Contemporary Canadian Picture Books
- Author Name: Beverley Brenna, Richard Dionne, & Theresa Tavares
- Award Year: 2022
- Publisher: Brill
- Publication Date: 2021
- ISBN: 978-90-04-46508-4
- Author Website: http://www.beverleybrenna.com
About the Book
College of Education, U of S faculty member Dr. Beverley Brenna worked with two colleagues to publish this review of more than 200 Canadian picture books issued by publishing houses between 2017 – 2019. Themes in the guide match broad curriculum trends in education, offering ideas for educators, public libraries, researchers, picture book creators and families. Suggested reader-response activities include frameworks for critical literacy discussions, and annotated bibliographies specifically recognize titles by Indigenous authors and illustrators. One full chapter is dedicated to original interviews of rising stars in writing and illustration. Author goals included identifying the wealth of talent we have in Canada and seeing these books in the hands of readers young and old. Available in paperback, hardcover, or digitally via Open Access, this volume was supported by SSHRC funding and co-authored with USask Interdisciplinary Master of Arts student Theresa Tavares and longtime Canadian publisher Richard Dionne.
About the Author
Beverley Brenna worked in Saskatchewan elementary schools for many years as a classroom and special education teacher. She is currently a professor in curriculum studies at the U of S where her research interests are literacy and Canadian children's literature. She has published 14 books for young people and numerous other academic works for adults. Richard Dionne has been an editor and publisher in the Canadian book business for over twenty years. He spent much of that time as publisher of Red Deer Press, a small firm specializing in award-winning Canadian picture books, novels, and non-fiction for youth. Richard holds a graduate degree in history from York University and lives in Toronto. Theresa Tavares is an Interdisciplinary Studies MA student at the University of Saskatchewan, living in Saskatoon. She has an English degree and a passion for Gender Studies, which led her to research the approach of social justice in her favourite form of literature: picture books. Theresa has a professional background in publishing, working with children's and YA literature in Brazil, and she loves getting lost in the way the words and images seem to waltz in a good picture book.