Forest of Reading reveals chosen books for 2025 — students across Canada to choose winners
CBC Books | Posted: October 15, 2024 4:15 PM | Last Updated: October 17
The program is the country's largest recreational reading initiative for kids
Books written by Johnnie Christmas, David A. Robertson and Heather Smith are among the nominated titles for the Forest of Reading's 2025 award programme.
Hosted each spring, the Forest of Reading is Canada's largest annual recreational reading program where children and young adults pick their favourite authors and illustrators.
In 2020, 2021 and 2022, the award celebrations were presented in partnership with CBC Books in a virtual format. A hybrid event announced the winners in 2023 and 2024.
This year, 270,000 readers across the country will participate in the program. Canadian students from kindergarten to high school are encouraged to read from a selection of shortlisted books and vote for their favourites.
A total of nine categories — six English and three French — reflecting different reading levels and genres are recognized. Each category has 10 nominated titles.
The 10 finalists in each category are chosen by a committee of library practitioners.
Bestselling children's author Johnnie Christmas is nominated in the Silver Birch category for his latest YA graphic novel Gamerville.
In Gamerville, video gamer Max is sent to Camp Reset by his parents, forcing him to miss the championship of his favourite game.
Christmas is a New York Times bestselling author and illustrator based in Vancouver. He previously illustrated Margaret Atwood's Angel Catbird and is the creator of Swim Team.
In 2022, CBC Books named Christmas a writer to watch.
LISTEN | Johnnie Christmas on the power of unplugging:
Prolific writer David A. Robertson is nominated for his middle-grade novel The Kodiaks.
The Kodiaks: Home Ice Advantage follows 11-year-old Alex Robinson who moves from a close-knit community to a bigger city after his dad gets a new job.
David A. Robertson is a writer and graphic novelist based in Winnipeg. Previous books in Robertson's Misewa Saga series include The Barren Grounds, The Great Bear and The Stone Child.
Other books by Robertson include the graphic novels Will I See? and Sugar Falls, YA book Strangers, the memoir Black Water and the Governor General's Literary Award-winning picture books called When We Were Alone and On the Trapline, both illustrated by Cree-Métis artist Julie Flett.
Award-winning children's author Heather Smith is nominated for her latest book Tig.
The book follows a young girl who is struggling to accept her new life and new family after she and her brother are forced to move in with their Uncle Scott and his partner Manny.
Heather Smith writes books for children and young adults. She is originally from Newfoundland, but now lives in Waterloo, Ont.
Smith's picture books include The Phone Booth in Mr. Hirota's Garden, A Plan for Pops and Granny Left Me a Rocket Ship, and her YA books include Chicken Girl, The Agony of Bun O'Keefe and Baygirl. Smith won the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award in 2019 for her YA novel in verse Ebb & Flow.
Details about voting will be announced later. The winners will be revealed in spring 2025.
The Forest of Reading program is organized by the Ontario Library Association. The program began in 1995. There is also an adult program, the Evergreen Award, which is run by libraries in the summer.
You can see all the finalists in the six English-language categories below.
Blue Spruce Award
The Blue Spruce Award is for picture books for readers in kindergarten to Grade 2.
The 2025 nominees are:
- Asha and the Toymaker by Sakshi Mangal
- The Blue Bowl by Flo Leung
- Harold the Iceberg Melts Down by Lisa Wyzlic, illustrated by Rebecca Syracuse
- If You See a Bluebird by Bahram Rahman, illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard
- The Little Regent by Yewande Daniel-Ayoade, illustrated by Ken Daley
- Lost Stick by Anoosha Syed
- Mandeep's Cloudy Days by Kuljinder Kaur Brar, illustrated by Samrath Kaur
- More Than Words: So Many Ways to Say What We Mean by Roz MacLean
- Still My Tessa by Sylv Chiang, illustrated by Mathias Ball
- When the Stars Came Home by Brittany Luby, illustrated by Natasha Donovan
The 2024 winner was Benny and the Bananasaurus Rex by Sarabeth Holden, illustrated by Emma Pedersen.
Silver Birch Express Award
The Silver Birch Express Award is for fiction or nonfiction for readers in Grades 3-4.
The 2025 nominees are:
- Always Beginning by Candace Savage, illustrated by Rachel Wada
- Birds on the Brain by Uma Krishnaswami, illustrated by Julianna Swaney
- Dragon on the Loose by Marty Chan
- Ghost Girl by Brooke Carter
- Lost & Found: Based on a True Story by Mei Yu
- Odd Couples by Maria Birmingham, illustrated by Raz Latif
- Operation Cupcake: How Simple Machines Work by Bambi Edlund
- Salma Joins the Team by Danny Ramadan, illustrated by Anna Bron
- Sarah Ponakey, Storycatcher and Âhâsiw's Forest Powwow by Sita Macmillan
- Whales and Us by India Desjardins
The 2024 winner was Apartment Rock? Plant? Animal?: How Nature Keeps Us Guessing by Etta Kaner, illustrated by Brittany Lane.
Silver Birch Fiction Award
The Silver Birch Award is for fiction for readers from Grades 3-6.
The 2025 nominees are:
- Asking for a Friend by Ronnie Riley
- Bertie Stewart is Perfectly Imperfect by Melanie Mosher
- Eerie Tales from the School of Screams by Graham Annable
- Game Face by Shari Green
- Gamerville by Johnnie Christmas
- Iggy Included by Deborah Kerbel
- The Kodiaks: Home Ice Advantage by David A. Robertson
- The Legendary Mo Seto by A.Y. Chan
- Mortified by Kristy Jackson, illustrated by Rhael McGregor
- Scarewaves by Trevor Henderson
The 2024 winner was Apartment 713 by Kevin Sylvester.
Yellow Cedar Award
The Yellow Cedar Award is for nonfiction for readers in Grades 4-8.
The 2025 nominees are:
- The Halifax Explosion: 6 December 1917, at 9:05 in the Morning by Afua Cooper
- Haunted Canada Graphic Novel 01: Four Terrifying Tales by Joel Sutherland
- Little by Little by Sonya Ballantyne, illustrated by Rhael McGregor
- The Longest Shot: How Larry Kwong Changed the Face of Hockey by Chad Soon and George Chiang
- Owls: Who Gives A Hoot? by Frances Backhouse
- Queer History A-Z: 100 Years of LGBTQ+ Activism by Robin Stevenson
- See It, Dream It, Do It by Colleen Nelson and Kathie MacIsaac
- Think Like A Goat by Lisa Deresti Betik, illustrated by Alexander Mostov
- Trailblazing Life of Viola Desmond by Rachel Kehoe with Wanda Robson
- Welcome to AI by Matthieu Dugal
The 2024 winner was Animal Eyes: How Creatures See and How Their Eyes Have Adapted to Their World by Françoise Vulpé.
Red Maple Award
The Red Maple Award is for fiction for readers in Grades 7-8.
The 2025 nominees are:
- 40 Days in Hicksville by Christina Kilbourne
- Book of Screams 01 by Jeff Szpirglas
- Call me Al by Wali Shah and Eric Walters
- The Cricket War by Thọ Phạm and Sandra McTavish
- Escape to Ponti by Brian Slattery
- Hopeless in Hope by Wanda John- Kehewin
- The Outsmarters by Deborah Ellis
- Tig by Heather Smith
- Today I Am edited by Jael Richardson
- Why We Play with Fire by Giselle Vriesen
The 2024 winner was The Fort by Gordon Korman.
White Pine Award
The White Pine Award is for fiction for readers in high school.
The 2025 nominees are:
- Gorgeous Gruesome Faces by Linda Cheng
- Little Moons by Jen Storm
- Lockjaw by Matteo L. Cerilli
- Pillow Talk by Stephanie Cooke, illustrated by Valentine Vargas
- The Space Between Here & Now by Sarah Suk
- Sweetness in the Skin by Ishi Robinson
- Takedown by Ali Bryan
- Where the Dark Stands Still by A.B. Poranek
- Who We Are in Real Life by Victoria Koops
- Zombie Apocalypse Running Club by Carrie Mac
The 2024 winner was Pieces of Me by Kate McLaughlin.