Forest of Reading

Forest of Reading® is Canada’s largest recreational reading program, aimed at encouraging a love of reading and celebrating Canadian literature among readers of all ages.

View of looking up into a canopy of trees overlaid with the logo for Forest of Reading
Cute boy reading book in library

About the Forest

The Forest of Reading Award Programs empower children and adults to choose the winners by reading and voting for their favorite books. Participants select a program based on their age or grade, and can read all ten titles or just those that interest them. To be eligible to vote in April, readers should read at least five of the ten titles. The program fosters a lifelong love of reading, supports Canadian literature, and puts libraries at the heart of the action with engaging activities.

Did you know?

Reading for fun has been shown to boost literacy scores and success in other subjects.

2024 Winners

Benny the Bananasaurus Rex
Sarabeth Holden; illustrated by Emma Pedersen
Rock? Plant? Animal? How Nature Keeps Us Guessing
Etta Kaner; illustrated by Brittany Lane
Apartment 713
Kevin Sylvester
Animal Eyes: How Creatures See and How Their Eyes Have Adapted to Their World
Françoise Vulpé
The Fort
Gordon Korman
Pieces of Me
Kate McLaughlin
L'oiseau rouge
Élodie Duhameau
La chambre numéro 7
Martine Latulippe; d'Isabelle Malenfant
As-tu peur du loup?
Véronique Drouin

Blue Spruce Award™

JK-Grade 2: Picturebooks

Benny the Bananasaurus Rex
Sarabeth Holden; illustrated by Emma Pedersen
Cocoa Magic
Sandra Bradley; illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard
Dear Street
Lindsay Zier-Vogel; illustrated by Caroline Bonne-Müller
Garden of Lost Socks
Esi Edugyan; illustrated by Amélie Dubois
How to Party Like a Snail
Naseem Hrab; illustrated by Kelly Collier
The Kindest Red: a Story of Hijab and Friendship
Ibtihaj Muhammad & S. K. Ali; art by Hatem Aly
My Fade is Fresh
Shauntay Grant; illustrated by Kitt Thomas
My Name is Saajin Singh
Kuljinder Kaur Brar; illustrated by Samrath Kaur
Princess Pru and the Ogre on the Hill
Maureen Fergus; illustrated by Danesh Mohiuddin
The Words We Share
Jack Wong

Silver Birch Express Award®

Grades 3-4: Fiction & Non-Fiction

Boobies
Nancy Vo
Deep, Deep Down: The Secret Underwater Poetry of the Mariana Trench
Lydia Lukidis; illustrated by Juan Calle
The Journal of Anxious Izzy Parker
Alma Fullerton
Mehndi Boy
Zain Bandali; illustrated by Jani Balakumar
The Nguyen Kids 3: The Mystery of the Painted Fan
Linda Trinh; illustrated by Clayton Nguyen
Rock? Plant? Animal? How Nature Keeps Us Guessing
Etta Kaner; illustrated by Brittany Lane
The Salma Series 3: Salma Writes a Book
Danny Ramadan; art by Anna Bron
The Secret Pocket
Peggy Janicki; illustrated by Carrielynn Victor
The Skull (Canadian Edition): A Tyrolean Folktale
Jon Klassen
Tadpoles
Matt James

Silver Birch Fiction Award®

Grades 5-6: Fiction

Apartment 713
Kevin Sylvester
Berani
Michelle Kadarusman
The Big Sting
Rachelle Delaney
The Boy Who Woke the Sun
A.T. Woodley; illustrated by Mike Deas
The Case of the Rigged Race (A Mighty Muskrats Mystery)
Michael Hutchinson
Gnome is Where Your Heart Is
Casey Lyall
Jude Saves the World
Ronnie Riley
PAWS: Mindy Makes Some Space
Nathan Fairbairn; illustrated by Michele Assarasakorn
Swept Away: Ruth Mornay and the Unwanted Clues
Natalie Hyde
The Umbrella House
Colleen Nelson

Yellow Cedar Award

Grades 4-8: Non-Fiction

Animal Eyes: How Creatures See and How Their Eyes Have Adapted to Their World
Françoise Vulpé
Becoming Bionic and Other Ways Science is Making Us Super
Heather Camlot ; illustrated by Victor Wong
The Honour Song - Kepmite'taqney Ktapekiaqn - Le chant d'honneur
George Paul ; illustrations: Loretta Gould
IsThisAnOlogy?
Amanda Bulman & Ruth Lawrence; illustrated by Leon Chung
Meet Buffy Sainte-Marie
Elizabeth MacLeod; illustrated by Mike Deas
Mi'kmaw Moons: The Seasons in Mi'kma'ki
Cathy LeBlanc & David Chapman; illustrated by Loretta Gould
Mountain of Fire: Into the Heart of Volcanoes
Julie Roberge; illustrated by Aless MC
The Raven Mother
Hetxw'ms Gyetxw (Brett D. Huson); illustrated by Natasha Donovan
The Science & Superpowers of Seaweed
Amanda Swinimer
Why Humans Build Up: The Rise of Towers, Temples and Skyscrapers
Gregor Craigie; illustrated by Kathleen Fu

Red Maple Award™

Grades 7-8: Fiction

Autumn Bird and the Runaway
Melanie Florence & Richard Scrimger; cover and illustrations by Caeleigh Lightning
Beatrice and Croc Harry
Lawrence Hill
A Bucket of Stars
Suri Rosen
The Druid's Call (Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves Prequel)
E. K. Johnston
The Fort
Gordon Korman
Into the Bright Open: A Secret Garden Remix
Cherie Dimaline
The Last Saxon King
Andrew Varga
Seeker of the Fox: Thieves of Shadow (Book Two)
Kevin Sands
Simon Sort of Says
Erin Bow
Squire
Sara Alfageeh & Nadia Shammas

White Pine Award™

Grades 9-12: Fiction

As Long As the Lemon Trees Grow
Zoulfa Katouh
Dragging Mason County
Curtis Campbell
Funeral Songs for Dying Girls
Cherie Dimaline
Iz the Apocalypse
Susan Currie
Mall Goth
Kate Leth
Of Light and Shadow
Tanaz Bhathena
Only This Beautiful Moment
Abdi Nazemian
Pieces of Me
Kate McLaughlin
Then Everything Happens At Once
M-E Girard
Those Pink Mountain Nights
Jen Ferguson

Le prix Peuplier

(albums, moins de texte, sujets simples, convenant parfaitement à la lecture à haute voix)
(picture books, less text, simpler subject matters, perfect for read alouds)

Amadou et le 15 aout
Samira Farhoud; Jean-Luc Trudel
C'est mon corps!
Élise Gravel
Congé pour papa
Nicole Poirier; Isabelle Léger
Dans les souliers d’Amédée
Véronique Lambert; Éléna Comte
Le gros problème de Noah
Anthony Antoniou; Baptiste Amsallem
Une histoire s’il te plaît!!!
Anne Renaud; Sophie Pa
L'oiseau rouge
Élodie Duhameau
On se tait s’il vous plaît!
Andrée Poulin; Audrey Malo
Papa est une princesse
Dana Blue; Catherine Petit
Pas de chevaux dans la maison!
Mireille Messier; Anna Bron

Le prix Mélèze

(courts romans, des albums plus avancés, des documentaires ou des BD. Le vocabulaire et le temps de verbes sont peu complexes)
(shorter novels or more mature picture books, non-fiction or comics. Vocabulary and verb tenses are not very complex)

À quoi servent les moustiques?
Pierre-Alexandre Bonin; Lucille Danis Drouot
Alerte: culottes meurtrières! Fausses nouvelles, désinformation et théories du complot
Élise Gravel
La chambre numéro 7
Martine Latulippe; d'Isabelle Malenfant
Clan 01: QG pour quartier général
Marc Beaudet
Je ne m’appelle pas Coco!
Pierrette Dubé; Lucile Danis Drouot
Je t’écris de mon lit
Maude Nepveu-Villeneuve; Agathe Bray-Bourret
Kellan et les papillons du cœur
Dïana Bélice; Audrey Jadaud
Mina et sa bête
Caroline Merola
Morane adoooore parler!
Emilie Ouellette; Lidia-Ntombo Lulendo
Orbie, dessine-moi un billibouton
Frédérick Wolfe; Orbie

Le prix Tamarac

(romans de 100 à 250 pages, texte plus petit avec peu ou pas d’illustrations, des albums avec un sujet mature, des documentaires ou des BD. Le vocabulaire et le temps de verbes sont complexes)
(chapter books from 100 to 250 pages, smaller text with little or no illustrations, books with more mature subject matter, non-fiction or comics.  Vocabulary and verb tenses are complex)

L'antre des rebelles
Caroline Auger; Gabrielle Morrisseau
As-tu peur du loup?
Véronique Drouin
La balance du vide
Julien Leclerc
La fin du monde est pour demain
André Marois
Gloire 01: Le hip-hop dans le sang
Isabelle Roy
Le jeu qui voulait ma peau
Magali Laurent
Mathéo à contre-courant
Pierre-Alexandre Bonin
Opération mange-gardiens: Non au gaspillage alimentaire!
Joan Sénéchal; Yves Dumont
Parfois mon cœur reste accroché au trapèze
Geneviève Dufour
Zipolaris: La nuit des morloups
J. L. Blanchard

Evergreen Award™

Adults

The Berry Pickers
Amanda Peters
Dancing in Small Spaces: One Couple's Journey with Parkinson's Disease and Lewy Body Dementia
Leslie A. Davidson
Far Cry
Alissa York
Fire Weather: The Making of A Beast
John Vaillant
Girlfriend on Mars
Deborah Willis
Silver Nitrate
Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Story of Us
Catherine Hernandez
Superfan: How Pop Culture Broke My Heart
Jen Sookfong Lee