2025 CCBC Book Awards: Winners announced

On Monday, October 27, 2025, a gala event was held to announce the winners of this year's English-language Canadian Children's Book Awards of the Canadian Children's Book Centre. (The press release of the announcement is posted here.) From a fine list of nominees, the following winners were selected by juries of their peers from the kidCanLit world. 

Here now are the winners of the following English-language awards:

• Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award ($20,000)
• Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People ($5,000)
• Sharon Fitzhenry Award for Canadian Children's Non-Fiction ($10,000)
• Amy Mathers Teen Book Award ($5,000)
• Jean Little First-Novel Award ($5,000)
• Arlene Barlin Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy ($5,000)
• Richard Allen Chase Memorial Award ($2,500)

• • • • • • •

 

Congratulations to all winners!

• • • • • • •

 

Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award: WINNER 

 

SOS Water

Written and illustrated by Yayo 
Tradewind Books

 

• • • • •

Geoffrey Bilson Award for 

Historical Fiction for Young People:   WINNER

 

Song of Freedom, Song of Dreams

Written by Shari Green 
Andrews McMeel Publishing

 

 

• • • • •

 

Sharon Fitzhenry Award for Canadian Children's Non-fiction :   WINNER

 

Meet Jim Egan (Scholastic Canada Biography)

Written by Elizabeth MacLeod 
Illustrated by Mike Deas 
Scholastic Canada

 • • • • •

Amy Mathers Teen Book Award:   WINNER

 

Age 16

Written and illustrated by Rosena Fung
Annick Press

• • • • •

Jean Little First-Novel Award:   WINNER   

 

Alterations

Written and illustrated by Ray Xu 
Union Square Kids

• • • • •

 

Arlene Barlin Award 

for Science Fiction and Fantasy:   WINNER 

 

The Headmasters

Written by Mark Morton
Shadowpaw Press

 

 

 

 

• • • • •

 

Richard Allen Chase Memorial Award:   WINNER

  

Hummingbird / Aamo-binashee

Written and illustrated by Jennifer Leason 
Anishinaabemowin translation by Norman Chartrand and Jennifer Leason 
Orca Book Publisher

 

 

 📚📚📚

 

 

Haunted Canada (Graphic Novel, Volume 2): Four More Terrifying Tales

Written by Joel A. Sutherland

Illustrated by Hannah Barrett, Mike Feehan, Maya McKibbin, and Matt Salisbury

Scholastic Canada

978-1-4431-9630-7

144 pp.

Ages 9–12

September 2025 

 

To follow up on Haunted Canada (Graphic Novel, Volume 1): Four Terrifying Tales (2024), Joel A. Sutherland brings us another four Canadian ghost stories that will thrill, shock, scare, and even delight young readers, especially those who can't get enough horror reading.

 

The first story is "The Bog Wraith," which is illustrated by Maya McKibbon (she illustrated The Song That Called Them Home, 2023). At Pelly River Crossing, Yukon Territory, in 1897, a man leaves his wife and daughter to find gold in the riverbeds of Dawson. When Jerry and his dog Max come across three old-timers, he is warned about crossing the Pelly River because of the muskeg and the ghosts. But when Jerry is forced by a bear to cross, he finds both terror and assistance from spirits trapped there.

From "The Bog Wraith" in Haunted Canada (Graphic Novel, Volume 2): Four More Terrifying Tales, written by Joel A. Sutherland, illustrated by Maya McKibbin

St. John's artist Mike Feehan illustrates the second story which is titled, "The Etobicoke Poltergeist." Set in 1968 Etobicoke, a suburb of Toronto, a family of parents, two young daughters and a baby son is plagued by the ghost of an old woman. The menacing ghost warns the oldest daughter of hardship, sickness, and death. When Dad goes on a strike and the baby is hospitalized, the family brings in a minister to perform and exorcism.

From "The Etobicoke Poltergeist" in Haunted Canada (Graphic Novel, Volume 2): Four More Terrifying Tales, written by Joel A. Sutherland, illustrated by Mike Feehan

The third story is called, "The Bloody Neck Man" and apparently took place in 1802 in the village of Myrnam, Alberta. Matt Salisbury illustrates the story of two fathers who cannot get along and refuse to let their two children, the daughter of one and the son of the other, associate. The two kids, however, like to help each other, sharing fish they've caught and more. When their two fathers and other men go off to trade furs, the two young people realize they've both had a dream about a man with a bloody neck. Pierre believes it is a fetch i.e., a supernatural double of someone and a bad omen. Soon, Lizzie realizes that dream, and the pool of blood she discovers on the floor, has more to do with their fathers than might be expected.

From "The Bloody Neck Man" in Haunted Canada (Graphic Novel, Volume 2): Four More Terrifying Tales, written by Joel A. Sutherland, illustrated by Matt Salisbury

"The Doll That Wouldn't Die" is the final story and the most recent, taking place in 1980s Gatineau Hills, Quebec. In this story, illustrated by Hannah Barrett, a family of three moves into their new house, and the very young son Timothy finds a doll. The pregnant mom thinks it's creepy and intends to get rid of it but Timothy, who has been talking to the doll, demands it back. Whether they can destroy the doll or separate the child from it may not be under their control.

From "The Doll That Wouldn't Die" in Haunted Canada (Graphic Novel, Volume 2): Four More Terrifying Tales, written by Joel A. Sutherland, illustrated by Hannah Barrett

Author Joel A. Sutherland knows how to tell a scary story or five. Just check out his numerous Haunted Canada short story collections (e.g., Haunted Canada: The Second Terrifying Collection) or his middle-grade horror (e.g., The House Next Door). I especially appreciate his highlighting of Canadian ghost stories. In this collection, we travel from Alberta to Ontario, from the Yukon to Quebec. And the stories take us from the time of the fur traders to those seeking their fortune in the Klondike Gold Rush, as well as more contemporary stories. Each has their own supernatural element, though all have frightening natures that need to be braved. And the way Joel A. Sutherland tells these stories makes us believe these things could happen to anyone. Shudder.

 

Because each story is different, each illustrator delivers us to a different time and place. Maya McKibbin gives us remote landscape of bogs and forests, while Matt Feehan takes us to the swinging '60s of sideburns, fabric chokers and peasant dresses. Matt Salisbury gives us the remoteness of Alberta when people fished and trapped, and the men travelled far to trade. Finally, Hannah Barrett delivers us to our most contemporary setting and gives us a creepy doll that is an unlucky, cherished moppet and more the kind of nightmares.

 

It doesn't matter that Halloween is just days away. Maybe Halloween will be a great time for sharing these ghost stories, but young readers who appreciate horror will find Haunted Canada (Graphic Novel, Volume 2): Four More Terrifying Tales a fabulous read anytime. I just might recommend not saving them for a bedtime reading, especially with illustrations that might pervade your sleep and emerge in your nocturnal visions. 

 

• • • • • • • 

 

Haunted Canada Graphic Novel, Volume 1: Four Terrifying Tales (2024)

Haunted Canada Graphic Novel, Volume 2: Four More Terrifying Tales (2025) 

Songs for Ghosts

Written by Clara Kumagai

Penguin Teen Canada

978-1-774882825

399 pp.

Ages 14+

August 2025 

 

Reviewed from audiobook

Penguin Random House Canada Audio 

Narrated by Kenichiro Thomson and Susan Momoko-Hingley  

 

Each story from the past is one for the future. (p. 368)

There are two stories in Song for Ghosts. From different times and different places, these two stories run parallel until they converge. How they converge and why comes from the blending of music with family and the supernatural and Japanese culture. And in the end, a Japanese-American teen learns more about himself from a young Japanese woman from a century earlier. 

 

The story of seventeen-year-old Adam is a contemporary one. He hangs with friends—though he did just have a bad breakup with his boyfriend Evan—plays the cello, goes to Japanese school on Saturdays, and spends time with his family: stepmom Kate, baby half-brother Benny, and Dad when he's not away on military business which is often lately. The second story comes into play when Adam discovers an old book of letters in a wooden box with Japanese writing on it. Thinking it might be connected to his Japanese mom who passed when he was a baby, Adam begins to read the dated letters from a young woman who writes to her recently deceased Obasama (grandmother). And when a ghost begins to appear in his house, Adam is both terrified and intrigued. He wants answers, so he looks to the diary.

 

In this diary of letters, the young woman, who lives in Nagasaki, plays the biwa, a Japanese lute important in storytelling, and begins to take lessons from a blind biwa hōshi. Soon the diary writer is playing for ghosts in order to appease them. Meanwhile, her uncle decides it is time for her to marry, and, though not a man he has selected, she is courted by an American lieutenant. The connection she makes with him, and with his associate Mr. S–, changes the trajectory of her life. And when Adam is approved for a homestay in Nagasaki, he expands his search for information on the diary writer and her story. 

 

Songs for Ghosts, recently nominated for the White Pine award of the Forest of Reading, is a far more involved story than I can possibly recount here. First, Clara Kumagai immerses the reader, through both the diary writer's letters and Adam's visit to Japan, in the richness of Japanese stories and music, and of Japanese history, and of its culture from food to festivals. There is also romance, both for the diary writer and for Adam, though their relationships are complicated. Third, there is much to learn about Adam and his family, both in the U.S. and in Japan, and the bonds he has with them. Needing to learn more about his mother's family takes him to learn more about himself. Finally, I haven't even mentioned the correspondence of Adam's story and that of the diary writer to Puccini's Madama Butterfly. Even with all these distinct storylines and plot elements, Clara Kumagai is subtle and elegant in wrapping them together across time and place, and bringing Adam and the diary writer as well as other characters to merge in a satisfying and redemptive way. As such, readers as well as the ghosts who want to be remembered are appeased.

Nightmare Jones: Poems

Written by Shannon Bramer

Illustrated by Cindy Derby

Groundwood Books

978-1-77306-946-3

56 pp.

Ages 9–12

October 2025

 

It's the time of year when the frightening and the strange are everywhere, whether in movies and stories, or in costumes and activities. Nightmare Jones will fit in beautifully with this collection of 28 poems which are steeped in darkness and will introduce unease and even reflection.

 

The titular poem, "Nightmare Jones," is about a scary swashbuckler who also dances. Other poems with chilling characters include "Chatterbox" about a collector of teeth, "Ghost in the Mirror," and "If She Was a Monster." And there are spiders and more spiders and insects and worms and more. 

Iridescent Flies and Beetles
of Dung and Doom
are Fools for Blood, come sing
inside me. Sing! Sing! Sing!
Di-dum-di 

(p. 47, from "The Strangest One")

From Nightmare Jones: Poems, written by Shannon Bramer, illustrated by Cindy Derby

Poet Shannon Bramer also writes of the scary things called feelings, whether it be about being lonely as in "Badlonely," that tenuous relationship with home ("The Scariest Word I Know"), or grief  as in "Sorrow." Shannon Bramer may present her poems to shake us up with the images she creates with her eloquent and powerful words, but she also makes us feel things that we might not want to feel. Still, her poems are elegant and sophisticated, and deep in their darkness and weightiness.

From Nightmare Jones: Poems, written by Shannon Bramer, illustrated by Cindy Derby

Several of Shannon Bramer's poems are prose poetry, and these are personal reflections about the moon ("Moon Song"), roses ("Loading Roses"), and a friend ("Button Rose"). Even in these she makes us feel for her insights and incidents.

From Nightmare Jones: Poems, written by Shannon Bramer, illustrated by Cindy Derby

San Francisco's Cindy Derby adds the right touch of ominousness, and she accomplishes this with a blend of powdered graphite, watercolour, gouache, colour burst powder, and pastels. With those mediums, the splattering and bleeding of colours just makes everything a little more unsettled.

 

Maybe you'll want to read these poems for Halloween, or maybe anytime you want a little chill, but Shannon Bramer deserves to have Nightmare Jones read throughout the year. Her words remind me of a deep pool that can be a little scary because of what might lurk beneath the surface, but there's a calm beauty that can be found within as well. I encourage you to take a dip.

2025 Governor General's Literary Awards: Finalists announced

Yesterday, the Canada Council for the Arts announced the finalists for the highly prestigious Governor General's Literary Awards.

The seven categories of books, both in French and English, for which awards are given are the following:

• Fiction
• Non-Fiction
• Poetry
• Young People's Literature (Text)
• Young People's Literature (Illustration)
• Drama
• Translation

Congratulations to the finalists 

of all the awards.
 

I present here those finalists of

works for young people.

English-language: Young People's Literature (Text) 

A Drop in the Ocean

Written by Léa Taranto

Arsenal Pulp Press 

 

Beast

Written by Richard Van Camp

Douglas & McIntyre 

 

Best of All Worlds

Written by Kenneth Oppel

Tundra Books 

 

The Outsmarters 

Written by Deborah Ellis

Groundwood Books 

Reviewed here 

 

Tig

Written by Heather Smith

Tundra Books

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

English-language: Young People's Literature (Illustration) 

Bog Myrtle
Written and illustrated by Sid Sharp

Annick Press 

 

It Bears Repeating

Written by Tanya Tagaq

Illustrated by Cee Pootoogook

Tundra Books 

 

Oasis

Written and illustrated by Guojing

Henry Holt & Co.

 

The Rock and the Butterfly

Written by Kathy Stinson

Illustrated by Brooke Kerrigan

Orca Book Publishers

Reviewed here

 

This Land is a Lullaby

Written by Tonya Simpson

Illustrated by Delreé Dumont

Orca Book Publishers 

 

 

 

 

French-language: Young People's Literature (Text) 

 

Cheer
Écrit par Laura Doyle Péan
Les Éditions de la Bagnole  

 

Coup bas

Écrit par Laurie Léveillé

la courte échelle 

 

Fatigué mort
Écrit par Marc-André Dufour-Labbé
Leméac Jeunesse 

 

Tête boule disco
Écrit par Noémie Pomerleau-Cloutier
Éditions du Boréal  

 

Vieille Branche
Écrit par Catherine Fouron
Les Éditions de la Bagnole 

 

 

 

 

 

 

French-language: Young People's Literature (Illustration) 

 

En crise
Écrit par Annick Lefebvre

Illustré par Vincent Partel-Valette
Les Éditions de la Bagnole 

La tasse de Gilles

Écrit par Catherine Trudeau

Illustré par Qin Leng

La Pastèque 

 

Le livre aspirateur
Écrit par Jocelyn Boisvert

Illustré par Enzo
Éditions Michel Quintin 

 

Murielle et le mystère
Écrit et illustré par Charlotte Parent
comme des géants  

 

Un cadeau de Noël en novembre

Écrit par Stéphane Laporte
Illustré par Jacques Goldstyn
Les Éditions de la Bagnole  

 

Winning titles will be announced
on November 6, 2025.

 

The Gift of Words

Written and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds

Orchard Books (Scholastic)

978-1-339-00034-3 

40 pp.

Ages 4–8

October 2025 

 

While most of Canada still hasn't seen snow since last winter, and many are still ramping up their decorations and party plans for Halloween, there will be some who are starting to think about the winter holiday season. Jerome, Peter H. Reynolds's lexicographer from The Word Collector (2018), is inspired to collect some holiday words, sure that he will find words of hope and of joy that he might share with those he loves. What he finds is surprising.

From The Gift of Words, written and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds

With his bright yellow notebook and accompanied by his dog Ekko, Jerome checks out words posted throughout his town. Words like "Buy" and "Sale" and "Low Low Prices" do not inspire the good feelings he'd hoped to find. 

These words left Jerome feeling cold.

From The Gift of Words, written and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds

When he looks beyond the shops, he finds even more distressing words. There's the newsstand where headlines scream about war, poverty, and disasters. And the people he encounters are demanding and hating on the weather and frustrated with others.

 

Jerome's solution is to share inspiring words rather than find new ones. After all, he is a curator of words. So, finding a joyful assortment, he packs up several large bags and pulls them on his sled to the downtown park. There he invites others to join him in decorating a tree with positive words and messages.

 

A word collector's tree.

A tree of hope.

A tree of dreams. A tree of wishes. 

 

From The Gift of Words, written and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds

Soon the tree is festooned with words of positive actions like "Smile" and "Listen," and of feelings like "Joy," as well as messages like "We can make more light together" and "Together we can." With that tree, with those words, and with his community, Jerome is able to share and help others participate in the gift of words.

 

Peter H. Reynolds has always be a fabulous patron of goodness, inspiring young readers with his picture books that promote self-expression (Happy Dreamer, 2017), love (All We Need Is Love and a Really Soft Pillow!, 2023), empowerment and activism (Say Something!, 2019), creativity (The Dot, 2023), and so much more. With The Gift of Words, Peter H. Reynolds not only promotes a lexicon of heartfelt words and messages, but he also makes us stop and think about the unpleasant communications with which children are bombarded daily. Sadly, there is much of this troubling content, especially during the holidays when commercialism and selfishness abound. Thankfully, Peter H. Reynolds addresses it with a lover of words and that child's pursuit of finding joy in the season. 

From The Gift of Words, written and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds

Still, the overall feeling of The Gift of Words is one that uplifts. It's one of community and positivity. And Peter H. Reynolds gives us all the children and community participating in making things right. Everyone has the opportunity to be included and to contribute. And all you see is joy in their faces and in their activity. Peter H. Reynolds gives us colour and kinship through his characters and his whimsical tree of hope, dreams, and wishes.

 

Get your students and children in the right holiday spirit with a reading of The Gift of Words and thinking about their own inspiring holiday words—Scholastic has a couple of activity sheets here to help—before the holiday season starts, and the toy and tech commercials begin to bombard them. Help them find the goodness within their community and their place in contributing to it. Help them make this holiday season one of heartfelt sentiment that might sustain them throughout the year.

Activity sheets available for The Gift of Words at Scholastic (https://www.scholastic.com/site/peter-reynolds.html)

2026 Forest of Reading® nominees: Le prix Peuplier, Le prix Mélèze, Le prix Tamarac

This is the final listing of nominees for the 2026 Forest of Reading® book award programs of the Ontario Library Association. 

 

Listed below are the nominees for the French-language reading programs:

• Le prix Peuplier: French-language picture books, less text, simpler subject matters, perfect for read-alouds
• Le prix Mélèze: shorter French-language chapter books with maximum 100 pages or more mature picture books, larger text with pictures, simpler vocabulary and verb tenses
• Le prix Tamarac:  French-language chapter books from 100 to 250 pages, smaller text with little or no illustrations, more complicated verb tenses and vocabulary
  

Links for the other six reading programs follow.

LE PRIX PEUPLIER

Alexis trouve sa voix
Écrit par Anne Renaud

Illustré par François Thisdale

Bouton d’Or d’Acadie

 

Comme toi et moi
Écrit par Priska Poirier

Illustré par Sabrina Gendron

Druide 

 

Les drôles de passe-temps de Nathan
Écrit par Geneviève Simard

Illustré par Élodie Duhameau

Gründ Québec 

 

La grenouille qui rêve les yeux ouverts
Écrit par Chloé Varin

Illustré par Laia Roca Trullols

Éditions Michel Quintin 

 

Le gros méchant Mwa-Mwa-Mwa
Écrit par Geneviève Janelle

Illustré par Jasmine Mirra Turcotte

Québec Amérique 

 

Les mal-aimés
Écrit et illustré par Magalie Élément 

Éditions Alaska 

 

Mon papa punk
Écrit par Iris Boudreau

Illustré par Pascal Grant

Fonfon 

 

Mon pire cauchemar, c’est lui, c’est elle
Écrit par Émilie Ouellette

Illustré par Mika

Éditions Alaska 

 

Nora, et Luce, les supers mamans de Marcus
Écrit par Renée Wilkin

Illustré par Catherine Petit

Boomerang Éditeur Jeunesse 

 

Un monstre vit dans ma tête
Écrit par Émilie Côté-Roy

Illustré par Zoë Robertson

Gründ Québec 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LE PRIX MÉLÈZE

La bibliothèque enchantée 1: Le livre aspirateur

Écrit par Jocelyn Boisvert 

Illustré par Enzo

Éditions Michel Quintin

 

Le champion du cimetière: Ma vie de zombie
Écrit et illustré par Éric Péladeau 

Bayard Jeunesse Canada 

 

Chasse aux indices 

Écrit par Martine Latulippe

Illustré par François Samson-Dunlop

Éditions Michel Quintin 

 

Comment sauver des chevaux sauvages
Écrit par Andrée Poulin

Illustré par Caroline Lavergne

Bayard Jeunesse Canada 

 

Croki
Écrit et illustré par Jacques Goldstyn 

La Pastèque 

 

Ma langue fleurie
Écrit par Simon Boulerice 

Illustré par Marianne Ferrer

Fonfon 

 

Oui, non, peut-être
Écrit par Lou Beauchesne

Illustré par Agathe Bray-Bournet

La courte échelle 

 

Prisonnier d’une nuit 

Écrit par Amy Lachapelle

Les Éditions Z’ailées 

 

La revanche du moisiar 

Écrit par Karine Gottot 

Illustré par Marina Léon

Bayard Jeunesse Canada 

 

Rose de Noël

Écrit par Marie Potvin

Les Éditions les Malins

LE PRIX TAMARAC

L’affaire Buddy Bussières
Écrit par François-Martine Bergeron-Mercier (François Gravel, Martine Latulippe, Alain Bergeron, Johanne Mercier)

Illustré par Mathilde Filippi

La courte échelle

 

Camp de jour 1 : L’éveil du kraken
Écrit par Annie Bacon 

Illustré par Camille Maestracci

Les Éditions de la Bagnole

 

Ce que j’aimerais trouver sur la plage
Écrit par Rhéa Dufresne 

Bayard Jeunesse Canada 

La chose: Pied-de-poule mouillée
Écrit par Elizabeth Baril-Lessard

Les Éditions les Malins

 

GO Gadget 1: Norbert contre la factrice timbrée
Écrit par Mélodie Heuser

Les Éditions les Malins 

 

Mlle Bottine
Écrit par Sonia Sarfati

Québec Amérique 

 

L’Oracle

Écrit par Julie Champagne 

La courte échelle 

 

Quand ils sont venus
Écrit par Andrée Poulin

Illustré par Sophie Casson

Les Éditions de l'Isatis 

 

#Skate
Écrit par Caroline Auger

Illustré par Audrey Jadaud

Bayard Jeunesse Canada 

Sur le spectre 1: Agathe et Victor
Écrit par Catherine Bourgault

Les Éditions les Malins

••••••••••••••••••••••••

Nominees for the other programs can be linked to from below:

Blue Spruce

Silver Birch Express

Silver Birch Fiction

Yellow Cedar

Red Maple

White Pine