I am so, so honored to share that Maggie and I are the 2023 recipients of the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Awards, Picture book category!

This award is especially meaningful to me as the nominating committee consisted of a youth services librarian (Brooke Windsor, Stratford Public Library) along with a bookseller and children’s literature specialist (Alison Dunn, Beggar’s Banquet Books, Gananoque), and the winning titles were chosen by a grade 4 student jury at Jesse Ketchum Junior and Senior Public School in Toronto, Ontario. It’s awesome to know that the story has resonated among librarians, booksellers, and kids alike!

Maggie and I celebrating with the student jury for the picture book category.

After meeting and chatting with the student jury, it was clear that we share a common playfulness, sense of wonder, and desire to explore interconnections in our natural world, and encourages me to keep exploring these things in my writing.

It was wonderful to meet the family of Ruth & Sylvia Schwartz, who have recognized children’s authors and illustrators through this award for 48 years! I am so grateful for this support. Thanks also so much to the Ontario Arts Foundation who administer the award and who helped us with the logistics of the ceremony (Ann Boyd (Director of Administration), Bruce Bennett (Executive Director)), the
Ontario Arts Council who managed the jury process, and specifically Carolyn Gloude, Awards Officer, who worked with the student jurors. We loved meeting the students at Jesse Ketchum Junior and Senior Public School, principal Elizabeth Holmes, and teacher/librarian Cherisse Tullett. Thank you for hosting us!

And, I got to meet the staff at Pajama Press 🙂

First time meeting the publisher, marketing, and sales team at Pajama Press in person.

(P.S. Our book has a sticker! Yay!!)