Shin-chi's Canoe is written by Nicola I. Campbell and illustrated by Kim LaFave. (Groundwood Books)

Shin-chi's Canoe, a picture book about a little boy leaving home for a residential school, has won the $25,000 TD Canadian Children's Literature Award.

It was one of four children's books awarded prizes Thursday night at the Children's Book Centre in Toronto.

Shin-chi's Canoe, written by Nicola I. Campbell of Vancouver and illustrated by Kim LaFave of Roberts Creek, B.C., is one of the first picture books to explore the story of the impact of Canada's residential schools on children.

The six-year-old boy Shin-Chi leaves home with his older sister Shi-shi-etko, who explains to him that it will be many months before he is allowed to go home. The book captures the emotions of the two children as they miss family and the natural environment where they grew up.

The Bite of the Mango was written by Mariatu Kamara with Susan McClelland. (Annick Press)

"Understated text with emotional truth hovering beneath the lines.... The complementary softness of the illustrations seems to make the overwhelming sadness and loss the children experience more poignant," the jury said in its citation.

The $20,000 Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award was awarded to Mattland, a picture book that celebrates new friendship and imaginative childhood play.

It was written by Hazel Hutchins of Canmore, Alta., and Gail Herbert of Cambridge, Ont., and illustrated by Dusan Petricic of Toronto.

The other winners.

• The $10,000 Norma Fleck Award for Children's Non-Fiction: The Bite of the Mango, about a young girl surviving the war in Sierra Leone, written by Mariatu Kamara of Pickering, Ont. with Susan McClelland of Toronto.
• The $5,000 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction: The Landing, a young adult novel set in Muskoka, Ont., during the Depression, written by John Ibbitson of Ottawa.

Ibbitson, a Globe and Mail writer, won the Governor General's Literary Award last year for The Landing.