The Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award, or MYRCA, gives young people the opportunity to vote for their favourite Canadian Children’s or YA fiction book from a list of nominees. The list is chosen annually by the MYRCA committee, based on quality and reader appeal.

Voting is open to children in grades 5-8, who have read (or have heard read) at least 3 books from the current list of nominees. While many schools participate in the voting process, children may also cast their votes at any branch of the Winnipeg Public Library. This year, voting begins on March 19 and will be open until April 11.

The following is a small selection of the current nominees suitable for grades 5+—all enjoyable reads! Visit myrca.ca for a full list of the current nominees; or better yet, drop by any Winnipeg Public Library branch and check out their MYRCA displays! Young readers, let your voices be heard!

A Boy Named Queen by Sara Cassidy

Evelyn is both aghast and fascinated when a new boy comes to grade five and tells everyone his name is Queen. Queen wears shiny gym shorts and wants to organize a chess/environment club. His father plays weird loud music and has tattoos. How will the class react? How will Evelyn? Evelyn is an only child with a strict routine and an even stricter mother. And yet in her quiet way she notices things. She takes particular notice of this boy named Queen. The way the bullies don't seem to faze him. The way he seems to live by his own rules. When it turns out that they take the same route home from school, Evelyn finds there's a lot to be said for being true to yourself.

Look Out for the Fitzgerald-Trouts by Esta Spalding
Kim Fitzgerald-Trout took to driving with ease--as most children would if their parents would ever let them try. She had to. After all, she and her siblings live in a car. Meet the Fitzgerald-Trouts, a band of four loosely related children living together on a lush tropical island. They take care of themselves. They sleep in their car, bathe in the ocean, eat fish they catch and fruit they pick, and can drive anywhere they need to go--to the school, the laundromat, or the drive-in. If they put their minds to it, the Fitzgerald-Trouts can do anything. Even, they hope, find a real home.
Pandas on the Eastside by Gabrielle Prendergast

When ten-year-old Journey Song hears that two pandas are being held in a warehouse in her neighborhood, she worries that they may be hungry, cold and lonely. Horrified to learn that the pandas, originally destined for a zoo in Washington, might be shipped back to China because of a diplomatic spat between China and the United States, Journey rallies her friends and neighbors on the poverty-stricken Eastside. Her infectious enthusiasm for all things panda is hard to resist, and soon she's getting assistance from every corner of her tight-knit neighborhood.

 

Sophie Quire and the Last Storyguard by Jonathan Auxier
 
The Inn Between by Marina Cohen
Eleven-year-old Quinn has had some bad experiences lately. She was caught cheating in school, and then one day, her little sister Emma disappeared on her way home from school. When Quinn's best friend Kara has to move away, she goes on one last trip with Kara and her family. They stop over at a Victorian inn that gives Quinn the creeps, and she begins to notice strange things happening. When Kara's parents and then brother disappear without a trace, the girls are stranded in a hotel full of strange guests, twisty hallways, and a nasty surprise beneath the floorboards. Will the girls be able to solve the mystery before it's too late?