Art and Soul
A winning title, a star illustrator, and an immigration story featuring Bob Ross.
And the winner of the BC and Yukon 2025 Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize is….
No surprises here. I was one of the jurors!
I signed up last year. The opportunity was a perk of having been a finalist of the prizes. Two big boxes of books arrived at my doorstep in December, hand-delivered thanks to the postal strike. Over the holiday, my kids and I delved into more than fifty illustrated fiction and nonfiction titles. A juror was to choose only five, with the first automatically becoming a finalist for the prizes. Most of the books I chose ended up making the shortlist, which means other jurors had coincidentally preferred the same books.
If you’ve read my bedtime lullaby When Stars Arise or an advanced copy of My Language Is a Garden, you can probably guess my top pick. But by summer, when we were to choose the winner, I’d become very indecisive. I could easily imagine any of the five being chosen as the best of the best. Who doesn’t love Brady Sato’s soft nostalgic colours and ethereal lighting? Who could turn down Mei Yu’s puppy-eyed character arriving to Vancouver from China? Who could not marvel at Desiree Dumont’s detailed pointillism? In keeping with my five-star tendencies, I wanted each of the five titles to be a star.
But after a round of deliberation, A Face Is A Poem won the approval of all jurors. Here’s the description we wrote:
“A Face Is a Poem is an inquisitive glance at the familiar and unusual landscapes of faces. Wonderous questions cast myriad reflections upon all kinds of near-and-dear faces, increasing our attentiveness to what makes each one unique. Morstad’s charming illustration style, inclusive of monochrome line drawing, watercolour, collage, hand-lettering and graphic elements, her careful attention to detail, her use of visual variety, and her talent for composition all support the kaleidoscope of ideas that makes this work remarkable. As faces are of the first landscapes children explore, this book offers multiple points of connection and discovery for families.”
The first couple times I read Morstad’s book, my enjoyment was mostly constrained to its concepts and humour. The narrative switches perspective a lot, and you get the sense the author/illustrator was just having fun brainstorming or associating different concepts. But as my fellow jurors and I pieced together our statement, the intimacy of the book became strikingly apparent. Of course! Isn’t this how faces look in the eyes of a baby as they reach up to their loved ones for affection and stimulation? When they have yet to crawl or walk, isn’t the face of a loved one their whole world? And what if that face never smiles???!!! Oh my goodness. Please smile at your babies, people. First impressions are important!
But you may be wondering which book my kids liked the most, and so, I give you the winner of the 2025 Alaraj Junior Juror category:
They laughed on every page. They related to all the character’s circumstances because feeling shame and embarrassment at school is the domain of all children, whether they are new to a country or not. The narrative was so well paced, full of ups and downs and funny asides, but the author/illustrator’s message was important, as well. It relates to Mei Yu’s experience immigrating as a young child to Vancouver. Her difficulties learning the language were solved by her talent to draw pictures and her love of libraries. Through art and storytelling, Mei Yu solved the alienation she felt when learning a new language in a new country. Now, through her YouTube channel and instructional drawing books, she’s teaching a whole new generation the gift of finding your art and soul.
The theme of Mei Yu’s book and life story connects with Leila Boukarim’s, Rima and the Painter, which released this year. Also part memoir, Leila’s story recalls the influence Bob Ross, a television personality and painter, had on her during her first years in Canada. Ross’s soothing voice and stunning artwork were a source of connection in an isolating new country. Drawing inspiration from his gift, Rima (Boukarim’s character) begins to develop her own talents, which encourages her mother to put aside homesickness and join in the fun of creativity. Together they build a new sense of place and belonging.
If you meet Leila today, you’ll see she’s still hard at work solving problems with art and soul. Check out www.coastallinespress.com to learn about the fundraising initiative she founded with a collective of talented writers from Gaza. Through Zines from Gaza, the collective publishes independent booklets of poetry, essays, and testimonies that travel like tiny vessels from coast to coast, carrying stories of survival, resistance, and hope.
Proceeds from every zine directly fund essential supplies for families under siege.
Their name, Coastal Lines Press, honors the Mediterranean Sea, which anchors life in the region, and celebrates the “lines” of language - words, sentences, prose, and poems - that connect writers to readers worldwide.
Look for this logo online: @zinesfromgaza (insta) @coastallinespress.com (bluesky)
What are you devoting your “art and soul” to these days?
(Edits may occur after publication.)