The Fan Brothers win $50K TD Canadian Children's Literature Award for picture book The Barnabus Project
Vicky Qiao | | Posted: November 2, 2021 3:18 PM | Last Updated: November 2, 2021
A total of $107,500 in prize money was awarded in six categories at the Canadian Children's Literature Awards
The Fan Brothers have won the TD Canadian Children's Literature for The Barnabus Project. The $50,000 prize recognizes the most distinguished Canadian children's book of the year, and is the biggest prize for children's books in the country.
The Barnabus Project is a story about following your dreams and finding where you truly belong. Barnabus and his friends live deep underground, in a secret lab for "Failed Projects," because of their imperfections. He dreams of one day seeing the world above ground. Barnabus sets out to find freedom — and a place where he and his friends can finally be accepted for who they are.
The book also won the 2020 Governor General's Literary Prize for young people's literature — illustrated books.
"With illustrations that are detailed, precise and perfect, this exquisite collaboration uses simple, spare and understated text to tell a poignant and powerful story about self-acceptance and accepting one's flaws and differences," the jury said in a statement.
"This is an instant classic that is sure to delight readers of all ages for many years to come."
Eric Fan and Terry Fan are frequent collaborators on children's books, including The Night Gardener and Ocean Meets Sky. They also illustrated The Darkest Dark by Chris Hadfield.
Devin Fan is an artist, poet and youth worker. The Barnabus Project is his first children's book and marks the first time the three brothers have written and illustrated a picture book together.
The Canadian Children's Book Centre Book Awards honour outstanding literary work for young readers. They represent the biggest prizes in Canadian children's literature. A total of $107,500 in prize money was awarded in six categories, celebrating books for readers up to age 12.
Our Little Kitchen by Jillian Tamaki won the $20,000 Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award.
In Our Little Kitchen, a crew of resourceful neighbours come together to prepare a meal for their community. The picture book documents an evening of full bellies in a community kitchen — a celebration of people looking out for one another.
"The uplifting energy of this perfectly balanced narrative celebrates something nearly ineffable: the brightly glowing satisfaction of working together to give to others," said the jury in a statement.
Tamaki is a two-time Governor General Literary Award-winning illustrator for her picture book They Say Blue and her work in This One Summer, written by her cousin and graphic novelist Mariko Tamaki. They also collaborated on Skim. Her other books include the comics SuperMutant Magic Academy and Boundless.
She created a comic strip called This Face for the special CBC Books series Borders.
LISTEN | Jillian Tamaki discusses Our Little Kitchen:
Karen Pheasant-Neganigwane won the $10,000 Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children's Non‐Fiction for Powwow: A Celebration Through Song and Dance.
Powwow is a celebration of Indigenous song and dance. The book chronicles the history of powwow culture in North America. As a lifelong competitive powwow dancer, Pheasant-Neganigwane introduces readers to the protocols, regalia, songs, dances and food at powwows, as well as the important role they play in Indigenous culture and reconciliation.
"This timely and relevant book shares an important cultural celebration without overlooking the sad historical truths tied into the subject," the jury said in a statement.
Pheasant-Neganigwane is an Anishinaabe scholar, artist and writer from Wiikwemkoong on Manitoulin Island, Ont. She is currently working on her doctorate on Indigenous pedagogy.
The Paper Girl of Paris by Jordyn Taylor won the $5,000 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People.
A blend of historical fiction and modern narrative, The Paper Girl of Paris tells the story of two 16-year-old girls from different times. Alice from the present day is spending her summer in an abandoned apartment left by her grandmother, while discovering family secrets. Back in time, Adalyn lives in a Paris occupied by Nazis and finally gets a chance to fight back.
"Taylor's smooth shifts from the present to the past and back again make for an evocative narrative that drives home the point that we all should remember where we come from," said the jury in a statement.
Taylor is an author and deputy editor at Men's Health magazine. She also wrote the YA novel Don't Breathe a Word.
Facing the Sun by Janice Lynn Mather won the $5,000 Amy Mathers Teen Book Award.
Set in a small Bahamian town, Facing the Sun is a story about four friends — Eve, Faith, KeeKee and Nia — who experience unexpected changes in their lives during the summer when a hotel developer purchases their community's beloved beach.
"Janice Lynn Mather does a fantastic job weaving four perspectives that offer a look into the lives of Black girls …[examining] the ways in which Black girls are often expected to bear the weight of responsibility in their homes while also interrogating Blackness set outside of Canada," said the jury in a statement.
Mather was born and raised in Nassau, Bahamas, and is now based in Vancouver. She holds a BFA and MFA from the University of British Columbia. She published her debut novel Learning to Breathe in 2018.
LISTEN | Janice Lynn Mather discusses Facing the Sun:
No Vacancy by Tziporah Cohen won the inaugural $5,000 Jean Little First-Novel Award.
No Vacancy is about an 11-year-old Jewish girl named Miriam, who creates a provocative local tourist attraction to save her family's failing motel. When it becomes clear that only a miracle is going to save the Jewel from bankruptcy, Miriam and her Catholic friend Kate decide to create their own.
"Cohen offers a gentle exploration of belief, faith and various modes of religiosity, along with an entertaining portrait of motel ownership in a tiny, rural town," the jury said in a statement.
Cohen was born and raised in New York and is now based in Canada.
"Amidst these uncertain and difficult times, these titles all remind us of two things that can heal and help us move forward: stories and one another," said Rose Vespa, the executive director of the Canadian Children's Book Centre, in a statement.
Founded in 1976, the Canadian Children's Book Centre is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and supporting Canadian books for young readers.
Last year's winners include Julie Flett, who took home the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award for her picture book Birdsong.