Pajama Press

This Canada Day, celebrate your patriotism the literary way.

CBC Books has rounded up 100 Young Adult Books That Make You Proud To Be Canadian. How many have you read? Take the quiz on the CBC Books website.

Among the chosen 100 are Nix Minus One by Jill MacLean and Graffiti Knight by Karen Bass. We are indeed proud to have these books recognized as the great Canadian treasures we believe them to be.

Will this list inspire you to read more Canada? Are there any standouts you feel are missing? Join the conversation on social media with the hashtag #CBCbooks100.

Nix Minus One, a powerful novel by Jill MacLean about a teen boy in rural Newfoundland, has been selected for the 2014 “White Ravens” list by the International Youth Library in Munich, Germany. This important honour is given to books from around the globe “that deserve worldwide attention because of their universal themes and/or their exceptional and innovative artistic and literary style and design” (www.childrenslibrary.org/servlet/WhiteRavens).

This international acknowledgment for Nix Minus One comes on the heels of wide critical acclaim in the United States and Canada, where it won the Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children’s Literature earlier this year. Other accolades include:

• CLA Young Adult Book Award finalist
• OLA Forest of Reading White Pine Award nominee
• SYRCA Snow Willow Award nominee
• Bank Street Best Book
• Publishers Weekly “Best New Books” selection
• Resource Links “The Year’s Best” selection
• Ontario Library Association Best Bet
• Best Books for Kids & Teens Starred Selection

Pajama Press is honoured by this attention paid to such a worthy and significant novel. Click here for more information about Nix Minus One, and for teaching materials, reviews, book trailers, and interviews with author Jill MacLean..

Pajama Press is proud to congratulate Jill MacLean, whose young adult novel Nix Minus One has won the Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children’s Literature. The award was presented yesterday at the Atlantic Book Awards gala in Charlottetown, PEI, following a week-long festival with events across the Atlantic provinces.

A powerful story about a teenaged boy growing up in small-town Newfoundland, Nix Minus One has also been nominated for the CLA Young Adult Book of the Year, the White Pine Award, and the Snow Willow Award, among other honours.

A second Pajama Press title, The Stowaways by Meghan Marentette, was also shortlisted for this award. Both authors are residents of Nova Scotia.

The Ann Conner Brimer Award is given annually “to the author of a children’s book which has made an outstanding contribution to children’s

literature in Atlantic Canada” (www.atlanticbookawards.ca). This is the third time a book by Jill MacLean has been selected.

Pajama Press is honoured to have Nix Minus One chosen for this prestigious award.

Authors Meghan Marentette, Janet Cameron, Jan Coates, and Jill MacLean at the gala

The Stowaways by Meghan Marentette and Nix Minus One by Jill MacLean have both been selected for a 3-title shortlist for the Ann Connor Brimer Award.

The Ann Connor Brimer Award is part of the Atlantic Book Awards Festival, which will be celebrated at events across the four Atlantic provinces the week of May 14. Winners will be announced at a Charlottetown gala on May 21. Both authors will participate in a series of events leading up to the gala.

Congratulations Meghan and Jill!

Pajama Press is proud to announce that three of our titles have been shortlisted for the 2014 Canadian Library Association Awards.

The Stowaways by Meghan Marentette, with illustrations by Dean Griffiths, has been shortlisted for the Book of the Year for Children Award. Graffiti Knight by Karen Bass and Nix Minus One by Jill MacLean have both been shortlisted for the Young Adult Book Award.

We congratulate our three nominated authors and look forward to hearing the award results the week of April 14th.

Resource Links magazine published its list of “The Year’s Best” books  for 2013 this week. Five Pajama Press books made the list:

Graffiti Knight by Karen Bass

Nix Minus One by Jill MacLean

The Stowaways by Meghan Marentette

Cat Champions by Rob Laidlaw

Hoogie in the Middle by Stephanie McLellan and Dean Griffiths

Congratulations to our authors and illustrator whose books were recognized.

Check out the full list here.

Pajama Press is pleased to announce that Nix Minus One by Jill MacLean and Graffiti Knight by Karen Bass have both been selected for the Ontario Library Association Best Bets Young Adult Top Ten list. The Stowaways by Meghan Marentette, with illustrations by Dean Griffiths, is a Junior Fiction honourable mention.

We are extremely proud of all three of these titles. For more information, resources, and book trailers, please visit our Books page. Here’s a taste of what reviewers have been saying:

Nix Minus One
“Well-crafted and intense, an engrossing family drama in which both young and old learn what it means to grow up.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Writing with careful, evocative language, MacLean explores love in myriad forms…”
—Publishers Weekly

“Readers used to a diet of cliché-ridden YA fiction will enjoy this refreshing take on the teenage plight…[T]he hard-won hopefulness of Nix’s growth will linger with them long after the poetry ends.”—School Library Journal

“The novel’s strength comes from the authenticity of Nix’s emotional evolution…This is an absorbing, emotionally resonant book.”—Quill & Quire

Graffiti Knight
“[A] gripping page-turner…The authentic setting, compelling characters and taut, suspenseful plot claim attention throughout. Bass refuses to oversimplify human beings…A different kind of war story, highly recommended.”—Kirkus Reviews

“…it has more drama than the Hunger Games.”—Resource Links

“…incredibly gripping and informative. As young adult war-related historical fiction goes, this book is second to none…Highly Recommended.”—CM Magazine
 
“Bass has artfully recreated an historical time and place peopled by realistic, three-dimensional characters grappling with their own emotions and global forces they can only barely understand.”—John Wilson, Quill & Quire
 
The Stowaways
“In the tradition of memorable mouse heroes, the Stowaways deliver page-turning, cliffhanging, heartwarming, first-rate adventure.”—Kirkus Reviews

“…charmingly illustrated by Dean Griffiths… exciting, interesting, and really good fun. I hesitate to compare it to The Wind in the Willows, but it is in the same league; so read and enjoy…Highly Recommended.”—CM Magazine

“Not since Stuart Little has the heart of a valiant mouse beat quite so fiercely as that of Rory Stowaway in Meghan Marentette’s first novel, The Stowaways. It meets and exceeds all the expectations of a good mouse story, with a well-constructed and self-sufficient mouse world, a teeny-tiny hero set against impossible odds, and an adventure brimming with mystery that scampers from chapter to chapter.”—National Reading Campaign

“Marentette has created a lovely world that combines animals and fantasy with humans and reality in an original and lively story. Her writing style is elegant yet conversational.”—Resource Links

Amy Mathers is reading her way across Canada to raise money to fund a YA book award—something our country currently lacks. Inspired by the journeys of Terry Fox and Rick Hansen, Amy has begun her “journey” with books set in Newfoundland and will work her way across the country reading a book a day.

Today’s Amy’s tour of Newfoundland brought her to the fictional small town of Bullbirds Cove with Nix Minus One by Jill MacLean:

“There are so many things I love about this book. The characters of Blue, Twig, and Nix. Reading the descriptions about Nix’s intricate woodworking. The complex relationship between Nix and his sister Roxy. Nix Minus One is an authentic portrayal of hardship and grief while still maintaining a sense of hope that will leave the reader feeling uplifted.”

Click here to see Amy’s full review and discover her favourite excerpts from Nix Minus One.

Pajama Press is thrilled to announce that every book in our Spring 2013 list has been recognized in the Canadian Children’s Book Centre‘s Fall 2013 edition of Best Books for Kids & Teens. Those books are:

Nix Minus One by Jill MacLean—Starred Selection

Namesake by Sue MacLeod

Hoogie in the Middle by Stephanie McLeallan, illustrated by Dean Griffiths

Community Soup by Alma Fullerton—Starred Selection

Congratulations to Jill, Sue, Stephanie, Dean, and Alma!

The Canadian Children’s Book Centre has compiled a list of great children’s books for the 2013 holiday season. They include two books published by Pajama Press.

Community Soup by Alma Fullerton

Kioni loves her goats but they can be big trouble! On soup day, when all the other children are gathering vegetables from the community garden, Kioni is gathering goats! Luckily the kids have a great idea, and soon Kioni’s four-legged are helping to make the soup a delicious success…

Kenya / Community Gardens / Community Kitchen

Nix Minus One by Jill MacLean

Quiet, out of shape, and bold only around the neighbourhood’s neglected dog, Nix is the polar opposite of his vibrant sister Roxy. But he’d do anything for her, even hide her late-night partying from their parents. When Roxy goes too far, Nix feels like it’s his life that’s spiralling out of control.

Death / Grief / Bullying / Healing

Click here to see the full Great Reads for the Holidays 2013.