Canadians Jon Klassen, Eric Fan and Terry Fan shortlisted for CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal
Jane van Koeverden | | Posted: March 19, 2019 7:03 PM | Last Updated: March 19, 2019
Canadian illustrators Jon Klassen, Eric Fan and Terry Fan have been shortlisted for the U.K.'s CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal, an annual award recognizing excellence in children's book illustration.
Klassen is among the eight finalists for The Wolf, the Duck and The Mouse, written by his frequent collaborator, American author Mac Barnett. The book is about a mouse who has been swallowed by a wolf and discovers that a duck has made a nice home in the wolf's stomach. Klassen previously won this prize in 2014 for This Is Not My Hat.
The Fan brothers are recognized for their picture book Ocean Meets Sky, the story of a young boy who sets sail in search of the place where the ocean meets the sky, just as his grandfather described. The book was also written by the brothers and was a finalist for a Governor General's Literary Award in 2018.
The other finalists, who come from Britain, Bulgaria and the U.S., include:
- The Day War Came illustrated by Rebecca Cobb and written by Nicola Davies
- Beyond the Fence illustrated and written by Maria Gulemetova
- Julian is a Mermaid illustrated and written by Jessica Love
- You're Safe With Me illustrated by Poonam Mistry and written by Chitra Soundar
- The Lost Words illustrated by Jackie Morris and written by Robert Macfarlane
- Suffragette: The Battle for Equality illustrated and written by David Roberts
The CILIP organization also presents the Carnegie Medal, which honours outstanding children's writing in English. The eight-title shortlist did not feature any Canadians this year.
The CILIP Carnegie Medal finalists are:
- The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
- Rebound by Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile
- The House with Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson, illustrated by Elisa Paganelli
- Bone Talk by Candy Gourlay
- A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge
- Things A Bright Girl Can Do by Sally Nicholls
- Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds, illustrated by Chris Priestley
- The Land of Neverendings by Kate Saunders
The winners of the CILIP Kate Greenaway and Carnegie Medals are chosen by a panel of 12 children's librarians. Both winners will receive a £5,000 ($8,758 Cdn) Colin Mears Award cash prize, a gold medal and £500 ($875 Cdn) worth of books to donate to their local library. They will be announced on June 18, 2019.