2025 Forest Kid Committees Summer Reading Lists

Every spring since 2017, kids have applied to participate on the Forest of Reading's Kid Committees to select books to recommend to their peers to read over the summer.  These lists of recently-published books by Canadian creators cover a variety of genres and reading levels and introduce young readers to fabulous books.

 

This year, two Kid Committees met in early May to discuss and champion books that they thought their fellow readers might enjoy, and have come up with two lists, one for Silver Birch readers, those of ages 8-12 and in Grades 3-6, and one for Red Maple readers, kids in Grades 7 and 8 and of ages 12-14.  Here are their selections for 2025:

 

 

 
SILVER BIRCH

 

Crush    

Written by Tegan Quin and Sara Quin    

Illustrated by Tillie Walden    

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

240 pp.

Ages 10-14 

2024

The Curse of Eelgrass Bog    

Written by Mary Averling        

Razorbill

256 pp.

Ages 8-12 

2024

Julia on the Go!: Swimming into Trouble    

Written by Angela Ahn    

Illustrated by Julie Kim    

Tundra Books

176 pp.

Ages 7-10 

2024

Library Girl    

Written by Polly Horvath        

Puffin Canada

256 pp.

Ages 10+ 

2024

Faker    

Written by Gordon Korman        

Scholastic Press

224 pp.

Ages 8-12 

2024

Mystery at the Biltmore: The Vanderhoff Heist    

Written by Colleen Nelson    

Illustrated by Peggy Collins    

Pajama Press

136 pp.

Ages 7-10

2024

Prince and the Pawper (The Racc Pack, 2)    

Written by Stephanie Cooke    

Illustrated by Whitney Gardner    

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

192 pp.

Ages 7-10 

2025

The Probability of Everything    

Written by Sarah Everett        

Clarion Books

336 pp.

Ages 8-12 

2024

Reasons to Look at the Night Sky    

Written by Danielle Daniel        

Tundra Books

382 pp.

Ages 9-12

2024

 

Summer of Rocks    

Written by Jenna Greene        

Heritage House 

176 pp.

Ages 8-12

2025

Waking the Dead and Other Fun Activities    

Written by Casey Lyall        

Greenwillow Books

288 pp.

Ages 8-12

2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RED MAPLE

 

Crash Landing    

Written by Li Charmaine Anne        

Annick Press

288 pp.

Ages 14-18

2024

Ghosts of Gastown    

Written by Jessica Renwick        

Yellow Dog (Great Plains Press)

240 pp.

Ages 8-12

2024

Mixed Up    

Written by Gordon Korman        

Scholastic Press

256 pp.

Ages 8-12

2023

More Frightening True Tales (Haunted Canada 12)    

Written by Joel A. Sutherland        

Scholastic Canada

128 pp.

Ages 8-12

2023

The New Girl (The New Girl, 1)    

Written and illustrated by Cassandra Calin    

Graphix (Scholastic Press)

272 pp.

Ages 9-12

2024

Night of the Living Zed    

Written by Basil Sylvester and Kevin Sylvester        

HarperCollins Canada

256 pp.

Ages 8-12

2024

Recommended Reading    

Written by Paul Coccia        

Zando Young Readers

320 pp.

Ages 12-17

2025

Sam    

Written by Eric Walters        

DCB Young Readers (Cormorant Books)

228 pp.

Ages 11-14

2025

Stopping the Shots     

Written by Lorna Schultz Nicholson        

Scholastic Canada

256 pp.

Ages 9-12

2024

Under Attack (Kidnapped from Ukraine, 1)    

Written by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch        

Scholastic Press 

320 pp.

Ages 8-12

2025

 

 

 

 

 

 

Downloadable lists and a printable poster are available from the Forest of Reading:

•     Silver Birch Summer Reading List
•     Red Maple Summer Reading List
•     Poster