Nominated for the OLA Red Maple Award: Crush. Candy. Corpse

by | Oct 15, 2012 | Sylvia McNicoll

Writers love libraries, they’re our paradise.

The angels who help us around there are the librarians.  Over the summer a flock of the angels spend their times reading all the Canadian children’s books and making lists of ten for each tree award.  Each different tree represents a different age group. The Silver Birch is the tree for grades four to six for example.  My novel Bringing Up Beauty won this award and I would say it launched my career even though I’d written eight books before it.

Only ten books make a list and I think the criteria cannot  be that the books are the best, but rather that they are appealing in unique ways.  I’m not sure.  I just know fabulous books make the list and fabulous books don’t. Being nominated for a tree award by a group of these angels sends us halfway to heaven.  When I write a story, I’m always hoping for an audience of readers, a big audience.  When you’re nominated for a tree, all the schools participating order a set of your novels.  That delivers many readers to my story.

So I’m very happy to announce that Crush. Candy. Corpse was nominated for the Red Maple Award.  This would be for grade 7 and 8.

I love the competition on the list and hope to read all those books. Hope you will too.