Pajama Press

Pajama Press is thrilled to announce that we have two winning books on the 15^th Annual 2019 Green Earth Book Awards list.

The Flooded Earth by Mardi McConnochie is the winner of the award in the Children’s Fiction category.

And Bat Citizens: Defending the Ninjas of the Night by Rob Laidlaw is the Honor Book for the Children’s Nonfiction category.

The Green Earth Book Award was founded in 2005 by the environmental non-profit group The Nature Generation. The mission of the award is “to draw attention to the authors and illustrators whose books best inspire youth to grow a deeper appreciation, respect, and responsibility for their natural environment.” Learn more at www.natgen.org/green-earth-book-awards/.

Pajama Press extends our congratulations to Mardi McConnochie and Rob Laidlaw. Our sincerest thanks go to The Nature Generation for their dedication to inspiring environmental stewardship in young people and for their support of the authors and illustrators who strive to do the same.

“Anxiety is more than a feeling in this visual narrative, more than the pressure of school tests, the loneliness of exclusion by classmates, or the fear of such shortcomings being discovered at home. Anxiety, represented here by ominously sharp swirls of black ink, has a visceral, visual gravitas—it grows to fill literal and figurative space as the young protagonist’s outlook progresses steadily downhill….[T]he refreshing visibility and validity of childhood pressures accompanied by the equally important realization that no one is alone in their experience of such strain balances the slight risk that readers might lose track of the narrative….A picture book that wants to be a graphic novel, and a message worthy of both.”

Click here to read the full review

Wild One by Jane Whittingham and illustrator Noel Tuazon has been selected for the Toronto Public Library’s 2017 First and Best list.

The First and Best list is Toronto Public Library’s “top picks of the best Canadian children’s books for building reading readiness in kids under five.” Click here to see all the First and Best selections of 2017.

Pajama Press is excited to announce that Adrift at Sea: A Vietnamese Boy’s Story of Survival by author Marsha Forchuk Skyrpuch with Tuan Ho, and illustrator Brian Deines is the recipient of the Children’s Literature Roundtables of Canada 2017 Information Book Award Honour Book.

The Information Book Award “is given annually to a book that arouses interest, stimulates curiosity, captures the imagination, and fosters concern for the world around us. The award’s aim is to recognize excellence in Canadian publishing of children’s nonfiction.” Pajama Press previously won the 2015 Information Book Award for A Brush Full of Colour: the World of Ted Harrison by Margriet Ruurs and Katherine Gibson.

Pajama Press extends our congratulations to Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, Tuan Ho, and Brian Deines. Our sincerest thanks go to the Children’s Literature Roundtables of Canada for championing and supporting the development of quality nonfiction in Canadian children’s publishing.

Other notable accolades for Adrift at Sea include nominations for the 2017 Forest of Reading Golden Oak Award, the 2017 Red Cedar Information Book Award, and the Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice (LYRC) Award: Grade 3-5; a Starred Selection in the Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s Spring 2017 Best Books for Kids & Teens; a New England Children’s Booksellers Advisory Council (NECBA) 2016 Hot Titles List selection; and a 2016 Resource Links “The Year’s Best” selection.

Pajama Press is excited to announce that My Beautiful Birds by author-illustrator Suzanne Del Rizzo is the winner of the 2017 Malka Penn Award for Human Rights in Children’s Literature.

The Malka Penn Award “is given annually to the author of an outstanding children’s book addressing human rights issues or themes, such as discrimination, equity, poverty, justice, war, peace, slavery or freedom.”

Pajama Press extends our congratulations to Suzanne Del Rizzo. Our sincerest thanks go to the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center for their commitment to human rights education and their support of children’s literature.

Other notable acclaim for My Beautiful Birds includes a New York Times Book Review, a 2017 OneBook for Kids, One San Diego selection, a Junior Library Guild Selection, and nomination for the 2017 Cybils Award for Fiction. My Beautiful Birds is also a NECBA Windows & Mirrors Fall 2017 selection, and a selection among Betsy Bird’s “2017 Books I’m Really Looking Forward To”.

We are thrilled to extend our congratulations to Jan L. Coates and Suzanne Del Rizzo, the author and illustrator of Sky Pig. This inventive picture book about a pig who wants—against all popular truisms—to fly has won the Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Excellence in Illustration. This is Coates’ and Del Rizzo’s first time being nominated for the award.

Jan Coates accepted the award Thursday night at the 8th annual Atlantic Book Awards Gala, hosted at Paul O’Reagan Hall in Halifax. The Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Excellence in Illustration, named for a long-time buyer for the now inoperative independent bookstore, The Book Room, is one of ten major prizes awarded at the gala each year. This is the first award win for Sky Pig, which is also nominated for the 2017 Shining Willow Award, and is a 2016 Best Books for Kids and Teens selection.

Pajama Press would also like to congratulate all the other award nominees and winners of the evening. Our nominated titles were in such good company; it is an honour to be recognized alongside some of the best artists and books rooted in Atlantic Canada.

Pajama Press thanks the Atlantic Book Awards for their continued dedication to promoting excellence in Atlantic Canadian writing and book publishing.