In 2011, Iain Lawrence received the $20,000 Vicky Metcalf Award for Children's Literature [see below] from the Writers Trust of Canada and in 2007 he received the Governor General's Award for his juvenile novel, Gemini Summer (Delacorte, 2006).

Raised mostly in Toronto and Calgary, Iain Lawrence of Gabriola Island has spent many summers in a 40-year-old converted whaleboat exploring the coast. Lawrence has consequently produced Far-Away Places: 50 Anchorages on the Northwest Coast (Orca, 1995), with illustrations by his brother Donald, and a High Seas Trilogy for young readers: The Wreckers, The Smugglers and The Buccaneers.

The Skeleton Tree (Penguin Random House, 2016) is a survival story about two boys who must cope with their hostility to one another after they are stranded in the wilderness of Kodiak, Alaska, without a radio, flares or food. The pair are the lone survivors after the sinking of their boat operated by the uncle of twelve-year-old Chris who has an intense aversion to prickly Frank. As they learn to forage for food, Chris prefers the company of a curious and friendly raven. 978-1-10191-835-7 $19.99

According to its promotional copy for Gemini Summer: "In the quiet of Hog's Hollow, each member of the River family pursues a dream. Old Man River sets out to build a fallout shelter in case the war in Vietnam 'brings the end of everything;' his wife Flo, who collects Gone with the Wind dolls, attempts to pen her own Southern saga; Beau, their older son, suffers from 'space fever' and aspires to be an astronaut. As for Danny, the younger River boy, well, he just dreams of having a dog. Then in the spring of 1965 tragedy befalls the Rivers--a tragedy that makes the Old Man wish he'd never started building the shelter, stops Flo from finishing her bestseller, and leaves Beau grounded rather than airborne. But the tragedy does finally bring a dog into Danny's life. And not just any old dog. Danny comes to believe that the mixed-breed stray embodies the spirit of someone he dearly loves. He won't allow anyone to separate him from the dog, not even after it bites the neighborhood bully and the police are sent to take it away. Together Danny and his dog run off, heading toward Cape Canaveral, where the Gemini missions blast off from, and where dreams come true."

BOOKS:

High Seas Trilogy:
The Wreckers (1998)
The Smugglers (1999)
The Buccaneers (2001)

Ghost Boy (2000)
Lord of the Nutcracker Men (2001)
The Lightkeeper's Daughter (2002)
The Convicts (2004)
B for Buster (2004)
The Cannibals (2005)
Gemini Summer (Delacorte, 2006)
The Castaways (2007)
The Seance (2008)
The Giant-Slayer (2009)
The Winter Pony (2011)
The Skeleton Tree (2016) 978-1-10191-835-7 $19.99

Non-Fiction:

Far-Away Places: 50 Anchorages on the Northwest Coast (Orca, 1995)

[Photo Credit to Donald Lawrence]

[BCBW 2016] "Maritime" "Advice" "Kidlit"