CANVAS bags 4 wins at 7th National Children’s Book Awards

Four books from CANVAS (The Center for Art, New Ventures, and Sustainable Development) were recognized at the 7th National Children’s Book Awards. The ceremonies were streamed live via the Facebook page of PBBY (The Philippine Board on Books for Young People) on the 39th National Children’s Book Day, July 19, 2022.

Choosing up to ten titles from publications of the two previous years, the National Children’s Book Awards give honor to the best publications for children and young adults. Three CANVAS books, published in the years 2020 and 2021 were included in the list of the Best Reads for Kids in 2022. Below are the winning books and their citations from the jury.

Kakatok sa Bahay ni Benok (Mon Sy and Faye Abantao)

The eerie and mysterious cover invites readers to grab the book and follow the harrowing story about tokhang. The distinct dark art style reinforces the horror story about the drug war. In the darkness that enveloped the community of Sitio San Nikolas, people bravely banded together to face the “Knockers.”

Safe Space: A Kid’s Guide to Data Privacy (Gigo Alampay and Studio Dialogo)

Data privacy is a serious and hard-to-explain topic, especially to kids. Fortunately, this book published by Canvas did not shy away from this task, and even succeeded beyond expectation. The choice of words, illustrations and activities are very engaging and thoughtful. The tone — matter-of-fact and direct — is respectful of its audience. We need more of these informative, well-made and timely books.

Youthink: Fight Fake News (Gigo Alampay and Studio Dialogo)

We are in an age of information explosion, and with it comes the dangers of being exposed to both misinformation and disinformation. Children and the youth are often susceptible to this. There must be a way by which they can learn to be more critical of what they read or see on the internet. YouThink: Fight Fake News is a zine-style activity book that comes in handy as young people navigate through this very complicated world. It can also help teachers find ways of bringing critical literacy in the classroom.

A separate jury of young readers selected books to be included in the Kids’ Choice list. The CANVAS book I am the Change in Climate Change (Alyssa Peleo-Alampay, Ph.D. and Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan) was also included in this roster.