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CLA awards recognize Kit Pearson, Catherine Austen, and Matthew Forsythe

The Canadian Library Association named the winners of its annual book awards Monday morning.

Kit Pearson’s The Whole Truth (HarperCollins Canada), which touches on the Depression era, family drama, and forgiveness, has been selected as the 2012 CLA Book of the Year for Children. In a press release, jury chair Myra Junyk says, “Kit Pearson’s superbly crafted story introduces readers to a moral dilemma that has no easy answer.” Janet McNaughton’s Dragon Seer’s Gift (HarperCollins) and Rachna Gilmore’s That Boy Red (HarperCollins) received honourable mentions.

All Good Children by Catherine Austen (Orca Book Publishers) is the recipient of the Young Adult Book Award, which recognizes the author of “an outstanding Canadian English-language work of fiction” for young people aged 13 to 18. Karma by Cathy Ostlere (Penguin Canada) and This Dark Endeavour: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein by Kenneth Oppel (HarperCollins) were named honour books.

Matthew Forsythe is the winner of the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator’s Award for his artwork in My Name Is Elizabeth!, written by Annika Dunklee (Kids Can Press). The jury praised Forsythe’s illustrations for “engag[ing] the reader from the first page, keeping the focus on the determined heroine and adding expressive detail to this appealing story. Simply perfect.”  Honourable mentions went to Ashley Spires for Small Saul (Kids Can Press) and Isabelle Arsenault for Migrant, written by Maxine Trottier (Groundwood Books).

The awards will be distributed on May 31, at the CLA National Conference and Tradeshow in Ottawa.

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