Anna Swan’s story shortlisted for Rocky Mountain Book Award
We are delighted to learn that The Extraordinary Life of Anna Swan, by Anne Renaud, has been shortlisted for the 2016 Rocky Mountain Book Award.
Started by a group of teachers, teacher-librarians, children’s and educational librarians and booksellers, the Rocky Mountain Book Award was born of the conviction that as so much competes for the young person’s attention, it behooves that adults around them present only the very best of the hundreds of books available. This children’s choice book award is the only Alberta program of its kind and is aimed at increasing the literacy level of Alberta grade 4-7 students. This population includes 180,000 students who have free access to this program via the Internet.
A shortlist of twenty current Canadian fiction, non-fiction and poetry books is selected annually. The list is then made available through the website, a full-colour poster and brochure is sent to each Alberta school and participating Public Libraries.
A teacher or adult leader registers a reading group made up of a minimum of three children on the Rocky Mountain Book Award website. Students are encouraged to read as many of the titles as possible to provide the most well informed vote, but must have read or have read aloud to them, a minimum of five books from the combined list. They vote electronically via the award’s website. In addition, the students are encouraged to submit book reviews to the website, sharing their insights and enthusiasm for the titles. The book receiving the most votes wins and the winner is announced on World Book and Copyright Day on April 23 (2016).
At birth, Anna Swan weighed an amazing 6 kilograms (13 pounds) – almost twice the size of an average newborn. Growing to an astonishing size – nearly 2.5 metres (almost 8 feet) tall, she was billed as “The Nova Scotia Giant Girl” at P.T. Barnum’s American Museum in New York. But despite her unusual and challenging physical attributes, she rose above adversity and led a life of love, happiness and great accomplishments. Hers is a moving and remarkable story.
Congratulations Anne Renaud!