Nelson nabs young readers’ top honours

Advertisement

Advertise with us

Young readers across Canada selected a book by Winnipeg’s Colleen Nelson this year as the top fiction book for grades 3 to 6.

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/06/2023 (1177 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Young readers across Canada selected a book by Winnipeg’s Colleen Nelson this year as the top fiction book for grades 3 to 6.

Nelson’s novel, The Undercover Book List, was selected for the Silver Birch Fiction Award in the Ontario Library Association’s Forest of Reading awards. The novel is the story of two isolated kids in Grade 7 who bond through a secret book club.

Buy on mcnallyrobinson.com

Other winning books in the annual reading program — in which kids in schools and community libraries across Canada vote on their favourites from lists of titles — were: Bear in the Family, by Eric Walters, illustrated by Olga Barinova; Are You a Cheeseburger? by Monica Arnaldo; Children of the Fox, by Kevin Sands; Daughter, by Kate McLaughlin; Fred & Marjorie, by Deborah Kerbel, illustrated by Angela Poon; Drôles de zèbres, by Mathilde Perrault-Archambault; La ligue des (pas si) champions 1 Basile, by Jocelyn Boisvert; and Seuls, by Paul Tom.

● ● ●

Prairie writer Sharon Butala, author of 21 books of fiction and non-fiction as well as five produced plays, delves into family memories and secrets in her new novel, Leaving Wisdom (Thistledown Press).

The novel tells the story of a woman who slips on ice on the way to her retirement party and deals with a confusing whirl of memories while recovering from a serious concussion.

She launches the novel at McNally Robinson Booksellers’ Grant Park location Thursday at 7 p.m., co-presented by the Winnipeg International Writers’ Festival.

Buy on mcnallyrobinson.com

● ● ●

A novel about trauma and family lore based loosely on Greek mythology is this year’s winner of the $60,000 Amazon Canada First Novel Award.

Jasmine Sealy won the prize for The Island of Forgetting, announced at an event co-sponsored by the Walrus.

Buy on mcnallyrobinson.com

The other shortlisted titles were A Minor Chorus, by Billy-Ray Belcourt; In the City of Pigs, by André Forget; Bad Cree, by Jessica Jones; Hollow Bamboo, by William Ping; and In the Upper Country by Kai Thomas. The other finalists each receive $6,000.

● ● ●

From Manitoba Hydro’s newest dam to the Battle of Seven Oaks, books nominated for this year’s Margaret McWilliams Award for historical writing cover at least 200 years of Manitoba’s history.

The Manitoba Historical Society offers the award in two categories — scholarly and local history — and this year three titles are nominated in the former and eight in the latter.

Scholarly titles in the running are: Medicare’s Histories, by Esyllt W. Jones, James Hanley and Delia Gavrus and For a Better World: The Winnipeg General Strike and the Workers’ Revolt, by James Naylor, Rhonda L. Hinther and Jim Mochoruk (both from University of Manitoba Press); and The Fur Trader: From Oslo to Oxford House, by Einar Odd Mortensen with Gerd Kjustad Mortensen, edited by Ingrid Urberg and Daniel Sims (from University of Alberta Press).

Local histories are In Our Back Yard: Keeyask and the Legacy of Hydroelectric Development, edited by Aimée Craft and Jim Blaley (U of M Press); Taken from the Homestead: A History of Prairie Pioneers, by Sandra Rollings-Magnusson (Heritage House); Of Savages and Beasts: The Parson and the Carnage at Seven Oaks, by Lorren Pettit (self-published); Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Services: A History, by Allan Levine (Heartland Associates); Max Blankstein: Architect, by Murray Peterson (Winnipeg Architecture Foundation); Osborne Village, An Architectural Tour, by Susan Algie and James Wagner (Winnipeg Architecture Foundation); L’Université de Saint-Boniface: 200 ans d’évolution, by Michel Verrette (Editions des Plaines); and Flyway, by Sarah Ens (Turnstone Press).

● ● ●

Organizers of the Manitoba Book Awards have decided to announce the winners of this year’s prizes in person tomorrow (June 11) rather than online, as they were doing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The gathering, which will take place at McNally Robinson’s Grant Park location tomorrow starting at 3 p.m., is free to attend and will be an informal affair.

The event replaces the one slated to take place in the fall during the Thin Air: Winnipeg International Writers’ Festival.

booknewsbob@gmail.com

Report Error Submit a Tip

More Stories

Impact of Winnipeg hoops giant Laping went well beyond coaching

Joshua Frey-Sam 7 minute read Preview

Impact of Winnipeg hoops giant Laping went well beyond coaching

Joshua Frey-Sam 7 minute read Friday, Aug. 28, 2026

In life, few connected with others like Jeff Laping.

A legendary high school basketball coach and influential educator for more than 30 years, he was a figurative giant in Winnipeg’s hoops community with an innate ability to resonate with anyone he met.

Laping was a best friend to many, a confidant to others, and a mentor to even more.

He died on Monday, one week after suffering from cardiac arrest.

Read
Friday, Aug. 28, 2026

Carney’s defence of Lake Ontario carries enormous weight

Niigaan Sinclair 4 minute read Preview

Carney’s defence of Lake Ontario carries enormous weight

Niigaan Sinclair 4 minute read Friday, Aug. 28, 2026

For centuries on Turtle Island (North America), explorers, map makers, and political leaders have erased Indigenous place names and substituted them — more often than not — with political, ethnocentric, and self-aggrandizing names.

In recent years, a few places on the continent have had Indigenous names re-established, but as of today, few of the original names are “official.”

So, it was no surprise when U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order directing the U.S. Department of the Interior and Board on Geographic Names to take steps within 30 days to officially rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America.”

The move may have been a result of the Canada-U.S. trade war and Trump’s pettiness and ego, but it also fits in perfectly with his career.

Read
Friday, Aug. 28, 2026

Puzzles Palace

1 minute read Monday, Jul. 27, 2026

To solve our puzzles, please subscribe with this special offer: |

Trump’s tariff tantrum, geopolitical turmoil could be blessings in disguise for Manitoba’s diversified economy

Conrad Sweatman 18 minute read Preview

Trump’s tariff tantrum, geopolitical turmoil could be blessings in disguise for Manitoba’s diversified economy

Conrad Sweatman 18 minute read Friday, Aug. 28, 2026

It’s early July and Warren Luky’s second last day before he retires as president of United Steelworkers Local 6166. After a career at the bargaining table and in and around mineshafts, Luky speaks candidly as he fires up a barbecue at his Thompson home.

Luky, who represents 472 miners at Vale’s Thompson mining operation along with other northern labourers, is quite aware of the buzzwords currently attached to his trade and the region.

Phrases like “Arctic sovereignty,” “trade diversification,” “Indigenous-led” and “critical minerals” have caught on with politicians of all stripes over the past couple years as federal and provincial governments tout the need for greater Canadian sovereignty, with the push for major infrastructure projects declared a matter of national interest.

In light of the bitter collapse in trade negotiations between Canada and the U.S. on Aug. 21 — a historic blow to cross-border relations — these phrases are bound to become more contagious.

Read
Friday, Aug. 28, 2026

Former care home nurse fined $8,000 for ‘disturbing in the extreme’ 2025 incident

Morgan Modjeski 3 minute read Preview

Former care home nurse fined $8,000 for ‘disturbing in the extreme’ 2025 incident

Morgan Modjeski 3 minute read Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026

A former nurse has been fined $8,000 and is facing numerous restrictions after making a mistake “no registered nurse should have made” by inserting 10 centimetres of gauze into a patient’s anus instead of dressing a nearby wound.

Read
Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026

Hydro announces CEO out after two years

Chris Kitching 6 minute read Preview

Hydro announces CEO out after two years

Chris Kitching 6 minute read Friday, Aug. 28, 2026

Allan Danroth is out as Manitoba Hydro’s president and CEO — a departure that came as a surprise to some observers — just two years after he was hired.

Danroth left for personal reasons, the Crown corporation’s board chair, Jamie Wilson, said Friday, while announcing chief operating officer Hal Turner as interim president and CEO ahead of a national and international search for a replacement.

“Today’s one of those days where you have a lot of mixed emotions,” Turner told reporters at Hydro’s downtown Winnipeg headquarters. “I just want to say on behalf of all the employees in Manitoba Hydro, we very much appreciate Allan’s leadership over the last two years.”

Turner wouldn’t say whether he will apply to be the next permanent CEO.

Read
Friday, Aug. 28, 2026