The Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award
Bradan Press is proud to announce that Lisette of Louisbourg by Margaret MacKay has been shortlisted for the 2025–26 Hackmatack Award!
The Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award is a both an award and a children’s lit program for middle-grade fiction and non-fiction in English and French. Atlantic Canadian children in grades 4–6 choose the winners:
The Hackmatack Selection Committee nominates renowned Canadian books for young readers to the Hackmatack shortlist. The forty books nominated for the Hackmatack Award are divided into four categories – English Fiction, English Non-fiction, French Fiction and French Non-fiction.
Children in registered reading groups read the nominated books and vote for the winners of the award in the spring of each year. The winners of the Hackmatack Award in each category are announced at the final award ceremony in May.
The award is named after the hackmatack tree, which is commonly found in Atlantic Canada. This tree is also known as the tamarack or larch.
For more information on how to participate as a reader or adult volunteer, visit the Hackmatack Award website.
Nova Scotian Historical Fiction for Kids
Pictou County author Margaret MacKay meticulously researches Nova Scotian history and weaves real historical people, events, and artifacts seamlessly into her captivating fiction. Her novels are perfect for children in Grades 4–9, and for historical fiction lovers of ALL ages!
Bradan Press has published both of Margaret’s historical fiction novels to date, Iain of New Scotland (2021) about a boy who comes from Scotland to Nova Scotia on the Ship Hector, and Lisette of Louisbourg about a girl who comes from France to the Fortress of Louisbourg (October 2024). For descriptions and where to buy, read on!
Lisette of Louisbourg by Margaret MacKay
Lisette of Louisbourg
When the convent she has been living in burns down, twelve-year-old orphan Lisette barely escapes with her life. The nuns think she died in the fire, but Lisette sees a chance to escape the drudgery of lacemaking under a cruel, greedy Mother Superior. She sets out alone to find the uncle who left her at the convent when she was six. Things don’t go quite as planned, so when an opportunity arises to escape her troubles in France and start a new life at the Fortress of Louisbourg, clever and resourceful Lisette jumps at the chance. But has someone followed her to New France? This middle-grade novel is set in 1749 during the time when the British are handing the Fortress of Louisbourg back to the French.
Paperback, 202 pages, 5.25 x 8 inches. Available worldwide on Amazon or directly from Bradan Press in Canada and the USA:
Iain of New Scotland by Margaret MacKay
Iain of New Scotland
Thirteen-year-old Iain Robertson is homesick for the Highlands of Scotland. It’s September 1773, and he has just arrived in Nova Scotia with his parents and little sister after the long, disastrous, Atlantic voyage of the ship Hector. They wanted a new life in New Scotland—but the land agent lied to them! With no money, no food, no shelter, and winter fast approaching, how will they survive? Author Margaret MacKay draws on the true stories of her ancestors to weave a tale of the first Gaels to settle in Nova Scotia. With a foreword by Diana Gabaldon, author of Outlander.
Paperback, 198 pages, 5.25 x 8 inches. Available worldwide on Amazon or directly from Bradan Press in the USA and Canada:
15% off Both Books in Our Historical Fiction Book Box
The Historical Fiction Book Box contains one copy of Iain of New Scotland and one copy of Lisette of Louisbourg. Order this Book Box directly from Bradan Press for a 15% discount! This special discount is only available directly from us in Canada and the USA:
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