2010 Gold Medal Winner

Word Nerd
By Susin Nielsen

Twelve-year-old Ambrose is a glass-half-full kind of guy. A self-described “friendless nerd,” he moves from place to place every couple of years with his overprotective mother, Irene. When some bullies at his new school almost kill him by slipping a peanut into his sandwich — even though they know he has a deathly allergy — Ambrose is philosophical. Irene, however, is not and decides that Ambrose will be home-schooled.

Alone in the evenings when Irene goes to work, Ambrose pesters Cosmo, the twenty-five-year-old son of the Greek landlords who live upstairs. Cosmo has just been released from jail for breaking and entering to support a drug habit. Quite by accident, Ambrose discovers that they share a love of Scrabble and coerces Cosmo into taking him to the West Side Scrabble Club, where Cosmo falls for Amanda, the club director. Posing as Ambrose’s Big Brother to impress her, Cosmo is motivated to take Ambrose to the weekly meetings and to give him lessons in self-defense. Cosmo, Amanda, and Ambrose soon form an unlikely alliance and, for the first time in his life, Ambrose blossoms. The characters at the Scrabble Club come to embrace Ambrose for who he is and for their shared love of words. There’s only one problem: Irene has no idea what Ambrose is up to.

In this brilliantly observed novel, author Susin Nielsen transports the reader to the world of competitive Scrabble as seen from the honest yet funny viewpoint of a boy who’s searching for acceptance and for a place to call home.

2009 Gold Medal Winner

Safe As Houses
By Eric Walters

The date is October 15, 1954. Thirteen-year-old Elizabeth, who lives in the Toronto suburb of Weston, is a typical grade 8 girl. She has a secret crush on a boy in her class and she thinks Elvis Presley is "dreamy." Elizabeth also has a part-time job babysitting an adorable little grade 2 girl named Suzie, and Suzie’s not-so-adorable grade 6 brother, David. Elizabeth’s job is to walk Suzie and David home after school and then stay at their house with them until their mother gets home from work. David resents Elizabeth because he thinks he is too old for a babysitter, and he goes out of his way to make life miserable for her.

On this particular evening, however, Elizabeth has more than a badly behaved boy to contend with. It is on this October night that Hurricane Hazel roars down on Toronto, bringing torrential rains that cause extensive flooding. David and Suzie’s house is on Raymore Drive, a street that will be practically wiped out by the floodwaters.

David and Suzie’s parents are unable to reach the house, which means the children’s safety on this most deadly of nights is Elizabeth’s responsibility. She finds herself increasingly isolated. They are surrounded by rising water. The electricity goes out. The phone goes dead. Still, Elizabeth is sure they will be safe as long as they remain in the house.

But are Elizabeth and the children really as "safe as houses"? Before this terrifying night is over, Elizabeth and David will have to learn to communicate and cooperate if they are to save their own lives and Suzie’s. Their survival in the midst of one of Canada’s worst disasters will depend upon their resourcefulness, maturity and courage.

2008 Gold Medal Winner

Hamish X and the Cheese Pirates of the Arctic
By Sean Cullen

The mysterious Hamish X is the scourge of the Orphan Disposal Agency—Agents Candy and Sweet can’t seem to find a facility that can hold him. After arriving at the Windcity Orphanage, where the children are forced to earn their keep making stinky blue cheese, Hamish X is soon planning his escape along with new friends Parveen and Mimi. But his plans are put on hold when the factory is suddenly attacked by a fierce gang of pirates, led by the dreaded Cheesebeard of Snow Monkey Island. In order to save the other orphans, Hamish X, Mimi, and Parveen must embark upon an epic adventure across the Arctic and take on the cheese-obsessed pirates by themselves.

The inimitable Seán Cullen’s first book in his new series for children is dramatic, action-packed, and, of course, completely hilarious.

2007 Gold Medal Winner

Crazy Man
By Pamela Porter

It is 1965, and twelve-year-old Emaline lives on a wheat farm in southern Saskatchewan. Her family has fallen apart. When her beloved dog, Prince, chased a hare into the path of the tractor, she chased after him, and her dad accidentally ran over her leg with the discer, leaving her with a long convalescence and a permanent disability. But perhaps the worst thing from Emaline's point of view is that in his grief and guilt, her father shot Prince and then left Emaline and her mother on their own.

Despite the neighbors' disapproval, Emaline's mother hires Angus, a patient from the local mental hospital, to work their fields. Angus is a red-haired giant whom the local kids tease and call the gorilla. Though the small town's prejudice creates a cloud of suspicion around Angus that nearly results in tragedy, in the end he becomes a force for healing as Emaline comes to terms with her injury and the loss of her father.

2006 Gold Medal Winner

Airborn
By Kenneth Oppell

Airborn is an exciting, Jules Verne like, adventure story set in an imaginary past. Ken Oppel has created a story in which great airships filled with hydrium, the lightest gas in the world, travel between continents. The story is told by fifteen-year-old Matt Cruse, who is a cabin boy on the luxury airship Aurora. Matt knows every inch of the Aurora, the same ship from which his father dropped to his death while making repairs during a storm.

While on watch on a trip over the Pacificus Matt helps rescue an old man from a crippled hot-air balloon. Before dying the severely injured man speaks of some fantastic, beautiful creatures he has observed and remarks that, “Kate would’ve loved them.”

On a trip back across the Pacificus a year later Matt discovers that one of the passengers is Kate de Vries, the granddaughter of the dead hot-air balloon pilot. Kate has her grandfather’s journal that describes the strange animals he observed and she is determined to locate and photograph the mysterious animals.

The Aurora is attacked by air pirates who rob the rich passengers. As the pirates depart a sudden storm blows the ships together and cripples the Aurora. The crippled airship manages to land on an uncharted island that turns out to be the home of the mysterious animals and the pirates. Kate and Matt are the center of several connected adventures and conflicts dealing with the repair of their airship, the winged animals and the pirates.

Airborn is an exciting, Jules Verne like, adventure story set in an imaginary past. Ken Oppel has created a story in which great airships filled with hydrium, the lightest gas in the world, travel between continents. The story is told by fifteen-year-old Matt Cruse, who is a cabin boy on the luxury airship Aurora. Matt knows every inch of the Aurora, the same ship from which his father dropped to his death while making repairs during a storm.

While on watch on a trip over the Pacificus Matt helps rescue an old man from a crippled hot-air balloon. Before dying the severely injured man speaks of some fantastic, beautiful creatures he has observed and remarks that, “Kate would’ve loved them.”

On a trip back across the Pacificus a year later Matt discovers that one of the passengers is Kate de Vries, the granddaughter of the dead hot-air balloon pilot. Kate has her grandfather’s journal that describes the strange animals he observed and she is determined to locate and photograph the mysterious animals.

The Aurora is attacked by air pirates who rob the rich passengers. As the pirates depart a sudden storm blows the ships together and cripples the Aurora. The crippled airship manages to land on an uncharted island that turns out to be the home of the mysterious animals and the pirates. Kate and Matt are the center of several connected adventures and conflicts dealing with the repair of their airship, the winged animals and the pirates.

Middle school students will enjoy this fast paced, unique adventure filled with great characters.

2005 Gold Medal Winner

Ned Mouse Breaks Away
By Tim Wynne-Jones

Did you ever wonder how a mouse would escape from jail?  So did award winning author Tim Wynne-Jones, and he wrote a book about it.  It is wacky, zany and off-the-wall.  To tell you how Ned Mouse escapes using the mail would give the story away, but everyone lives happily ever after, not without some crazy adventures.

  You have to jump into this title with all your imagination and fancy, or you will miss the silliness of Mr. Wynne-Jones and his tongue-in-cheek writing style.  No matter how you approach this book it will make you want to ask lots of questions and gets readers (young and old) all excited (you either love it or you don’t).

  Dušan Petrišcic’s pen and wash illustrations of Ned Mouse in his adventure capture the whimsy of the tale, adding to the fun of the story.

2004 Gold Medal Winner

Hana’s Suitcase : A True Story
By Karen Levine. 

Fumiko Ishikoa, director of the Tokyo Holocaust Center, wanted objects in her museum to spark Japanese children’s interest in the Holocaust.  One day in winter 2000, Fumiko received from an Auschwitz museum a big brown suitcase with these words painted on it:  “Hanna Brady”, born “May 16, 1931”, and “Waisenkind” (which means orphan).  Fumiko and a group of children wondered what the story was behind the suitcase. 

This book alternated between Fumiko’s search for Hana Brady in 2000-01, and the true story of Hana Brady’s life in the 1930s and 1940s.  Fumiko’s search for more information about Hana was difficult, and there were very few clues to who she was.

The life of Hana and her family was slowly revealed throughout the book.  From a happy life with her family in Nove Mesto, Czechoslovakia, World War II became an ugly reality which tore the family apart. 

Fumiko found out that Hana’s name had been spelled incorrectly (with an additional ‘n’) on the suitcase.  She also found out that Hana had ended up in Auschwitz via Theresienstadt – a ghetto town in Czechoslovakia used by the Nazis to hold Jewish prisoners in World War II.  The biggest questions became:  Did Hana survive?  And, was anyone still alive who knew her then?

Recommended for readers in grades 4 to 7.  Provides another view of World War II that would complement Lois Lowry’s “Number the Stars” and Anne Frank’s “The diary of a young girl.”

2003 Gold Medal Winner

The Breadwinner
By Deborah Ellis

Parvana, age 11, and her family live in Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital city, in a bombed-out apartment building.  Life in Afghanistan is difficult with the Taliban in power.  The Taliban has strict rules, especially for women.  Women are not allowed to appear in public without being covered from head to toe in a burqa (a tent-like garment), and accompanied by a man.  Parvana and her sisters are not allowed to go to school.

  Each day Parvana accompanies her handicapped father to the market, where her father reads, translates and writes letters for other people.  Besides helping her father walk, she tries to sell some things as well.

One evening after supper, soldiers come into their apartment and arrest the father.  He remains in prison for a long time without any charges brought against him.  In the meantime, the family has to survive somehow.  It is decided that Parvana can pass for a boy if dressed in boys’ clothing and her long hair cut off.  She continues to sell stuff at the market, read letters for other people, and buys food for the family.  All the time Parvana is nervous about being discovered by the Taliban that she is really a girl.

This book provides readers in grades 5 to 7 with a look at what life was like in Afghanistan, before the United States declared war on the Taliban and terrorists.

2002 Gold Medal Winner

White Lily
By Ting-xing Ye

    At her birth she was thought to be the purest among the pure and the finest among the best, like a precious flower; and so she was named White Lily. Her father could barely conceal his disappointment that the new baby was not a boy. And this would appear to be White Lily’s fate throughout her life, always to be second best to the males in her world as was the Chinese custom in those days.

    At the age of four a brutal custom is inflicted upon White Lily which is meant to seal her fate in the world, but White Lily has her own plans and dreams for what her future should hold.

    This is a story of how indomitable spirit and determination can win out over centuries of tradition.

    Teachers, this is a great story to read aloud as it is wonderfully descriptive, not too long and of course makes a very important moral point, one that could lead to a wonderful class discussion.

2001 Gold Medal Winner

Sunwing
By Kenneth Oppel

Shade’s back in this sequel to Silverwing. The young bat continues the search for his father and the secret of the mysterious human building that contains a vast forest and an unlimited food supply. What is the deadly secret of this bat paradise?

This superb sequel continues Shade’s quest to find his father in a fantasy world in which good confronts evil. Shade, Marina, Ariel and Frieda soon find the human bat paradise is not what it seems. In an escape attempt they discover that the building also contains many enemy owls. Then they discover that the seemingly benevolent humans are attaching explosives to owls and bats, and using the creatures to bomb enemy cities.

Shade and Marina are swept up on a perilous journey that takes them to the far southern jungle. There they are once again forced into conflict with Goth, now king of all the Vampyrum Spectrum. Where cannibal bats with metre long wingspans exist. Bats, owls and rats must learn to work together to defeat Goth and his dreadful army.

Shade leads his multi-species army in a fast paced adventure against Goth who is attempting to harness the dark powers of Cama Zotz to create eternal night. Shade also finally rescues his father who is being held prisoner by Goth.

Those who have already read Silverwing will love the continuation of this terrific fantasy action adventure. Sunwing stands by itself, but young readers will undoubtedly want to read both parts of this exciting story.