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| The Meaning Of Children ebook |
TMOC is a wonderful book...
but don't just take MY word for it.
Or my mother's!!
Please find below a selection of the honours accorded my work and also some of the many, many positive comments that have come my way...
Tooting my own horn did not come naturally to me, but it's what first-time authors with small literary publishers must do to help their books find a readership...
- 2010 David Adams Richards Prize
- Top 10, CBC-Scotiabank Giller Readers’ Choice
Contest
- Book of the Month, Eleanor London Cote Saint-Luc Public Library
To whet your appetite for this award winning and well-reviewed
collection, here are a slew of reader and reviewer comments
(I'd love to add yours to the list!)
Reader and Reviewer Response to
Beverly
Akerman’s
The Meaning Of
Children:
A keen, incisive vision into the hidden
world of children as well as intimate knowledge of the secret spaces that exist
between the everyday events of life. A work with a brilliant sense of
story…Magical, and so refreshing for me to read. I absolutely loved it and I
hope it goes on to do marvellous things. Yours is a luminous
talent.
~JoAnne Soper-Cook,
Author and Judge, 2010 David Adams Richards
Prize
Really liked it…there are all kinds of gems in your
stories.
~David Gutnick,
writer-broadcaster, CBC Radio
Loved your book; read it in one sitting.
Each [story] is either told by a child, or about a child. And it’s interesting
because I think depending on the age of the person reading it, you relate to
different ones. But especially to feminists, growing up with it, wrestling with
our beliefs, and whether it worked out or not… a lot of women in this book are
trapped. We were trapped by what we were brought up to believe. And then we’re
trapped by the marriages we find ourselves in, and the children we have… But on
the other hand, each story ends with a certain resolve. There’s that sense of
okay this is my situation, but. And that’s what the meaning of children is. It’s
about hope. It’s about the future.
A collection of 14 short stories which covers the range
of experience from the point of view of children, mums, and also aging parents
as well. It’s all there in this lovely little book, short stories about life in
a family that might just resemble yours. I wanted to congratulate you on the
publication of this book and I hope it goes far far afield for you. A wonderful
gift for mother’s day, perhaps more long lived than the usual cut
flowers.
This isn’t the invented childhood of
imagination and wonderment…[here] children both corrupt and redeem: each other,
family relationships and the female body.
~Katie Hewitt, The Globe & Mail
Akerman holds up our greatest fears, not
to dwell on them, but to marvel at our commitment to life, especially to passing
it on to others.
~Anne Chudobiak,
The Montreal Gazette
Haunting and powerfully emotive, drawing
on the subtleties of childhood, youth and parenthood that undermine us in
strange and unexpected ways. Your writing is polished and mature, something I am
always in awe of and why I got into publishing to begin
with.
~Meghan Macdonald,
Transatlantic Literary Agency
Akerman engages with dichotomies.
Childhood is that safe, magical, carefree time and place — but it’s also risky,
threatening, ominous and dangerous — full of impenetrable mystery around things
seen and experienced, but beyond understanding. And if it’s not too much of a
simplification or stating the obvious, life and the world are not gentle on
children simply for being children…If, as Dostoevsky once remarked, and as is
quoted on the collection’s frontispiece, “The soul is healed by being with
children,” it is the tragedy of adulthood that we become so isolated from
childhood — and what children offer us. Artfully, evocatively, Beverly Akerman’s
The Meaning of Children reminds
us of that.
Beverly’s background as a scientist, MSc and
twenty years as a molecular researcher, inevitably spills into the
stories…characters, the settings and her style. Intelligent, objective,
open-minded but not clinical, her prose is refreshing and unprejudiced. Her
characters are frank and genuine ...With The
Meaning of Children, we get a beautifully written exposé on the
meaning of life.
Just finished “Like Jeremy Irons.” That
was a tough one. Saying I loved it feels contrary to the agony I'm feeling right
now. (Perhaps I shouldn't have settled into it with a glass of wine?) Awesome
writing - even if my uterus is cramping!
~Lisa Dalrymple, Winner
of The Writers Union of Canada’s 2011 Writing for Children
Competition
Excellent book. Very well
written. I felt like I wanted to read an entire book for each chapter rather
than a short story. Very engaging. Worth
reading.
~Suzanne Bowles,
freelance writer, on Goodreads (5 stars)
Counter-intuitive to the title, for me
these stories resonate with the sad truth of being a grownup. Life is that damn
hard and just-under-the-surface tension saturates our existence. But the kids,
they know what's going on. They may not understand all the details but they know
the score. Akerman nails that sorrow, highlights it with unexpected humour,
credits our resilience and almost never skips a beat.
~Chris Benjamin, Author
of Drive-by Saviours, on
Goodreads (4 stars)
Your book is filled with insight and
wisdom and gorgeous moving stories...You are dazzling. (I had read “Pie” long
ago. It is just as moving the second time).
~Hal Ackerman (no
relation), UCLA Screenwriting Area Co-Chair and author of Stein Stoned and Stein
Stung
Exploring the dark side of the maternal and matrimonial
experience is both relevant and valuable, and Akerman is to be commended for her
choice of subject matter.
~B.A. Markus,
Montreal Review of
Books
All I seem to read these days are
parenting books. But I think I might be learning more about being a parent from
Beverly Akerman's The Meaning of
Children than from anywhere else. I can't put it
down.
I adore your knack for leaving questions
hanging in the reader's mind…and then there are those thought provoking zingers
tucked neatly inside the last thought, description or action of your narrators.
I haven't enjoyed short stories like this since Margaret Atwood, Barbara Gowdy
and Alice Munro.
~Rusti Lehay, Writer
and Editor
Beverly Akerman is what Alice Munro was
supposed to be.
~Mike Rose (received by
my publisher, via email)
A life-altering read is so rare for me,
and I imagine for many writers, with a critical eye often hard to keep closed
while hoping to get caught up and swept away while reading fiction for
pleasure...Her stories are as diverse as her changing career path and yet string
together a theme as connected as a genetic chain…Children weave their way
through every tale…always sparking the reader to question where in all these
stories sits their own story.
~Michelle Greysen,
Writer, Editor, and Blogger
I really enjoyed this
book. If you like short story collections a la Alice Munro style, I think you
will too.
~Julie
Harrison, Writer, Editor, and Blogger
[You show us how] our childhood
experiences affect us forever. And what we bury comes to the surface from time
to time…The story about the woman who couldn't touch anything without it dying
was sad and funny - loved the boys next door - and I liked PIE - as you have now
given me a simple recipe that I can remember for pie crust -I am a baker. And
the poor woman who had entered probably menopause and her marriage had broken
without her noticing it. She was just so angry and exhausted. So many women I
feel are and hide it.
~Carlene Orefici, via
Facebook
I enjoyed The Meaning of Children so much that I
wished there were twice as many stories! If I had to pick one, “Pour Un Instant”
was my favourite. I was sad to come to the end of the
book.
~Lisa De Nikolits,
Author of The Hungry Mirror, on
Amazon.ca
A great read. I loved this book. The stories are touching without
being overly maudlin. It's a true literary feat while remaining a fairly light,
pleasurable read.
~Alison Palkhivala,
Writer and Editor, on Amazon.ca
This morning I wrote to a friend in
Victoria. I
told her: ‘I finished Beverly Akerman's book and really liked it. The theme
throughout is children: being a child, being pregnant, abortion, losing a child,
being a father, giving a child for adoption. Touchy stuff but she has such
kindness, such compassion and infuses hope and love in the saddest situation.
She offers unique and surprising insights, it's never sappy or cliché. All this
within the short story frame, quite a feat in my opinion. If you can't find her
book, I'll send you my copy.’ Thank you for writing such an amazing book and for
promoting yourself at the gym. It was a bold and creative move. I would have not
known about your writing otherwise.
~Diane Des Roches,
budding writer
Comments from editors and contest
judges Akerman’s stories:
“Emotional and tightly written.”
~David Bright, Gemini Magazine
“Solid and very funny. Great
stuff!”
~Karl Jirgens, Editor, Rampike
“Oh, it's lovely. I like it when my body responds to
writing; right now there's an ache in my throat.”
~Susan Rendell, EarLit Shorts
“The judges liked…the resistance to the happy ending,
and the idea that there is often something or someone waiting for the small
mistake.”
~The Writers’ Union of Canada,
2007 Short Prose Competition Jury
“I love the mystery and the fear in this story--the
ending works so well.”
~Colleen Donfield, The Sun
“I entered all the changes…[and] just read (again) the
whole thing out loud...What a fantastic essay! I love it more with each
reading!”
~Sylvia Legris, Editor, Grain
Magazine
 |
| The Meaning Of Children, paperback, $19.95 at Amazon.ca, Chapters.ca, Archambault.ca and in fine stores. |
Entries from the CBC-Scotiabank Giller Prize Readers’ Choice Contest:
Johanna from Kelowna: "As a social
worker in child protection I really appreciated the focus and the insights into
the lives of children demonstrated in the work The Meaning of Children by
Beverly Akerman. Our children are our future and deserve more attention, love
and nurturing. Beverly's book is a method to that purpose; she
touched my heart to its core."
Kathe from Montreal: "I have been
savouring the stories one by one. I don't want this book to end. She writes so
simply but powerfully, and her characters stay with
you."
B Maurene from Montreal: "If the reality
of Akerman's skilful weaving of tales that can be all too true of the way
parents, families, and cultures place their hopes and dreams on children hits
home to contemporary child bearers, she could be building a better world. Few
who embark on the journey of parenting ever realize how great the
responsibilities are or how to meet the individual needs of children,
particularly those with difficulties. A should read for college and university
students, and a must read, among the hundreds of pregnancy and child rearing
how-to manuals, for parents attending pre-natal
classes."
Marla of Thunder Bay: "Beverly
Akerman is an extraordinary writer and I believe she deserves
it."
Suzan of Ottawa: "It was an absolute
joy to read. I laughed out loud at some stories and wept shamelessly at others,
all the while savouring every skilfully handpicked word. One cannot read The
Meaning of Children and not be moved in some way by the stories therein. It is a
beautiful quilt, made of exquisitely crafted pieces which when taken as a whole
is so much more than a sum of its parts."
Eva from Maple Ridge: "The
Meaning of Children should win because it is important for the reader to view
situation from the child's perspective."
Lynn from Belle River: "Beverly Akerman would be a good
candidate. Enlightening and refreshing."
Paula from Cornwall: "In her book The
Meaning of Children, Beverly Akerman gives us a snap shot of the reality of
childhood in diverse family situations. As and educator, I understand too
clearly that the reality that childhood is not always a "Norman Rockwell"
moment, but rather is a reflection of the very complex perception of an
individual child, whether pleasant or challenging, the question remains, is the
individual child free to be themselves or are they encouraged to put on a mask
to face their personal circumstances?"
Rusti of Stony Plain: "This
collection of short stories was stunning, captivating, wrenching and hopeful. I
wanted more when I finished the book."
Ken from Saskatoon: "The
author's insight into the minds of children and the lives touched by those
around them allow the reader to truly appreciate how impressionable these young
minds are, and how the events in our lives can effect how children perceive, and
register them. It also reminds me of how important my son is to me, as when I
face conflict or stress in my life, all of the problems disappear intantly when
I see him smile at me."
Kayla from Timmins: "This author
should make it to this year's Scotiabank Giller Prize because she writes books
on life's reality which is a subject that may teach kids like adults about some
of life's matters."
Rocio from Mississauga: "I think
Beverly Akerman, with The Meaning of Children, should be considered, because
throughout her book she shows how children can change our world, with their
hearts, dreams and tenderness. They do not even know how much this world changes
for the best just because they are part of it, and that is really touching and
marvellous."
Pauline from Montreal: "Beverly
Akerman's The Meaning of Children takes an eyes-wide-open look at real families.
No sentimentality here yet there's a ring of truth to the often quirky
situations people find themselves in that made me smile with recognition. A wry
smile at times, but Akerman writes pitch-perfect prose. This is Canadian
story-telling at its best."
Felicia from
Boisseavain:"The book touches on a lot of the biggest parental 'what ifs.'
Kidnapping. Hate crime. Death by drowning. Suicide. Even so, it would make a
good gift for a new mother. Akerman holds up our greatest fears, not to dwell on
them, but to marvel at our commitment to life, especially to passing it on to
others. Says one character, looking back, 'Life had been perfect ' but I'd been
too busy to notice."
Valerie from Toronto: "As an early
childhood educator I feel it really conveys the voices of children and parents
in our society."
Frances from Port
Coquitlam: "An in depth look at the inner turmoils of a
child's life and/or those who care for them and how life experiences can have
such an impact on our stories and journeys through life. An interesting study on
this subject."
Kimberly from Shawnigan Lake: "I believe Beverly Akerman's, The
Meaning of Children has amazing insight with its many stories. I loved them all,
Life is what happens in the meantime. Great read and would highly
recommend."
Mona from ND Ile
Perrot:"I'd like to suggest Beverly Akerman. Her book, The Meaning of Children
is written with a refreshing sincerity. Loved
it!"
Carrie from Spruce Grove:
"I think that it takes a special kind of skill to coordinate short stories into
a piece that is well written and thought provoking- without losing one's initial
objectives."
Crystal from Nanaimo: "The Meaning of Children is my
submission as it is told through the voices of children. What can be better than
to hear 14 different stories of growing up and dealing with important issues?
Each child tells their stories so vividly and honestly, you feel sorry for them,
as if you know them. This book is extremely well written and
gripping."
Catherine from Whitby: "Well written,
captivating perspectives on life's stages."
Rajini from Canada:
"I think that Beverly Akerman should make the long list. Akerman's The Meaning
of Children is a dark, thought-provoking read that is certainly worthy of the
2011 Giller Prize."
Comments from readers of the award winning “Pie,” from The Meaning Of
Children:
Your voice
is so distinctive, and the story leaves me aching. Wonderfully meaningful
writing.
A superb voice.
Got a lump
in my throat from this one. Who knew one can write about pie to this effect? I
like the way you compare men to pies "holding them close is the making of men,
not the ruining" and then in the next paragraph say "but you can only compare a
boy and a pie so far" when talking about mending there are always scars. I also
like the way the mother tries to mask her scars and her grief, but can't. And
it’s the not making pies anymore that’s the most
telling.
This
is so well set up, and at the end you get that "oh, no" feeling. The ending
hurts; I agree with Beate. Wonderfully written; deft and powerful
ending.
This is a marvelous piece. Great work, Beverly. Made me think of
Patty Griffin's song "Making Pies".
I made pies
your way for 20 years, wonderful - crisco, ummm - no more - we worry too much
about cholesterol. But we are still alive, so phooey! A great
piece.
Nice story.
I'm craving some pie now. Can't wait to get back to the US and
smother my face in all that fatty deliciousness.
Nicely
done to perfection. Smells good too.
Love
the voice of this story. I'd listen to all kinds from this narrator. Front porch
stuff. Let's get this on tape stuff. The live forever
stuff.
What
everyone else said. Times three. Just beautiful.
Holy-boly,
Bev. Yeah, I cried when where this was going broke through the crust. "But you
can only compare a boy and a pie so far." What a blood-pie of a story. Hit the
heart. Great work.
This is a
magnificent story. Touched an benchmark of elemental sadness on the human scale,
but ever so lightly, ever so lightly...
Such a
strong voice I can hear her in my mind. Literary fiction at its best!
Fav
Like
Water for Pie. This is wonderful, and yes such an alive and honest voice. Well
done!
Love
the deceptive simplicity of the voice, love the way the emotion crept up on me
and then overtook me. Love.
Congratulations on your top contender finish in the
Glass Woman Prize, Beverly! I love this story so very much. I adore the voice
and style of the narrator, and the way she works through the story, through the
heartache, until we share it too. And the pie! Love it.
So deftly
balanced, the literal and the foreboding..."one thing I know, holding them close
is the making of men, not the ruining." And then very near the end: The tart
bleeding into the sweet. Oh, my I'd like another piece of pie...Big lump in the
throat fav!
Amazing
story. It deserves every honor.
****
And finally, if anyone's bothered to read this far (aside from my parents), here is a list of selected awards and recognitions for my creative writing...which I've only been doing since 2004:
SELECTED AWARDS & HONOURS:
2012 National Magazine
Award submissions (two)
2011 Finalist, Aesthetica Magazine Creative Works Competition (UK)
2011 Top 10,
CBC-Scotiabank Giller Prize Readers’ Choice Contest
2011 Winner, Short Article Writing Award, Professional Writers
Association of Canada
2011 Honourable
Mention, Features Writing Award, Professional Writers
Association of Canada
2011 Finalist,
Colophon Prize, Enfield
& Wizenty (declined)
2011 National Magazine
Award submission
2011 Pushcart Prize
nominations in fiction and nonfiction
2010 Commendations
List, Aesthetica Magazine Creative Works Competition (UK)
2010 Travel
Grant and Reading Support from Canada
Council/Playwrights Guild of Canada
2010 Editor’s Choice
Award, Best New Writing 2011/Eric
Hoffer Prize
2010 First Prize, The Vocabula Review
Well-Written Writing Contest
2010 Finalist, 7th
Glass Woman Prize
2010 David Adams
Richards Prize, Writers’ Federation of New
Brunswick
2010 Pushcart Prize
nomination
2010 Best of the Net
nomination (Sundress Publications)
2009 First Prize, Gemini Magazine Flash Fiction Contest
2009 Canada
Council Travel Grant
2009 Writing Studio, The Banff Centre for the Arts (Five-week residency)
2009 Honourable Mention, Potomac Review
Fiction Contest
2008 Second Prize, Sheldon Currie Fiction Prize
2008 Honourable
Mention, David Adams Richards Prize, Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick
2008 Summer
Fishtrap Fellowship
2007 Finalist, TWUC
Short Prose Competition for Developing Writers
2007 First Prize, Fog City
Writers Short Story Contest
2005 Finalist, TWUC
Short Prose Competition for Developing Writers
