News from Orca Book Publishers

News From Orca Book Publishers
September 2008

News and notes...
(Click on the covers for more info).

Victoria Book Prizes...

The nominees for the 2008 City of Victoria Bolen Books Children's Book Prize have been announced. Mechanimals, a picturebook by Chris Tougas is one of three finalists.
2008 is the first year that the Bolen Books prize has been awarded.

The Globe and Mail said of Mechanimals: "Tougas gives us an ingenious farmer and a visually fascinating, funny book."

The awards will be presented on October 15 in Victoria.

Stellar Teen Book Award...
The nominees for the 2008-2009 Stellar Teen Book Awa

rd, BC's Teen Reader's Choice Award have been announced.

The Bonemender's Oath by Holly Bennett and Tell, an Orca Soundings novel by Norah McClintock, have both been nominated. The winner is announced in May after Teen readers across the province vote.

An Orca book has won this award in the last two years - last year's winner was Red Sea by Diane Tullson and the year before The Beckoners by Carrie Mac took the prize.

More info here.

Staff changes...
Julia Breese joins as New Media Marketing Manager. Julia will be in charge of the website and marketing on that new-fangled Internet thing.
Promotions Coordinator Sarah MacNeill has been wearing larger clothes recently. As of the end of September she will be on maternity leave. Taking her place will be Leslie Bootle, formerly of Kate Walker and Company. Leslie will be handling author promotion and marketing duties, especially with Canadian retail. Have an idea for promotion? Call Leslie.

CCBC Best Books...

In the last issue we announced that 35 Orca titles made the Canadian Children's Book Centre Best Books for Kids and Teens list. We only have so many fingers for counting and it seems we missed one title - Racing For Diamonds - an Orca Young Reader by Anita Daher. Congratulations, Anita!

Korean Language Rights...

Art's Supplies, a picturebook by Chris Tougas has been sold to a Korean publisher and will be published in Korea in the near future.
There has been a lot of interest in Art's Supplies. Quill & Quire said of the book: "...gorgeously coloured... Tougas' great skill at joyous illustration is just icing on the cake."

National Parenting Awards...

Welcome Song for Baby, a board book by First Nations author Richard Van Camp has won the Gold Award in the 2008 National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA).
Welcome Song for Baby has previously been selected for the BC Book for Babies project and also for the Manitoba Healthy Child initiative.
There are already a lot of babies chewing on this book!

Making Change...

There is a lot of talk about change at the moment with elections on both sides of the border. Want real change? Then Bilaal Rajan's your man! Bilaal is the author of the just released book - Making Change: Tips from an Underage Overachiever.

Bilaal has recently been named one of the Top Twenty Under Twenty and is the current UNICEF Child Ambassador. Oh, Bilaal is twelve years old and holder of the title of "Youngest Orca Author."

Flash Mob...

Help launch Eric Walters' latest novel In a Flash, an Orca Currents title.
On Sunday October 5th, 2008 @ 1:00, meet in Toronto at the south-west corner of Front and Bay Street (outside Union Station across from Casey's Bar&Grill). The first 150 people will receive a free book and will then participate in a flash mob.
What? A flash mob is a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual action for a brief time, then quickly disperse.

For more details please call Dayle at 1-800-210-5277.

A review by any other name...

We live for reviews.

Two recent titles - Paul Yee's Learning to Fly and Norah McClintock's Watch Me were just released and have received wonderful reviews. The very astute (and well-read) Chris DeVito posted a mention on his site Paperjam.

"If you like to read - and you like to read classical stuff - there's never been a better time to be a tween...in Watch Me, an angry kid evens up things in the universe by stealing a lady's purse and then suffering mightily for it Crime and Punishment-style. In Learning to Fly...The first half of the book is equal parts Salinger's Catcher in the Rye and David Copperfield...Mid-way through the book echoes Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage...By its hopeful ending...you've had the complete Comparative Literature Experience - but without any of the university-level pain."

Take that Gossip Girl.

Thanks for reading!