Kim Spencer took home three prizes at the 2023 Canadian Children’s Book Awards for her debut novel, Weird Rules to Follow. 

The seven awards, which include prizes for picture books, nonfiction and YA, annually celebrate the best in Canadian children’s literature. 

Weird Rules to Follow  won all three of the categories it received nominations for, including the $50,000 TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award — the largest cash prize in Canadian children’s literature. 

The book also won the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People and the Jean Little First-Novel Award, both worth $5,000. 

Weird Rules to Follow is set in the coastal fishing town of Prince Rupert in the 1980s. Pre-teens Mia and Lara have known each other since kindergarten, but Mia lives a very different life than her non-Indigenous, middle-class best friend. While this never seemed to matter to the girls, Mia begins to notice that adults treat her differently, just because she is Indigenous. 

Geared for ages 9 to 12, Weird Rules to Follow is Spencer’s debut novel. The book was also shortlisted for a 2023 Indigenous Voices Award. 

Spencer is a writer and member of the Ts’msyen Nation in northwest B.C., and she currently lives in Vancouver. Her work has appeared in Filling Station magazine and was shortlisted for the Alberta Magazine Publishers Association Award.

“This beautiful and touching story about culture and class is full of sincerity and heart, following young Mia Douglas as she navigates the big feelings and relational obstacles amplified by adolescence,” the award’s jury said in a press release. 

“Though a fictional story, at its heart, Mia’s story feels more like a memoir than make-believe. Themes of class and internalized racism are seamlessly woven into this narrative.” 

Other honoured books for the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award were Berani by Michelle Kadarusman, Kunoichi Bunny by Sara Cassidy, Sitting Shiva by Erin Silver and Carey Newman and Kirstie Hudson’s The Witness Blanket: Truth, Art and Reconciliation. 

“I’m just filled with gratitude,” Spencer told CBC Books. “It’s such an honour. I grew up loving to read and it didn’t even dawn on me that what I was reading had no one who looked like me, or no one with similar experiences to me. 

“Representation is so important, and if Indigenous youth are able to see themselves in my book, that’s something special.” 

Representation is so important, and if Indigenous youth are able to see themselves in my book, that’s something special.– Kim Spencer

Mina, which was written and illustrated by Matthew Forsythe, was the winner of the $20,000 Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award. 

The picture book, which the award’s jury called expertly crafted, is a heartful look at the bond between father and daughter. Mina is a bright, young mouse who lives in a tree stump on the edge of a forest with her father. After he brings home a suspicious surprise from the woods, a worried Mina must navigate her feelings of trust and loyalty. 

Forsythe is an author and illustrator from Toronto. He is the creator of Pokko and the Drum, which was shortlisted for an illustrated 2022 Governor General’s Literary Award. 

The winner of the $10,000 Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction was Newman and Hudson’s The Witness Blanket: Truth, Art and Reconciliation. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the prize.

The Witness Blanket is for ages nine and up, and was described by the award’s jury as “a powerful book that is a must-read for all Canadians working towards truth and reconciliation.” 

The book uses pictures to showcase Newman’s living work of art, The Witness Blanket. The collection contains hundreds of objects from residential schools, government buildings and churches across Canada. From bricks, hockey skates, dolls to braids of hair, each piece tells a story — and behind each story is a residential school survivor, including Newman’s father.  

Newman is an Indigenous artist, master carver, filmmaker, author and public speaker. He is of Kwakwaka’wakw, Coast Salish and settler heritage. 

Hudson is an editor and writer based in Victoria. She was an instructor at the University of Victoria and Royal Roads University, and a CBC reporter and producer. 

Newman and Hudson also co-authored the book Picking Up the Pieces: Residential School Memories.

“It wasn’t that long ago when talking about residential schools with children was really controversial, like people thought that it would be harming kids,” Newman told CBC Books. 

“So going from that to winning a national book award for nonfiction, I think it shows the progress we’ve been making. We’re ready to tell these stories, and we’re ready to talk about these things.” 

We’re ready to tell these stories, and we’re ready to talk about these things.– Carey Newman

Hudson said for these conversations to be taking place today, they couldn’t ask for anything more. 

“I think it’s going to be such a game changer for kids to be able to talk about residential schools, colonial history and the relationship between Indigenous people and the rest of Canada in a way that hasn’t happened before,” she added.

Zoulfa Katouh’s As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow won the $5,000 Amy Mathers Teen Book Award. 

The YA novel follows pharmacy student Salama Kassab, who had a normal teenager’s life until the breakout of the Syrian Revolution. As she helps the wounded while volunteering at a hospital in Homs, Salama is secretly desperate to find a way out of her beloved country. This desperation manifests into a physical embodiment of her fear in the form of Khawf – an imaginary companion. As Khawf presses her to leave, Salama is torn between her loyalty to her country and her conviction to survive.

As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow is for ages 14 and up. 

Katouh is a Syrian Canadian author based in Switzerland. As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow is her debut novel. She is grateful for the audience her book has been able to reach.  

 “I’ve had readers from all over tell me about how they felt represented in regard to the difficult moments they’ve experienced in their lives, and Muslim readers who felt seen in my characters,” Katouh said in her acceptance speech. “This story doesn’t fit in a box. It’s a whole universe.”

The $5,000 Arlene Barlin Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy was won by Deborah Falaye’s Blood Scion.

In this YA fantasy novel, a teen named Sloane discovers that she is a Scion, a descendant of the ancient Orisha gods. She knows that if her identity is discovered, it would mean her death. When she is forced to join a warlord’s army, Sloane realizes she can use her superpowers to defeat the enemy from within. 

Blood Scion is for ages 14 and up. The novel made the 2023 Canada Reads longlist, and was named one of the best Canadian YA books of 2022 by CBC Books. 

Falaye is a Nigerian Canadian YA author who is based in Toronto. She grew up in Lagos. Blood Scion is her first novel. 

In total, $112,500 was awarded at the 2023 Canadian Children’s Book Awards. An additional $62,500 is to be awarded on Nov. 6 when the Prix TD de littérature canadienne pour l’enfance et la jeunesse is announced.