The kids have voted: Kit Pearson’s Depression-era YA novel The Whole Truth (HarperCollins Canada) and Susan Vande Griek’s picture book Loon (Karen Reczuch, illus., Groundwood Books) have won the 2012 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Awards.

First presented in 1976 to Mordecai Richler for Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang, the annual award is now given to two children’s books. The winner of this year’s young adult/middle reader category was selected by a group of Grade 7 and 8 students from Toronto’s Parkdale Junior and Senior Public School, while the winner of the picture book award was chosen by students from the school’s Grade 3 and 4 classes. Each prize is worth $6,000.

In April, Pearson received the Canadian Library Association Children’s Book Award for The Whole Truth, and previously won the Schwartz Award for her 1997 novel Awake and Dreaming. This is the first win for Halifax author Vande Griek and Acton, Ontario, illustrator Reczuch.