The 2008 Governor General's Literary Awards, one of the most prestigious in Canada, announced its selection of finalists last week.
Kim LaFave of Roberts Creek has been nominated in the category of children's literature illustration for his work on Shin-chi's Canoe, with text by Nicola I. Campbell (Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press). The judges wrote: "The use of deceptively simple scenes to evoke powerful emotions is one of the many techniques Kim LaFave uses to tell this poignant story. His strong illustrations, using line and subdued colours to best effect, help the reader to relate deeply with what takes place in the story."
And it is a powerful story.
"This book was a struggle - quite a stretch for me," LaFave said.
He said usually his children's illustrations are light-hearted, but this one required more thought and research. Shin-chi is a little boy who will be taken from his family according to the laws of the day to live at the church-run residential school where he must stay until the salmon spawn again. His sister, who also attends, gives him a gift that he must keep hidden - a small cedar canoe to remind him of his home.
A previous book by the same author, Shi-shi-etko, tells the sister's own story and was also illustrated by LaFave. "The author is a wonderful writer who based the story on her own family history," said LaFave. (Campbell is an Interior Salish and Métis who grew up in the Nicola Valley.) "It was a balancing act to keep that gentleness to it, and have a respect for the history."
LaFave took his usual approach of starting and stopping, trying different paths, then spent time researching the story at the archives to ensure accuracy in the style of dress and appearance of the buildings. He also attended a survivors' conference where he met many former residential school students.
"They were gentle people, supportive," he recalls. "They gave me lots of details that influenced my illustrations."
His depiction of the children's downcast eyes and his choice of sombre hues, as opposed to the usual brightly-coloured pictures for children, also reflect the mood of the story. Shin-chi's Canoe is expected to be in Coast bookstores by mid-November.
LaFave has illustrated many award-winning books for children. The most successful was Amos's Sweater by Janet Lunn, which won the Ruth Schwartz Children's Book Award (judged by an all children jury), the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Award and the Governor General's Literary Award. That was back in the late '80s.
"At the time I thought, 'that was easy,'" LaFave laughs, "but then, that was nearly 20 years ago."
Although his art career used to involve commercial publications, he is much happier now to concentrate on his illustration work for various book publishers and his own paintings, which can be seen at Westwind Gallery in Gibsons. A total of 1,469 books were nominated for this year's Governor General's Awards, which are funded, administered and promoted by the Canada Council. Each winner will receive $25,000 and a specially-bound copy of the winning book. The winners will be announced on Tuesday, Nov. 18, and the presentation will take place at the McCord Museum of Canadian History in Montreal.
