Malala Yousafzai, whose book I Am Malalais a contestant in the 2014 TRCA, was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of King’s College in Halifax this month. In addition to making Malala an honorary doctor of civil law at the May 15 graduation ceremonies, the university launched the new Malala Yousafzai Canada Scholarships. The scholarships are for young women from developing nations who cannot afford a post-secondary education. The scholarships pay full tuition, travel and residence fees, including books and incidentals, for a four-year undergraduate degree at King’s.
Yes, time really does fly when you’re reading good books. Tomorrow — Friday, May 9 — is the deadline to vote in the Teen Reader’s Choice Award. Mark your ballots! Have your say!
You have two options for voting:
1) Fill out a paper ballot in your school library
2) Go to the “Vote!” tab at the top of this blog and register your vote online.
Please vote only once. You don’t have to read all 10 books to vote (but, of course, we hope you will read as many as you can).
We’ll announce the winning book on Tuesday, May 20.
We wrote author Prudence Shen to let her know the novel she wrote with Faith Erin Hicks is a hit with students participating in the third annual CCRSB Teen Reader’s Choice Book Award.
Here is her encouraging and humorous response:
“I’m so thrilled Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong is on the shortlist for the Chignecto-Central Regional School Board Teen Reader’s Choice Award! Very little warms the cockles of my shriveled writer’s heart like knowing kids who are already too smart for their own good are gobbling up media that depicts deadly robot creation and (sort of) grand theft auto! If you decide to combine these skills sets, please direct your monster robot away from New York City – at least until I move away from here.
“More seriously, like many of you future novelists and storytellers of all types and kinds know, nothing is as wonderful as spinning a yarn and having it connect. Telling a story about someone else or something else is oftentimes the best way to tell your story, the true one that you’re hiding in between the lines of dialogue, high fantasy and shenanigans. It’s a way to kindly, without overstepping, reach out and say, ‘I know exactly how you feel.’ To those of you who love robots, who feel a little trapped, who worry about being a bad friend or doing the right thing? Charlie and Nate and Joanna know exactly how you feel, and so do I.
“Thanks for being good library patrons, and for having the flawless good taste to read this graphic novel that Faith Erin Hicks and I made. I’m so glad you had time to hear my story, and I can’t wait to hear yours one day.”
–Prudence Shen, author of Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong
We e-mailed Bomb author Steve Sheinkin to let him know his book is among the Top 10 in this year’s CCRSB Teen Reader’s Choice Award. We were thrilled to receive his speedy and gracious response:
“Well, you might think I’m saying this just to be nice, but Nova Scotia is absolutely one of my favorite places in the world. When I was 13, I went on a month long bike trip with a bunch of other kids in Nova Scotia, and I’ve been back a couple of times since. I have young kids now, 4 and 7, and I can’t wait to bring them. So for me it’s extra cool that students there are reading Bomb, and, hopefully, enjoying it. Thanks!!”
–Steve Sheinkin, author of Bomb
Thank You, Steve, for such a remarkable and riveting book.
Teen Reader's Choice Award 