Tag: kidslit

Coop Wins MYRCA Award!

Posted on by Mel

Congratulations to Larry Verstraete on winning the 2026 MYRCA Sundogs Award for 2026 with Coop For Keeps!

The MYRCA Awards have been promoting Canadian children’s literature since 1990. Each year, nominations are announced in the Sundog and Northern Lights categories, and students from across Manitoba read and vote for their favourites! Find out more about the MYRCAs and how you can get involved here.

Coop For Keeps is the follow-up to Coop The Great, which was also nominated for a Sundog award, among other recognitions. The series follows lovable, down-and-out dachshund, Coop. In the first book, Coop is adopted by Mike who gives him a loving home and tells him stories of great dogs before bed each night. Coop wonders if he could ever be a brave, great dog too. When Mike and his grandchildren are in trouble, Coop is put to the test!

In Coop For Keeps, we find Coop living with Mike’s daughter and her children, and the many guests who come and go from the family’s rented rooms. Coop is put to the test again when neighbourhood bullies and a mysterious guest threaten his family. Will Coop be able to rise to greatness again and find his forever home?

“Coop for Keeps is a wonderful story about family, love and growing together through life’s challenges. Award-winning author Larry Verstraete does a fantastic job of weaving the themes of loss and grief, bullying, and knowledge of crows into a moving yet often times funny story. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.” — Mary Harelkin Bishop, CM Review 

Hallie, an adorable heeler, lays beside a copy of Coop For Keeps

Spring Launches Begin!

Posted on by Mel

Our first book launch of the spring is coming up. Anna Rosner is launching Last Year With Maddy at Mabel’s Fables in Toronto on April 21st at 6:30 PM

Anna will be joined by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch and Lorna Schultz Nicholson for a night of fantastic readings. Don’t miss it!

Mabel’s Fabels | 540 Mount Pleasant Road | Toronto

Last Year with Maddy is a story of loss, hope, and eventual recovery, inspired by events in my life. At its heart are the complicated social relationships children must all navigate, and the belief that good friendships are worth our love and time. In addition, I hope you’ll find it helps expose young readers to classical music and short excerpts of poetry, celebrating the arts.” — Anna Rosner, author

Grab your copy of Last Year With Maddy at your local bookstore this April!

Fall Events!

Posted on by Mel

Don’t miss these upcoming author events across Canada.

With a crop of great books launching, our authors are keeping busy this fall season.

GHOSTS OF GASTOWN

  • October 19th at 12:30, Raven’s End Books in Winnipeg
  • October 26th, Owl’s Next Books in Calgary
  • October 30th, Audrey’s Books, Edmonton

PRAIRIE ODDITIES

  • November 1st at McNally Robinson. Darren will be joined by Gordon Goldsborough for this book launch!
  • November 22nd at Whodunit Books. A conversation with Darren and bookstore owner, Michael.

Arielle Aaronson – Women in Translation Month

Posted on by Angeline

August is Women in Translation Month, an annual celebration of women writers from around the world writing in languages other than English. It’s also a chance to recognize the women who work to translate works from other languages into English in order to share those voices. This month, we want to share some words from Arielle Aaronson, translator of the recent translation of Marie-Renée Lavoie’s middle grade novel, The Curious Misadventures of Kitty the Cat. Here she explains a little bit of what it’s like to bring a story from one language into another.

“This is the fourth title by Marie-Renée Lavoie that I’ve translated. Every time I sit down with one of her books, it feels like I’m continuing a conversation with an old friend. I get to laugh at her humor and wit, but I’m also able to watch her characters and themes develop as her writing evolves. It’s a lot like sitting in the passenger seat for a very scenic drive. Often you can tell where the car is headed, sometimes you want to reach over and take the wheel, but mostly you act as a second pair of eyes and ears (or paws, in this case).

For this book, it was such fun to imagine the universe of a family pet. My task was threefold: I had to translate Marie-Renée’s words into English, create an English voice for Kitty himself, and develop a style that was accessible yet goofy enough to draw in younger readers. Some of my biggest challenges involved striking the right tone for a pun (would you believe it took me months to come up with”poo-tunia”?) or landing on a name like “Spitball.” If I’ve done my job right, you’ll fall in love with Kitty just as I did.”

Hot Summer to Fall Launches

Posted on by marketing

Summer has been hot hot from coast to coast and we hope you have found time to curl up in the shade with a great book!

It’s never too early to jot fall book launches into your calendars and we hope you can join us for the following Winnipeg events at McNally Robinson on Grant:

October 11th – Parallel Prairies, edited by Darren Ridgley and Adam Petrash, will get you set to spook!

October 25th – More Abandoned Manitoba, Gordon Goldsborough’s much anticipated follow-up to the 2016 hit!

November 18th – Coop The Great launches his adventure! This middle grade book by Larry Verstraete will have you rooting for this down-and-out dachshund.