Pajama Press

Pajama Press is excited to announce that one of our titles and illustrators have been nominated for a 2017 Atlantic Book Award.

Sky Pig by Jan L. Coates and illustrated by Suzanne Del Rizzo is nominated for the Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Excellence in Illustration

In Sky Pig, Jan Coates weaves a story of sweetness and whimsy, ingenuity and empathy. Plasticine artist Suzanne Del Rizzo brings dimension and energy to the tale of a pig who wants—against all popular truisms—to fly. He may never reach the sky on homemade clockwork wings, but Ollie still dreams as hard as ever a pig can dream. And Jack, a true friend, realizes that just because a pig can’t fly in the ways they have tried doesn’t mean he can never soar. An uplifting picture book for anyone who has tried and tried again.

From the Atlantic Book Awards website:

“The Atlantic Book Awards Society (ABAS) is a registered non-profit organization with the mandate ‘to promote and acknowledge excellence in Atlantic Canadian writing and book publishing through an annual awards ceremony and related events.’

Currently based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the board of the Atlantic Book Awards Society is committed to being a truly regional organization with representation from all four Atlantic provinces.”

More information about the Atlantic Book Awards can be found on their website

See the full 2017 Atlantic Book Awards shortlist here

“This is a story of a pig and his friend, Jack. Jack helps Ollie as much as he can, but when he realizes that pigs just can’t fly, he comes up with an idea that makes everyone cheer. The illustrations are made from plasticine, polymer clay…They’re creative and fun and children will be able to recognize milkweed fluff and watch gears in the pictures. This is a great story of never giving up and one of friendship.

Anything you didn’t like about it?  I liked everything about this book.

To Whom Would You Recommend this book? This is recommended for ages 3-6. The pictures are large and the text is simple, so it would make a great read-aloud for a young audience at a story time….

Should we (librarians/readers) put this on the top of our “to read” piles?  Yes”
—Sandra Pacheco, ESL teacher, Washington, D.C.

Click here to read the full review