CBU Press book on popular children’s list
Selby the Lobster nominated for Hackmatack children’s choice award
One of the region’s most popular awards for children’s literature, the Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award will include the story of Selby the Lobster, published in 2011 by Cape Breton University Press.
The Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award is a literary program designed for young readers in Atlantic Canada. Each year, thousands of children aged nine to twelve (grades four to 6) read from the selection of forty outstanding Canadian books in four categories – English fiction and nonfiction, French fiction and French nonfiction – and vote for their favourites in the spring of each year.
The winners of the Hackmatack Award in each category are announced at the final award ceremony in May. Selby the Lobster is on the Hackmatack reading list for 2012-2013, with the winner announced in spring 2013.
Written by Don Downer of Corner Brook and illustrated by Newfoundland native Gisele LeBlanc-Turner, Selby the Lobster is a natural science book for young readers.
The story explores Selby’s habitat and lifecycle in and near Ragged Harbour, foraging for food and avoiding predators, including Jake the lobster fisher, who really wants to catch Selby.
CM Magazine says of Selby: “What is fun about Selby the Lobster is that all the information comes quite naturally…. The illustrations … work with the text to tell a better story. They are not diagrams in disguise…. The text doesn’t read like a dressed-up list of facts, either.”
Selby was published as one of three books on marine life for young readers, also by Downer and LeBlanc-Turner: Selina – An Atlantic Salmon and Schnider – A Harp Seal Story.