Here is the
Shortlist for the 2004 Ruth Schwartz Award
with summaries by Andrea Deakin:
Continue reading Ruth Schwarz Shortlist.
Awards: March 2004 Archives
71-year-old Brazilian author Lygia Bojunga has won the second annual Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for Literature, for dissolving "the boundaries between fantasy and reality."
Andrea Deakin reports:
The Vicki Metcalfe Award for Children's Literature ($15,000) is awarded to the author of a body of work in children's literature that, in the opinion of the judges, demonstrates the highest literary standards.
This year's award has been given to Roslyn Schwartz, creator of the
beloved Mole Sisters series. Born in Montreal, Roslyn Schwartz moved to England with her family when she was two years old. She grew up in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, and attended a Rudolph Steiner school in Sussex, close to Ashdown Forest. Here she met her first mole.
The Mole Sisters books have become great favourites with small children. They depict the everyday adventures of two happy little siblings as they explore their world. Gentle, optimistic and playful, the two inquisitive little moles tackle every adventure with imagination and affection. The texts, wisely published in a small format for little hands, are illustrated with Roslyn Schwartz's coloured pencil drawings - a little splash of colour framed by the white page.
The jury citation states: "Roslyn Schwartz is a virtuoso of the picture book form. In all her books, but most especially in the Mole Sisters stories, she demonstrates how minimal text, tiny pictures and hilariously unambitious images can convey worlds of meaning and character. Playful, intelligent, and peopled with unforgettable characters, Schwartz's titles are a significant, inimitable contribution to Canadian children's literature."
