Kathy Stinson and Dusan Petricic Win Top Canadian Children's Literature Award

Posted on November 9, 2014

Author Kathy Stinson and illustrator Dusan Petricic have won the 10th annual TD Canadian Children's Literature Award for their book The Man With the Violin.

Stinson and Petricic will share the top prize of C$30,000. Their book, which has won multiple other awards and prizes, is based on the true story of top American violinist Joshua Bell who conducted a very interesting experiment. Bell took his priceless 1713 Huberman Stradivarius violin and his 18th century French bow by Francois Tourte into the Washington, D.C. subway and played for free while wearing a baseball cap.

No one stopped to listen to the music for more than a minute or two. This is one of the best violinists in the world playing one of the best violins in the world. The music, from all accounts, was sublime but busy commuters ignored the free concert. Bell, an American, was just made the Music Director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.

The book is told from the point of view of a little boy who is taking the subway with his mother. He wants to stop to listen to the music, but his mother does not. Eventually, he finds a way to make his mother stop to hear the incredible music that is being played for free.

An additional prize of C$10,000 prize will be shared between the authors of the books that made the shortlist: Ken Setterington for Branded by the Pink Triangle, Andrew Larsen for In the Tree House (illustrated by Dusan Petricic), Jean E. Pendziwol for Once Upon a Northern Night (illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault) and Teresa Toten for The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B. Andrew Larsen won the Fan Choice Award for his book In the Tree House. He will split the award of $5,000 with illustrator Dusan Petricic.

The award is sponsored by banking group TD, which owns TD Ameritrade in the U.S. The prizes are awarded to books which were written and illustrated by Canadians for children ages 1 to 12./p>