Conrad, a German tank officer, and Sergei, an 8 year old boy whose home has been reduced to rubble.
THE GEM LAKES by Rob Keough
Great Plains Publication 2005 1-894283-58-9 IL: 6+
14 year old Jake Lucknow is ill with cancer. Spending his last summer at the family cabin, Jake learns of an old family mystery. With his sister, Jake sets out on the adventure of his life. Jake and Claire face dangers and terrifying confrontations neither one had ever thought possible. Will Jake find the answers he wants?
GRAVESAVERS by Sheree Fitch
Doubleday Canada 2005 0-385-660731 IL: 5+
Filled with bones, secret rooms, and stories of loss, Gravesavers intertwines the stories of two young people. 12 year old Minn, short for Cinnamon, finds herself spending the summer with her Nana Vinegar in a small Maritime Village. She befriends a mysterious stranger while she joins her Grandmother’s fight to save a cemetery from dissolving into the ocean. 12 year old John Hindley, the only child survivor of a century old shipwreck, tells the second story.
HANNAH WATERS AND THE DAUGHTER OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH by Barbara Nickel
Penquin Canada 2005 0143050788 IL: 5+
This is an unforgettable tale of two lonely girls reaching out to each other across three centuries, connected by their love of music. After the death of her mother, 11 year old Hannah Waters struggles to find herself. She finds a kindred spirit in the daughter of Johann Sebastian Bach. Catharina Bach, unable to reveal her beautiful voice even to her famous father, draws courage from Hannah and they begin to make sense of who they are.
THE HORSE’S SHADOW by Lawrence Scanlan
Penguin Canada 2005 0-14-301715-2 IL: 5+
Clair Vigere, 13, knows horses so well; she is like their shadow. It is 1860 and the Vigres, a habitant family, is forced to sell their beloved horses. Claire, who has a special gift with horses, sets off to protect them and perhaps bring them back. To do this, she must disguise herself as a boy and play the role of a deaf mute. The journey takes her to the battlefields of the American Civil War.
ONE ON ONE by Don Aker
Harper Trophy Canada 2005 979-0-00-639531-7 IL: 6+
Cornwallis Middle School Cougars are champions and 11 year old Jared is elated when he makes the team. But Coach Jamieson insists all players must earn passing grades. When Jared fails math, his nerdy classmate Ellie tutors him. As well as math, Jared learns valuable lessons about friendship, truthfulness, and self-respect.
THE PATH THROUGH THE TREES by Peggy Dymond Leavey
Napoleon Publishing 2005 1-894917-21-9 IL: 5+
Norah’s mother has decided that they will spend Christmas with her great aunt Caroline. When urgent business threatens to delay their holiday, 13 year old Norah is sent on ahead to stay with a great aunt she has never met and who appears not to want her. Norah spends much of her time alone and begins to notice a young boy in her great aunt’s yard. When Norah questions her great aunt about the boy, her great aunt denies his existence. Norah begins to wonder who this boy might be and why is she the only one who can see him?
RINK OF DREAMS by Nancy Russell
Key Porter Kids 2005 1552637271 IL: 5+
It is a confusing time for 13 year old Gary MacDonald. His separated parents are dating other people and his excitement over getting a spot on the AAA bantam team is being overshadowed by the constant bullying of his older teammates. Things start to look up with the arrival of the Snow Dog’s farm team to his hometown of Charlottetown, P.E.I. His unexpected friendship with Dmitri, an up and coming superstar hockey player from Russia is threatened when Dmitri’s brother gets involved with the Russian mafia. It’s a year of change and Gary wonders if his hockey dreams will ever come true.
SKYBREAKER by Kenneth Oppel
HarperCollins 978-0-00-200699-6 IL: 5+
This is the second adventure for 16 year old Matt Cruse aboard a great airship. Matt is the only one to know the coordinates of the long sought after Hyperion, an airship lost for over 30 years. He sets off with his friend, possibly girlfriend Kate deVries on a ship captained by a new adversary and joined by a gypsy girl. Each of them is seeking the Hyperion for their own reasons. But so are others!
SOWER OF TALES by Rachna Gilmore
Fitzhenry & Whiteside 2005 1-55041-945-5 IL: 5-8
When the story pods stop growing in the Plains, 13 year old Calantha, undertakes a dangerous journey to seek the help of the legendary Sower of Tales; but she is plunged into a desperate struggle against a sorcerer who plans to use the story pods to destroy the world.
SUN SIGNS by Shelley Hrdlitschka
Orca Book Publishers 2005 1-55143-338-9 IL: 7-8
While battling cancer 15 year old Kaleigh is taking courses online and pursing her special interest in the astrological signs of the zodiac. Kaleigh designs a research project to determine if predictions based on astrology are accurate and enlists the support of her online classmates, people she has never met. Written entirely as an e-mail and online journal, we journey with Kaleigh as she attempts to conduct her study of astrology, while facing the challenges and uncertainty of cancer, as well as dealing with the question “Are her online classmates indeed who they seem?”
TURNED AWAY by Carol Matas
Scholastic Canada Ltd. 2005 0-39-96946-8 IL: 5+
It’s 1941. The troubles of the Jewish Community in Paris and the bombing of Pearl Harbour are both thousands of miles away from Winnipeg. Yet, the war in both places has a profound impact on the lives of Deborah Bernstein, a grade 6 student, and her family and friends. Through her diaries and letters she shares their labours to support the war efforts and learn how, even as students they can make a difference.
WILD ORCHID by Beverley Brenna
Red Deer Press 2005 0-88995-330-9 IL: 7+
Step inside the unique world of 18 year old Taylor Jane Simon, a young woman with autism. Taylor struggles with moving to a new place with her mom, meeting new people, and developing some independence in the face of her challenges. Taylor discovers a new understanding of friendship in this beautiful story about growing up.