A book with local ties topped a pair of 2017 lists.
Hello Humpback! – by Robert “Lucky” Budd, a historian and writer who lives just beyond Oak Bay’s borders, and Roy Henry Vickers, a renowned First Nation artist and storyteller who graduated from Oak Bay High – was selected for the Toronto Public Library’s annual First and Best List. The list consists of the library’s annual top 10 Canadian Children’s books for children aged 0-5.
A BC Bestseller for 46 consecutive weeks, the children’s book also hit No. 2 in the Top 15 bestsellers of 2017 at Read Local BC, a project from the Association of Book Publishers of BC that celebrates BC’s authors, publishers, bookstores, and libraries.
“It’s incredibly exciting,” said Budd, at home in Victoria. “It’s exciting to see that so many little kids are connecting with the art of the West Coast.”
It’s indicative, he says, that they’ve achieved the goal set on an August evening overlooking the Skeena River. With eagles soaring overhead Budd wondered if they could share the beauty of the West Coast with the three young children playing on the lawn in front of him. The inspiration for Hello Humpback!
“It’s just so exciting to be part of such a vibrant publishing industry out here,” Budd says. “In BC people are reading books to their kids.”
Hello Humpback! is the first in their series of board books created for the youngest readers.
“That’s what we tried to accomplish and it’s amazing to see so many people resonating with that,” Budd says.
“We’re very excited to be continuing,” Budd says.
They’re planning the counting book, one through 10, called One Eagle Soaring, then colours will finish the three-book collection.
The Haunting of Vancouver Island, featuring stories of Oak Bay, is also on the Top 15 list. Shanon Sinn explores Oak Bay’s most famous ghost and more modern spirit in The Haunting of Vancouver Island: Supernatural Encounters with the Other Side a collection of 25 spellbinding true tales of the supernatural from the top to the bottom of Vancouver Island.
cvanreeuwyk@oakbaynews.com
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