25th Trillium Award

The Stamp Collector Selected as 2013 Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award Honor Book

 
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The Stamp Collector, by Jennifer Lanthier

Fitzhenry & Whiteside has announced that The Stamp Collector by Jennifer Lanthier and illustrated by François Thisdale, has been selected as a 2013 Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award Honor Book. Each year, this award is given out to an outstanding new writer and a new illustrator by the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation. The award is co-presented by the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection. They search for books that reflect the qualities of childhood that everyone has in common, a caring and supportive family, and the cultural diversity of our world.

Jennifer Lanthier’s first picture book, The Stamp Collector is inspired by real-life imprisoned writers. In 2009 when she met exiled writer and journalist Jiang Weiping, she became inspired when he told her that it was important to write to Chinese prisoners, even if they would never see the letters, because the prison guards were stamp collectors.If the prison guards noticed the letter was written in English or the stamps were from Canada or the United States, they would assume that the prisoner was important and spare him harsh treatment. The book tells the story of two boys, one that becomes a prison guard and the other that becomes a writer. What Jennifer wanted to show was that while words have the power to imprison people, they can also liberate and bring hope.

For more information about the Ezra Jack Keats Book Award, please visit their website.

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