THUNDER BAY — It has been a great autumn for city author Jean E. Pendziwol and the illustrator whose work she calls "stunning".
They have won not one but two major literary awards for Skating Wild on an Inland Sea.
On Wednesday, the Canada Council for the Arts awarded her and illustrator Todd Stewart a Governor General's Literary Award in the Young People's Literature/Ilustrated Books category.
They will split the $25,000 prize.
Just two weeks ago, the two took home the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award and $25,000 apiece for the same book in a competition administered by the Canadian Children's Book Centre.
"It's really been quite an honour and a thrill just to have my work recognized this way," Pendziwol told Newswatch in an interview Wednesday. "It's been such a fun ride, and very affirming as a picture book author."
She's received a number of recognitions and awards for her books for kids and for her adult-oriented stories, but said "This is the first time that a work that I've created has been recognized with awards at this level. My work in the past has been shortlisted, or a finalist for the Governor General's Award and for the TD Children's Literature Award, but this is the first time that the book has won."
As outlined on the publisher's website, Skating Wild on an Inland Sea describes the experience of two children skating on frozen Lake Superior, including the haunting "singing" that occurs as the ice expands and contracts.
Pendziwol said Montreal-based Stewart travelled to Thunder Bay and spent time in the area so he could familiarize himself with the geography, the boreal forest and the lake.
"I think there's kind of this magic that happens in a picture book somewhere between the words and the images, something that exists with the two when they're combined that wasn't there in either one before. And I think that's especially so with this book because it is so evocative of place and so specific to Northwestern Ontario and Lake Superior."
She's had the opportunity to read from the book – aimed at ages three to six – before audiences since its release last fall, and has found it very rewarding.
"I've been able to do that in Thunder Bay where children are familiar with the environment, where they can look at the images and hear the words and connect to the experience of skating on wild ice...I've also been able to share the story with children who aren't from here, and who are not familiar with what winter is like on the shores of Lake Superior. It's just really enjoyable to get their reaction and their feedback to transporting them to a place that is perhaps a little bit unfamiliar."
This happens to be the 25th anniversary of the release of Pendziwol's first of about a dozen published books, No Dragons For Tea – Fire Safety for Kids and Dragons.
That work still has relevance today.
"Fire safety educators, teachers, and parents are still turning to that book as a way to empower kids with fire safety information," she said.
Pendziwol's newest children's book, to be published by Scholastic, is due for release in the spring of 2025.
