The 2014 Governor General’s Literary Awards have been announced by the Canada Council for the Arts.  They honor the best in English and French language literature in seven categories.  Here are the children’s winners, both of which are for teen audiences.

CHILDREN’S LITERATURE – TEXT

When Everything Feels Like the Movies by Raziel Reid

 

CHILDREN’S LITERATURE – ILLUSTRATION

This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki

Publisher’s Weekly has the news that Piers Torday has won the 2014 Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize for the second book in The Last Wild trilogy: The Dark Wild. 

The Guardian Prize is a UK children’s book prize.  The Dark Wild will be published in the US in January 2015.

Goodreads has announced the semifinalists in their Best Books of 2014.  There are categories for genres, young adult fiction, young adult fantasy, middle grade & children’s, and picture books.  Each category has 20 semifinalists. 

If you are a Goodreads user, make sure to cast your vote for your favorite.

The Canadian Children’s Book Centre announced the winners of the 2014 Canadian Children’s Literature Awards.  Here are the winners of the six English-language awards:

The TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award

The Man with the Violin by Kathy Stinson, illustrated by Dušan Petričic (my review)

 

The Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award

How To by Julie Morstad (my review)

 

The Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s Non-fiction

The Last Train: A Holocaust Story by Rona Arato

 

The Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People

Graffiti Knight by Karen Bass

 

The John Spray Mystery Award

Who I’m Not by Ted Staunton

 

The Monica Hughes Award for Science Fiction & Fantasy

Sorrow’s Knot by Erin Bow (my review)

 

CBC Fan Choice Award

In the Tree House by Andrew Larsen, illustrated by Dušan Petričic

The shortlist for the Red House Children’s Book Award have been announced.  The Red House Children’s Book Award is the only national UK book prize that is voted on entirely by children.  It is divided into three age-specific categories.  Here is the shortlist:

 

YOUNGER CHILDREN

 

The Day the Crayons Quit by Oliver Jeffers and Drew Daywalt

Dragon Loves Penguin by Debi Gliori (Published as Dragon’s Extraordinary Egg in the US)

 

Go to Sleep or I Let Loose the Leopard by Steve Cole and Bruce Ingman

That Is Not a Good Idea by Mo Willems

 

YOUNGER READERS

  

Baby Aliens Got My Teacher by Pamela Butchart

The Bomber Dog by Mega Rix

Demon Dentist by David Walliams

 

OLDER READERS

  

Noble Conflict by Malorie Blackman

Prince of the Icemark by Stuart Hill

Split Second by Sophie McKenzie

The nominations for the 2015 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals have been announced.  The Carnegie Medal is awarded for an outstanding book for children and young people.  The Kate Greenaway Medal is for an outstanding book in terms of illustration for children and young people.  These awards from the UK can be seen as very similar to the Newbery and Caldecott Awards in the US. 

There are 91 books nominated for the 2015 Carnegie Medal and 71 nominated for the Greenaway Medal. 

Celebrating the role of Australian authors, the shortlists for the 2014 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards have been announced.  Two of the shortlists are for teen and children’s fiction:

CHILDREN’S FICTION

 

Kissed by the Moon by Alison Lester

My Life as an Alphabet by Barry Jonsberg (published as The Categorical Universe of Candice Phee in the US)

 

Rules of Summer by Shaun Tan

Silver Button by Bob Graham

Song for a Scarlet Runner by Julie Hunt

 

YOUNG ADULT FICTION

  

The First Third by Will Kostakis

Girl Defective by Simmone Howell

The Incredible Here and Now by Felicity Castagna

 

Life in Outer Space by Melissa Keil

Pureheart by Cassandra Golds

On my way to work today, I got the thrill of hearing the National Book Award finalists being announced on NPR.  I rather enjoy being able to shout with joy on my way to work, and some of the finalists for Young People’s Literature definitely had me cheering:

 

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

Noggin by John Corey Whaley

 

The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny and the Fight for Civil Rights by Steve Sheinkin

 

Revolution by Deborah Wiles

Threatened by Eliot Schrefer

The shortlist for the 2014 Guardian Children’s Fiction Award has been announced.  Here is my favorite quote about the books from the article in The Guardian:

Carnegie and Guardian children’s ficiton prize winner Frank Cottrell Boyce sums it up: “We have space and squirrels, secrets and fantasies – a list of amazing diversity and exuberant invention”.

And here is the shortlist:

 

The Dark Wild by Pier Torday

Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo

 

Phoenix by SF Said

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart