Cat Champions a Silver Birch Non-Fiction Award Honour Book

May 15th, 2015

On Wednesday, May 13th, the WestJet stage at the Toronto Harbourfront was a chilly place to be, but things heated up as the authors and illustrators nominated for the 2015 Forest of Reading Silver Birch Non-Fiction Award filed onstage, to the cheers of the excited children in the audience.

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The crowd warms up with hosts from TVO Kids

One of the nominees was Rob Laidlaw, author of Cat Champions: Caring for our Feline Friends. Pajama Press is pleased to announce that Cat Champions was selected as an honour book, one of three runners-up in the contest decided by the votes of children from schools and libraries across Ontario.

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Rob Laidlaw regales the crowd with stories of his own cats

Pajama Press also extends congratulations to Anneliese Carr and Deborah Ellis, authors of the winning book Anneliese Carr: How I Conquered Lake Ontario to Help Kids Battling Cancer (Lorimer), as well as Helaine Becker and Alex Ries, author and illustrator of the honour book Zoobots: Wild Robots Inspired by Real Animals (Kids Can Press).

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Rob Laidlaw and Anneliese Carr applaud Helaine Becker

Cat Champions: Caring for our Feline Friends has also been nominated for the 2015 Hackmatack Children’s Choice Award and the 2015 Red Cedar Information Book Award. It is a a Bank Street Best Book, a Best Books for Kids & Teens Starred Selection, and a Resource Links “The Year’s Best” selection. Its companion book, No Shelter Here: Making the World a Better Place for Dogs, won the Silver Birch Non-Fiction Book Award and the Hackmatack Children’s Choice Award, among other nominations and honours.

Cat Champions: Caring for our Feline Friends by Rob Laidlaw

Posted in Cat Champions