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French Awards

		PRIX LITTÉRAIRE HACKMATACK (ATLANTIC CANADIAN BOOK AWARD) CHOSEN BY CHILDREN FRENCH FICTION ZAK, LE FANTÔME ALAIN M. BERGERON ILLUSTRATIONS: MARTIN GONEAU SAINT-LAMBERT, QUEBEC: SOULIÈRES ÉDITEUR, 2003. 110 P. (CHAT DE GOUTTIÈRE; 10) ISBN 2922225836 AGES 9 TO 11
Zak, le fantôme Source

Zak, a ghost, has been imprisoned in a school classroom for the past 30 years. But none of the kids can see him -- except Patricia. He leaves her funny messages, indulges in all sorts of acrobatic feats and defends her from an annoying bully. But Zak is tired of haunting the classroom: he finally recounts his story to Patricia, who offers to help. With cleverness and perseverance, she undertakes a major investigation into Zak's childhood. And at last, against enormous odds, she secures his freedom.

Despite the tragedy that was at the root of Zak's imprisonment, Zak, le fantôme is far from grim: it is an amusing novel whose flashbacks to the 1970s offer simple solutions to mathematical problems that appear at first insoluble.

A comic strip by Martin Goneau "illustrates" the ghost at the opening of the narrative, and the book ends with a series of exam questions taken from a 30-year-old math textbook.

-JMB