News from Orca Book Publishers

News From Orca Book Publishers
December 2008

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

Starred Review...

What World is Left, a recent novel from Monique Polak, has just received a starred review from Booklist magazine, the journal of the American Library Association.

The review said of the book "...heartbreaking. An important addition to the Holocaust curriculum." Booklist has also named the book a 2008 "Editor's Choice."

What World Is Left. Polak, Monique

Vicky Metcalf Award...

Michael Kusugak has been awarded the Vicky Metcalf Award for Children's Literature from the Writer's Trust of Canada. This $20,000 award is to celebrate Michael's "body of work:" 9 books for children since 1989, including this season's The Littlest Sled Dog with illustrations by Vladyana Krykorka.

The 2008 Vicky Metcalf Award jury, had this to say about Michael:
"A dynamic linking of memory and place defines Inuit children's author Michael Kusugak's books. ... Kusugak writes unforgettably of the lived experience of the North: the beauty of the Arctic landscape ... Kusugak's voice is unique with Inuit diction and metaphor - falling stars are 'star droppings'. Kusugak writes in a unifying spirit of place and culture, offering readers a living vision of a rich way of life."

Congratulations, Michael!

Season's Greetings...

We would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone all the best for the holiday season and for the year ahead.
Thanks for helping to make 2008 a successful year for Orca Book Publishers.
In lieu of sending greeting cards, we will be making a donation to the Mustard Seed Food Bank.

See you in 2009!

Amelia Bloomer List...

2009 Nominations
Two recent titles have been nominated for the Amelia Bloomer list. The list is from the Feminist Task Force of the American Library Association.

Both published by Second Story Press, the books are:

Girlspoken - from pen brush & tongue
Nobel's Women of Peace, by Michelle Benjamin and Maggie Mooney (The Women's Hall of Fame series)

"The Amelia Bloomer Project honors books that encourage readers young and old to push the envelope and challenge what it means to be a woman, regardless of ethnicity or social-economic background."

We want to hear from you...

Feel like telling us how it is? Have something to share? Want free books?
We would love to hear from you. We have put together a little survey and will be awarding $100 in free books to 3 random responders. Just click here, answer a few questions and free books might be coming your way.

Take the survey.

Another Quick Pick..

Lockdown, an Orca Soundings novel by Diane Tullson, has been nominated for the Young Adult Library Services Association's (YALSA) Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers list for 2009. YALSA is a division of the American Library Association.
Lockdown joins Down by Norah McClintock, Responsible by Darlene Ryan, Pain and Wastings by Carrie Mac and Middle Row by Sylvia Olsen, as nominees. This list collects new titles of special interest to struggling and reluctant readers.
The final list will be voted on at the ALA Midwinter convention in Denver in January.

Spring Catalog...

The Spring 2008 catalog is now available. You can download the PDF here, or drop us a note and we will mail one ASAP.

Highlights for Spring:

Soccer Sabotage - book 3 in the Graphic Guides Adventure Series
Dance Baby Dance - a new baby board book;
When I Visit the Farm - a stunning new picturebook from Lobster Press;
Guardian Angel House - the newest entry in the Holocaust Remembrance Series for Young Readers;
and much more!

Spring Catalog

Thanks for reading!
If you want keep up with the latest news from Orca (and really, who wouldn't?) please visit our blog for author updates, awards and pictures of my cat (ok, ok, no cat pictures).