Home: Book Award

Jakob Out of the Village nominated for Regina Book Award

Jakob out of the Village

William Driedger's story of a Mennonite boy growing up in Saskatchewan village has been nominated for the Regina Book Award in this year's competitions for the Saskatchewan Book Awards. In the story ' the precociously observant Jakob Schellenberg, middle son of a God-fearing farming family, grows increasingly aware of the outside world from the pictures in the Eaton's catalogue, the weekly farm paper and the city folk who occasionally stop by and dazzle him with their shiny new cars, fancy clothes and perfume-scented skin. Jakob's instinctive, exuberant response to the daily events of prairie life during the Dirty Thirties somehow holds him apart from both family and community, causing him to look further, to yearn for something more. His poignant, often humorous, coming-of-age leads him 'out of the village', only to discover that the village will be with him wherever he goes.' Driedger's book was published with the help of a grant from the Plett Foundation. The initial printing sold out quickly and a second printing has already been released.

click here for more information about the book.