It's the second year into the pandemic and again things at the Forest of Reading have had to be a little different. But kids have still been reading books nominated for the Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading's readers' choice award programs and voting on their favourites. Again, rather than announcing the awards at the annual Festival of Trees, an enthusiastic but crowded event at Toronto's Harbourfront or at satellite celebrations around the province, this year's award ceremonies were held online, hosted by CBC Books on Curio.ca, an educational streaming platform (normally subscription based). Fortunately, these ceremonies, hosted by comic Ali Hassan, were posted for all to see. Judging by the faces of the authors and illustrators and young readers who spoke, the event was a resounding success, as always.
Here are this year's winners for each reading program. The ceremonies for all books were held on May 18, 19 and 20, and the screenshots of attending authors and illustrators were taken from these presentations. The presentations can be viewed at https://curio.ca/en/collection/forest-of-reading-2021-2822/ for the English-language awards and at https://curio.ca/fr/collection/la-foret-de-la-lecture-2021-2823/ for the French-language awards.
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Winner
Bad Dog
Written and illustrated by Mike Boldt
Doubleday Books for Young Readers
Written and illustrated by Mike Boldt
Doubleday Books for Young Readers
Honour Books:
Boxitects
Written and illustrated by Kim Smith
HarperCollins
HarperCollins
Fast Friends
Written by Heather O'Connor
Illustrated by Claudia Dávila
Scholastic Canada
Winner
Peter & Ernesto: Sloths in the Night
Written and illustrated by Graham Annable
Written and illustrated by Graham Annable
First Second
Honour Books:
Planet Hockey: First Star of the Game
Written by J. Torres
Illustrated by Tim Levins
Scholastic Canada
Terry Fox and Me
Written by Mary Beth Leatherdale
Illustrated by Milan Pavlović
Tundra
Winner
The Jigsaw Puzzle King
Written by Gina McMurchy-Barber
Dundurn
Written by Gina McMurchy-Barber
Dundurn
Honour Books:
Ember and the Ice Dragons
Written by Heather Fawcett
Published by HarperCollins
Music for Tigers
Written by Michelle Kadarusman
Pajama Press
Winner
Trending: How and Why Stuff Gets Popular
Written by Kira Vermond
Illustrated by Clayton Hanmer
Owlkids Books
Honour Books:
The Boreal Forest
Written by L. E. Carmichael
Illustrated by Josée Bisaillon
Kids Can Press
Science Comics: Crows, Genius Birds
Written and Illustrated by Kyla Vanderklugt
First Second
Winner
Bloom
Written by Kenneth Oppel
HarperCollins Canada
Broken Strings
Written by Eric Walters and Kathy Kacer
Penguin Random House Canada Young Readers
Written by Wesley King
Paula Wiseman Books
Winner
Hunted By the Sky
Written by Tanaz Bhathena
Penguin Random House Canada
Honour Books:
Charming as a Verb
Written by Ben Philippe
HarperCollins
Like a Love Story
Written by Abdi Nazemian
HarperCollins
Winner/Lauréat
Pas moi
Écrit et Illustré par Elise Gravel
Éditions Scholastic
Écrit et Illustré par Elise Gravel
Éditions Scholastic
Honour Books/Livres distingués:
Madame Grisemine et le petit chenapan
Écrit par Marie-Francine Hébert
Illustré par Mathieu Lampron
Éditions de la Bagnole
Mon chien-banane
Écrit par Roxane Brouillard
Illustré par Giulia Sagramola
Éditions les 400 coups
Winner/Lauréat
Sergent Billy : La vraie histoire du chevreau devenu soldat
Écrit par Mireille Messier
Écrit par Mireille Messier
Illustré par Kass Reich
Éditions de l’Isatis
Éditions de l’Isatis
Honour Books/Livres distingués:
La Case 144
Écrit par Nadine Poirier
Illustré par Geneviève Després
Éditions D’eux
Juré, craché! 03 : Nés pour la gloire
Écrit par Carine Paquin
Illustré par Jean Morin
Éditions Petit Homme
Winner/Lauréat
Lac Adélard
Écrit par François Blais
Illustré par Iris
La courte échelle
Écrit par François Blais
Illustré par Iris
La courte échelle
Honour Books/Livres distingués:
Enterrer la lune
Écrit par Andrée Poulin
Illustré par Sonali Zohra
La courte échelle
@Raphaël_Cascadeur: Les productions 100 dangers
Écrit et illustré par Éric Péladeau
Éditions Z’ailées
The announcement of all winners is available at the Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading® website.
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Congratulations to everyone!
