Pajama Press

Pajama Press is excited to announce that four of our titles have been nominated for the 2017 Ontario Library Association Forest of Reading Awards.

The Hill, written by Karen Bass, is nominated for the Red Maple Award. Click here to view the The Hill classroom discussion guide.

Elephant Journey, written by Rob Laidlaw and illustrated by Brian Deines, is nominated for the Silver Birch Express Award. Click here to view the Elephant Journey classroom reading guide.

A Year of Borrowed Men, written by Michelle Barker and illustrated by Renné Benoit, is nominated for the Golden Oak Award. Click here to view the A Year of Borrowed Men reading guide.

Next Round, written by John Spray, is nominated for the Golden Oak Award.

The Forest of Reading is an initiative of the Ontario Library Association (OLA) that helps celebrate Canadian books, publishers, authors and illustrators. Every year, over 250,000 participants read a shortlist of books in their age category and vote for their favourites.

Pajama Press extends our congratulations to Karen Bass, Rob Laidlaw, Brian Deines, Michelle Barker, Renné Benoit, and John Spray. Our sincerest thanks go to the Ontario Library Association for promoting reading and Canadian books through this outstanding program.

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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

Pajama Press is pleased to announce that three of our Fall 2012 and Spring 2013 titles have been nominated for this year’s Ontario Library Association Forest of Reading^®awards.

A Good Trade by Alma Fullerton, illustrated by Karen Patkau, has been nominated for the Blue Spruce Award™. Nix Minus One by Jill MacLean has been nominated for the White Pine Fiction Award™. One Step at a Time: A Vietnamese Child Finds Her Way by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch has been nominated for the Silver Birch Non-Fiction Award™. At the Festival of Trees in May 2013, Skrypuch’s Last Airlift: A Vietnamese Orphan’s Rescue from War was declared an honour book for the Red Maple Non-Fiction Award™.

The Forest of Reading^® is a reading program run by the Ontario Library Association.Each year, over 250,000 participants read a shortlist of books in their age category and vote for their favourites.

Pajama Press extends our most sincere congratulations to Alma Fullerton, Karen Patkau, Jill MacLean, and Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch. Our warmest thanks go to the Ontario Library Association for promoting reading through this exciting program.

With the Ontario Library Association Super Conference fast approaching, it seems appropriate to acknowledge another OLA program that is engaging children across the province right now: the OLA Forest of Reading.

Every October the Forest of Reading committees, which are made up of public and school library practitioners, select shortlists of nominated titles for the following categories:

The Blue Spruce Award—ages 4–7

The Silver Birch Award—ages 8–12

The Red Maple Award—ages 12–13

The White Pine Award—high school and teen readers

The Evergreen Award—adults of all ages

The Golden Oak Award—new adult readers

Le Prix Tamarac—french language fiction and non-fiction

Le Prix Peuplier—french language books read aloud to participants

In the months between the announcement of the nominees and the awards ceremony in June*, participants read or are read books from the shortlists in their age category and vote for their favourite. The awards are presented at the Festival of Trees in Toronto, where hundreds of eager school children meet and cheer on their favourite authors.

With more than 250,000 readers participating each year through their school or public library, the Forest of Reading is the largest program of its kind in Canada. To learn more, visit the Ontario Library Association website.

Not a resident of Ontario? Many other provinces and regions in Canada have readers’ choice awards. We have already featured the Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award and British Columbia’s Chocolate Lily Book Award. We look forward to featuring more!

*The Evergreen Award and the Golden Oak Award are presented at different times.

Pajama Press is proud to announce that three of our titles have been nominated for 2013 Ontario Library Association Forest of Reading Awards.

Don’t Laugh at Giraffe by Rebecca Bender is nominated for the Blue Spruce Award. Last year, Rebecca won the Blue Spruce Award for her debut picture book, Giraffe and Bird.

No Shelter Here: Making the World a Kinder Place for Dogs by animal activist Rob Laidlaw is nominated for the Silver Birch Nonfiction Award.

Last Airlift: A Vietnamese Orphan’s Rescue from War by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch is nominated for the Red Maple Nonfiction Award.

For more information about the Forest of Reading Awards, visit the Ontario Library Association website at  www.accessola.com.

Our books have also been nominated for three other awards this year:

True Blue, a murder mystery by bestselling author Deborah Ellis, was nominated for the Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award and the Canadian Children’s Book Centre John Spray Mystery Award.

Last Airlift: A Vietnamese Orphan’s Rescue from War by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch was nominated for the British Columbia Red Cedar Nonfiction Award.

Congratulations to all of our nominated authors!

Pajama Press author Rebecca Bender has taken home the Blue Spruce Award for her debut picture book, Giraffe and Bird (Dancing Cat Books, 2010)!

The Blue Spruce Award is part of the Ontario Library Association’s annual recreational reading program, the Forest of Reading. Readers from across the province voted for their favourite in a shortlist of books for their age category; Giraffe and Bird was chosen by voters aged 4 to 7.

Rebecca received the award at the 2012 Festival of Trees on May 15, the same day her second picture book, Don’t Laugh at Giraffe, hit the shelves. Quill & Quire has already given the sequel a starred review, saying, “Endearing animal buddies Giraffe and Bird return in Rebecca Bender’s stellar second book, Don’t Laugh at Giraffe…a warm, gentle tale with a good message and plenty of funny moments, making it a great choice for sharing. After all, the story reminds us, it’s always better to laugh with a friend that at one.”

Pajama Press will be releasing a Giraffe and Bird greeting card line this summer, and further books are being planned. For those who just can’t wait, the characters will interact with fans on special Facebook pages, The Giraffe and The Bird.