Last week, at a very glamourous and well attended ceremony in Toronto, my picture book Le bonnet magique won the Prix Trillium du livre jeunesse (Trillium Award for Children’s Books). What an incredible honour to receive this prize!

2025 marks my 25th year as an author and Le Bonnet magique/The Magic Cap is my 30th (ish!) children’s book. Needless to say that I had been dreaming of being selected for this award for a long time.

2025 also marks the first time that a picture book wins this award since the category covers ALL children’s books aimed at readers 0 to 18 years old. This year’s finalists in my category included Michèle Laframboise with her sci-fi novel Rose du désert and playwrite Eudes La Roche-Francoeur with Le Roi Poubelle, an environmental-themed play for middle graders.

Le bonnet magique/The Magic Cap is a story of hope, friendship, and magic. And that is exactly what I felt in that room as I addressed the assembled crowd of book lovers, writers and publishers attending the ceremony at the Toronto Reference Library.

By awarding my picture book this award, the jury confirmed the importance of magic, hope and gentleness in children’s litterature as a salve to the harshness of everyday life.

Winning the Trillium award motivates me to keep creating stories for kids for years to come.

I would like to thank the team at Ontario Créatif/Ontario Creates and the members of the jury for their hard work showcasing our local creators.

Lastly, I would also like to thank my editor, Nadie Robert at Comme des géants and the illustrator of Le bonnet magic, Charlotte Parent, without whom this book would not exist.

Here are a few pictures of the wonderful event – a night which will stay etched in my memory for a long time.

Thank you and long life to children’s books!

More good news! El barret màgic, the Catalàn version of The Magic Cap, has been nominated for the XXVI Premi Llibreter (the Librarians’ Award) in the picture book category.
Thank you to the team at Flamboyant for taking out little gnomes under their wing. I love it when my words travel the world.

Good news! Le Bonnet magique (The Magic Cap) has been nominated for the french Trillium Children’s Book Award! It is a great honour to be nominated with such talented authors and varied stories.

Since 1987, the Trillium Book Award / Prix Trillium encourages excellence in literature by investing in writers from Ontario. Past winners include Margaret Atwood, Timothy Findley and Michael Ondaatje. This year, I have the pleasure of being nominated at the same time and in the same category as sci-fi writer Michèle Laframboise and playwright Eudes La Roche-Francoeur.

⏰ Winners will be announced live in Toronto on June 18th! 

To learn more about the other finalists, click on the picyure bellow. Bonne chance à tous!  

Some happy news!

My biographical picture book No Horses in the House: The Audacious Life of Artist Rosa Bonheur has been short listed for the prestigious IODE Jean Throop Award!

What an honour it is to have my book amongst the five finalists, rubbing shoulders with some of the most well-known and talented children’s book authors and illustrators from Ontario. Congratulations to all, includidng my good friends Frieda, Ruth, Danielle!

The winner will be announced on April 20th 2024 at the IODE Ontario annual general meeting in Goderich, Ontario. Fingers crossed!

I am thrilled to announce that my picture book, Sergeant Billy: The True Story of the Goat Who Went to War, has recently won not one, not two but THREE young readers’ choice awards.

That’s right! Saskatchewan’s young readers voted and, yesterday, the very exciting news came that Sergeant Billy is this year’s winner of the Shining Willow Award.

Being that Sergeant Billy is a goat that came from the town of Broadview in Saskatchewan, I am especially happy that this true story resonated with the readers of this province.

Thank you to all the kids who voted for Billy and to all the teachers, librarians, parents and organizers that make these litterary awards possible.

I am thrilled to announce that Sergent Billy : La vraie histoire du chevreau devenu soldat ( the French edition of Sergeant Billy) has won the Prix Mélèze 2021! The Prix Mélèze is one of the three French prizes awarded by the Forest of Reading program – a “readers’ choice” award run by the Ontario Library Association.

My books have often been long-listed for various Forest of Reading awards. Last year, my picture book Tellement sauvage was even an honour book. That’s pretty cool. But this is the first time that I win!

Who knew that a true story from over 100 years ago would still resonate with today’s young readers? I am truly honoured!

Congratulations to all the finalists as well as all the young readers, their teachers, librarians and all the volounteers that make the Forest of Reading program possible.

Good news! My historical picture book Sergent Billy : La vraie histoire du chevreau devenu soldat (the French version of Sergeant Billy) is a finalist for the Prix Mélèze in ABO’s Forest of Reading program!

I am thrilled and honoured because not only is this an award for young readers in my home province (yeah Ontario!) I am also a finalist amongst a great number of authors and illustrators that I respect and admire!

To see a video of all the Prix Mélèze nominees, click here!

The winning title will be announced in May 2021. This gives you tons of time to enter your class. Just sayin’ 😉

Bonne chance à tous les finalistes!