My favorite thing about shortlists from other countries*? The fact that the list is often comprised of books I've never heard of:
Alison Acheson - Mud Girl (Coteau)
William Bell - The Blue Helmet (Doubleday)
Hadley Dyer - Johnny Kellock Died Today (HarperCollins)
Beth Goobie - Hello, Groin (Orca)
Maureen Hull - The View from a Kite (Vagrant Press)
Carrie Mac - Droughtlanders (Penguin)
Richard Scarsbrook - Featherless Bipeds (Thistledown)
Arthur Slade - Megiddo’s Shadow (HarperCollins)
Kathy Stinson - 101 Ways to Dance (Second Story Press)
Teresa Toten - Me and the Blondes (Penguin)
*You'd think that buzz about these Canadian books would have made it AT LEAST into Maine, but no.
Have you at least read some of the books by these authors? I've been out of the bookstore business for a while, so I haven't read the latest titles, but I've read others by the same authors and they're all really, really good.
Posted by: Faithful Reader from Canada | 12 March 2007 at 01:51 PM
I've read some Goobie and some Slade, but not the titles listed -- the other authors are new to me, though. Time to bone up on my CA-LIT!
Posted by: Leila | 12 March 2007 at 02:09 PM
I find that I do not know many of the young adult books by Canadian authors unless there has been a lot of buzz about it, so I am drawing a blank at these ones and I try and read lots of CanLit. I might have to look into them more closely...
Posted by: Kailana | 12 March 2007 at 03:53 PM
I reviewed William Bell's The Blue Helmet back in November and loved it - LOVED IT! This is one of the best boy stories I've read in ages about a pretty violent teenager whose on the path to a lot more trouble (joining a gang) and ends up finding out the difference between playing tough games and what war will do to someone when he meets a former UN peacekeeper. I was so impressed by Helmet and I've exchanged a few emails with the author whose having a horrible time finding a US publisher because of the UN angle - I guess they think kids won't know what a peacekeeper is? (Or maybe because the war is the Balkan War?)
Sometimes publishers really frustrate me!
I hope making this shortlist gives him some more attention and gets US pubs to sit up and notice. I know Candlewick is supposed to be reading the book right now, here's hoping they see how brilliant it is.
(I also read, reviewed and loved Megiddo's Shadow a book about WWI in the Middle East that was wonderful. Highly recommend that one for historical fiction fans!)
Posted by: Colleen | 12 March 2007 at 05:33 PM
I've read Me and the Blondes, it's relly good. I uess I should read The Blue Helmet sometime soon....maybe later....anyway I am Canadian, so it's possible I shuld make an effort to read these, eventually.
Posted by: Shrieky | 12 March 2007 at 06:45 PM
Oh, how I love Canada. What's even sadder is that many of these books aren't available in my library system. And I'm in Wisconsin, for crying out loud, can't some Canadian books make it this far, even?
Posted by: Nonanon | 13 March 2007 at 10:28 AM
Yeah, why is it that we have pretty much everything American here, yet it's so hard to find Canadian authors in the US? Is it the publishers? Or is there not the interest in Canadian writers down south?
Posted by: Faithful Reader from Canada | 14 March 2007 at 02:15 PM
Me and the Blondes is good. There is a sequel in the works (it's hinted at in the book but I emailed the author to confirm).
Posted by: sassymonkey | 14 March 2007 at 04:47 PM
Faithful Reader--aw, you know it's all part of that American hegemony that keeps us so popular all over the world (and particularly in Canada)!
I just put Hello, Groin on reserve at my public (or should that be "pubic") library in Seattle. So at least one border state is making at least something of an effort. Haven't checked the other titles, though.
Posted by: bookbk | 14 March 2007 at 09:46 PM
I've read Hello, Groin, and a bit of Droughtlanders (which I thought to be very boring compared to other works by the same author). I thought Hello, Groin was really good, and it wasn't extremely predictable, which was a nice change. It had quite a few good issues in it, which I also thought was another good quality
Posted by: Rose | 16 May 2007 at 05:51 PM
I, too, loved The Blue Helmet yet am happy to hear of the other titles.
How cool to find this blog - and this post - to which I will refer when delivering the closing keynote at the Canadian Library Asn conference this weekend in St. John's.
Kudos and thank you.
Posted by: KareAnderson | 22 May 2007 at 12:11 PM
I've read some Goobie and some Slade, but not the titles listed -- the other authors are new to me, though. Time to bone up on my CA-LIT!
+1
Posted by: flash games collection | 10 July 2012 at 04:29 PM