Keep your kids reading this summer with these award-winning books

How many Canadian award-nominated children's books make it into your home?

Maybe,like many, you think that school libraries should be responsible for teaching children about themerits of award books. Maybe you also think that kids view award-winning books bookschosen to reflect high literary and artistic standardsas,well, a bit like homework.

• Books to keep Waterloo Region kids reading this summer

The most successful books for children begin with an engaging premise, encourageliteracy and learning, and end with echoes of "read it again!"

The annual awards for bestbooks in Canada have a multitude of titles that make the grade when it comes to balancingpopular fiction and literary merit. The key is to first look for a book that is utterly enveloping, with a pace that practically reads itself. Children should be hooked by the world-building and the characters so much that they lose themselves in the story, enjoying the flow ofconcentrated reading.

The most successful books for children begin with an engaging premise, encourage literacy and learning, and end with echoes of 'read it again.'- MandyBrouse, co-owner ofWords Worth Books in Waterloo

Harry Potter has this effect, so does The Hunger Games, Divergent, andanything written by John Green. In addition, Canadian award-winnersshow us whatliterature is capable of and how it can change our world view.

Not all award nominated books fill this mandate. In my opinion, some titles are chosenwith school curriculum in mind. Which isn't a bad thing: literature is a powerful way to engagewith any discipline. But, looking outside at long sunny days, here is a list of Canadian awardnominated kid's books that will also fit into any beach bag!

Age 5 and under

Mr. Postmouse's Rounds is an incredibly sweet story of a mouse postal worker out on hisrounds for the day. Told in a similar style as the classicThe Jolly Postman, Mr. Postmouse setsoff to deliver precious mail to the animal families in town.

Each page is a delightful cut-awayinterior of an animal's home you can see each room with the impeccable detail of a doll'shouse. In Crocodile's home, you can see the room with his enormous bathtub complete with astocked book case, while underneath his waterslide leads out into the front yard. Pictures,trinkets, food, and furniture in each of the homes tell a story about who lives there.

Textually, itseems like the simple story of mail delivery until you realize that a picture is really worth athousand words.You'll want to pick up this beautiful book again and again, and you'll findsomething you've missed each time.

Mr. Postmouse's Rounds was nominated for a 2016 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Award forChildren's Picture Books and is the winner of the 2016 Canadian Children's Book Centre BestBooks for Kids andTeens.

Ages 5-8

Butterfly Park is so precious you'll feel like you've stumbled on a secret garden.

Elly MacKay's illustration style is more like a mobile, three-dimensional diorama, or a tinycontinual movie set. It's as if the reader can put their hand into the scene and have a butterflyland on their finger.

MacKay creates her setting by cutting out and placing each ornately-paintedfigure before photographing the final print. The result is an incredible depth to each page and atender story to match.

When a little girl finds a gated Butterfly Park with no trace of butterflies,she searches for a way to attract them back. When she realizes that she can't force them, sheworks in her community to attract friends and resources to build a garden. Bigger than thisecological message about the importance of community gardens, Butterfly Park is a handbook onhow to create and nurture friendships and a sense of home.

Butterfly Park was nominated for a 2016 Blue Spruce award.

Ages 9-12

Pirate's Passage is a well-spun yarn and a great historical swashbuckling adventure set inNova Scotia in 1952. Jim's family owns and operates an inn on the coast and one dark andstormy night a stranger comes to shore.

Captain Johnson's boat is blown around in the storm andhe decides to stay with the family for a few months after hearing their sad tale.

Jim and CaptainJohnson embark on an unlikely friendship while the Captain teaches Jim about the history ofpiracy through the ages. Indeed, Captain Johnson seems to be quite older than helooks centuries older. This central mystery is just the beginning of the intrigue in Pirate'sPassage, culminating in an unforgettable conclusion. Pirate's Passage is Treasure Island meetsThe Hardy Boys meets The Goonies in this coastal romp through the history of piracy, and thefascinating characters who flocked to this profession.

Pirate's Passage won the 2006 Governor General's Literary Award for Children'sLiterature.

Ages 13-16

Susin Nielsen is like theJohn Hughes of teen fiction. (Hughes was famous for films like Pretty in Pink.)Her quirky cast of characterspraises the underdog nerd and humanizes the popular girl in a hilarious highschool setting.

WeAre All Made of Molecules is told in alternating narration between "Mathlete" Stewart andsocial "It" girl, Ashley. Ashley is horrified that her mother has remarried and that her newstepbrother is such a geek. The two teens can hardly find common ground until Stewartinadvertently plays matchmaker between his stepsister and her crush, Jared.

Where Nielsen'snarrative excels is in the backstory of each teen. Prepare for waterworks in the first few pages asStewart recounts the death of his mother, while Ashley has a family secret of her own. Told withwit, compassion, and tenderness, We Are All Made of Molecules is a book that reminds us thathome is what we make of it.

We Are All Made of Molecules was a 2015 Governor General's Literary Award nomineeand a 2016 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Award Nominee.

Ages 17 and up

Eric Walters is one of Canada's most prolific and award winning authors for kids and in2014 was named a Member of the Order of Canada. While there are a multitude of young adultbooks about dystopian and apocalyptic themes, Eric Walters has re-written the genre with thisseries.

In End of Days, we find out that an asteroid is scheduled to destroy the world and within a12-month period, a handful of the world's pre-eminent astrophysicists and scientists dieexceptthey aren't dead. They have been captured to work on the solution to doomsday.A wealthy investor has his own scheme to come up with a solution while Billy, only 16, leads anunderground gang of kids hoping to survive the asteroid and its apocalyptic consequences.

Society breaks down, doomsday cults emerge, and humanity is tested in this epic story that willleave you with more questions than answers.

End of Days was nominated for the Red Maple Award in 2013 and Regenesis, its sequel,was nominated for the 2016 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Award.

MandyBrouse, the co-owner of Words Worth Books in Waterloo, is writing a series of columns this summer with book suggestions to keep children and teens reading.