Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award

The nominations are in for the 2011/2012 Hackmatack Children's Choice book Awards and we are happy to see that Cary Fagan and Dušan Petričić's Jacob Two-Two on the High Seas is on the list for English Fiction.

From their website:
The Hackmatack Children's Choice Book Award is an Atlantic Canadian book award which allows children to choose their favourite Canadian and Atlantic Canadian books. This year, the children will read from a selection of forty books divided in four categories: English Fiction, English Non-fiction, French Fiction and French Non-fiction, chosen for their literary, cultural and enjoyment factors. The books have generally been published within two or three years of selection.

Quill & Quire: Books of the Year 2009

Jacob Two-Two on the High Seas was selected as one of the Books of the Year from Quill & Quire. Congratulations to Cary Fagan and Dušan Petričić!

Jacob Two-Two on the High Seas
Cary Fagan; Dušan Petričić, illus. (Tundra Books)

When it was announced that author Cary Fagan would be writing a fourth volume (that is, volume two plus two) in the late Mordecai Richler’s Jacob Two-Two series, the news was met with some skepticism. But with Jacob Two-Two on the High Seas, Fagan (whose Thing-Thing was one of Q&Q’s books of the year in 2008) has produced a lively tale of pirates, transatlantic voyages, and the usual heedless parents. Best of all, the book was an occasion for newly illustrated, hardcover editions of Richler’s original classics, released simultaneously by Tundra Books.

CBC: Your Favourite Kids' Books

You voted! The Jacob Two-Two series is in the Top 10 list of Your Favourite Kids’ Books, compiled by CBC.

You said it — we compiled it. Thanks to all your comments, Book Club, we've got a Top 10 list of Favourite Children's Books. I love that you suggested a range of classics and newer titles and books for all ages. Thanks for the great online conversation — here is our Top 10, as voted by you:

1. Anne of Green Gables — L.M. Montgomery
2. Charlotte's Web — E. B. White
3. Love You Forever — Robert Munsch
4. Jacob Two-Two series — Mordecai Richler
5. Where the Wild Things Are — Maurice Sendak
6. Hush, Hush — Becca Fitzpatrick
7. Diary of a Wimpy Kid — Jeff Kinney
8. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret — Judy Blume
9. The Hunger Games — Suzanne Collins
10. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory — Roald Dahl

2009 EYE WEEKLY Holiday Gift Guide

The 2009 EYE WEEKLY Holiday Gift Guide recommends Jacob Two-Two on the High Seas!

Introduce the late Mordecai Richler’s ginger-haired hero to your sib’s kid: Jacob Two-Two is back for Generation Z (with the help of author Cary Fagan) and is on the move to Canada, braving the ocean waters on the SS Spring-a-Leak. Jacob Two-Two on the High Seas by Cary Fagan, $12.99 at Type Books, 394 Spadina Rd., 416-487-8973.

Bernie Goedhart on Jacob Two-Two

Click on the links below to read Bernie's column NARRATIVES: Literary News and Reviews from Montreal.

Reminiscing of a different sort
Wed, Sep 24 2008
By Bernie Goedhart

Richler redux...
Wed, Oct 28 2009
By Bernie Goedhart
This article also includes a link to a video of Mordecai Richler and his son Jacob, on Peter Gzowski's 90 Minutes Live (Dec. 16, 1976). The video can be viewed on CBC Digital Archives.