2026 CCBC Book Award Winners Announced

On Monday, October 26, 2026, 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) 
• Sharon Fitzhenry Award for Canadian Children's Non-Fiction ($10,000)  
• Amy Mathers Teen Book Award ($5,000) 
• Richard Allen Chase Memorial Award ($5,000)
• David Booth Children’s and Youth Poetry Award ($3,500) 
• Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People ($3,000) 

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Congratulations to all winners!

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Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award: WINNER 

 

 

Rock 

Written by Laurel Croz

Illustrated by Matt James
Groundwood Books

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

 

 

The True Story of Vanilla: How Edmond Albius Made History 

 Written by Ann Richards 
Illustrated by Arden Taylor 
Orca Book Publishers

 

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Amy Mathers Teen Book Award: WINNER

 

 

He’s So Possessed with Me

Written by Corey Liu 
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers 

 

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Richard Allen Chase Memorial Award: WINNER

  

 

Oasis 

Written and illustrated by Guojing 
Godwin Books

 

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David Booth Children’s and Youth Poetry Award: WINNER

 

 

Song of Freedom, Song of Dreams 

Written by Shari Green 
Andrews McMeel Publishing  
  

 

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Geoffrey Bilson Award for 

Historical Fiction for Young People: WINNER

 

 

I Won't Feel This Way Forever

Written by Kim Spencer 
Orca Book Publishers  

 

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2026 Lane Anderson Award: Shortlists announced

The Lane Anderson Award, an award created and funded by the Fitzhenry Family Foundation, just announced the shortlists in its two categories, Young Reader and Adult Reader. These awards honour the very best in science writing in Canada today. Each of the winners will be awarded $10,000 at a ceremony to be held in Toronto in January, 2027.

Young reader shortlist:

The Buzz on Wild Bees: The Little-Known Pollinators that Keep Our Planet Humming
Written by Kira Vermond 

Illustrated by June Steube 

Owlkids Books

The Gland Factory: A Tour of Your Body’s Goops, Juices, and Hormones
Written by Rachel Poliquin

Illustrated by Clayton Hanmer 

Greystone Kids

The Story and Science of Hope
Written by Andrea Curtis

Illustrated by Ana Suárez 

Groundwood Books

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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(While we don't promote adult books on CanLit for LittleCanadians, I thought you might be interested to see the Adult shortlist. Here it is:

The Lobster Trap: The Global Fight for a Seafood on the Brink
Written by Greg Mercer 

Penguin Random House Canada / McClelland & Stewart

Meltdown: The Making and Breaking of a Field Scientist
Written by Sarah Boon 

University of Alberta Press

The Mind Mappers: Friendship, Betrayal and the Obsessive Quest to Chart the Brain
Written by Eric Andrew-Gee 

Penguin Random House Canada

 

 

 

 

 

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For more information about the Fitzhenry Family Foundation and the Lane Anderson Award, please visit their website at www.laneandersonaward.ca.

 

2027 Forest of Reading® nominees: Yellow Cedar, Red Maple, White Pine

Here is the second grouping of nominated titles from the 2027 Forest of Reading® book awards of the Ontario Library Association:

• Yellow Cedar: non-fiction for Grades 4 to 8
  
• Red Maple: fiction for Grades 7 and 8
  
• White Pine: fiction for Grades 9 to 12
  

  

YELLOW CEDAR

Bat Planet: The Mysterious Life of the Creatures of the Night
Written by Neil Griffin

Orca Book Publishers

Built Like a Bug: How Insects Inspire Everyday Inventions
Written by Anjali Joshi
Illustrated by Kathleen Ng

Annick Press

Reviewed here 

The Buzz on Wild Bees: The Little-Known Pollinators that Keep Our Planet Humming
Written by Kira Vermond
Illustrated by June Steube

Owlkids Books

The Cedar Mother (Mothers of Xsan, Book 8)
Written by Brett D. Huson (Hetxw’ms Gyetxw)
Illustrated by Natasha Donovan

HighWater Press

Reviewed here

Cracking the Code: The Human Quest to Uncover Secrets
Written by Rachel Kehoe
Illustrated by Meegan Lim

Orca Book Publishers

The Dream of an Education: How Phymean Noun Built a School

Written by Susan Hughes
Illustrated by Tida Kheav

Orca Book Publishers

Left-Handed: Getting a Grip on Handedness
Written by Maria Birmingham
Illustrated by Catherine Chan

Owlkids Books

Reviewed here

Soccerology: Unbelievable Facts and Stories About the Beautiful Game
Written and illustrated by Kevin Sylvester

Annick Press

Reviewed here

The Sustainable School: A Journey Through Time and Energy
Written by Erica Fyvie
Illustrated by Scot Ritchie

Kids Can Press

Reviewed here

What Is A Sculpture?
Written by Diane Borsato
Illustrated by Laura Carlin

Tundra Books

 

RED MAPLE™

 

Absolutely No Body Parts
Written by Valerie Sherrard

DCB Young Readers

Among Ghosts
Written by Rachel Hartman
Penguin Teen Canada

 

The Book of Jupiter

Written by Robin Stevenson

Kids Can Press

 

Go

Written by Deborah Ellis

Groundwood Books

Reviewed here

The Inbetweens 
Written and illustrated by Faith Erin Hicks

First Second Books

Lydia Cooper Is a Lie
Written by Meaghan McIsaac

Aladdin Books

 

Sam

Written by Eric Walters

DCB Young Readers

Reviewed here

Skygull Calamity 

Written by Bronwyn Fairchild

Annick Press 

 

Something's Up with Arlo 

Written by Matteo L. Cerilli

HarperCollins 

 

The Vanished Ones

Written by Chad Lucas

Amulet Books 

  

WHITE PINE™

Best of All Worlds
Written by Kenneth Oppel
Penguin Teen Canada

The Free Verse Society
Written by Delali Adjoa
Peachtree Teen

He's So Possessed with Me
Written by Corey Liu
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Our Little Secret
Written by Edward Kay and Mikhael Klassen-Kay
DCB Young Readers

Ramin Abbas Has MAJOR Questions
Written by Ahmad Saber
Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books

The Rebel Girls of Rome
Written by Jordyn Taylor
HarperCollins

Small Ceremonies
Written by Kyle Edwards
McClelland & Stewart

This Place Kills Me
Written by Mariko Tamaki
Illustrated by Nicole Goux
Abrams

Thornbird
Written by E. Kennedy
Delacorte Press

The Vacation Shift
Written by Lily Chu
Quill Tree Books
 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Blue Spruce

Silver Birch Express

Silver Birch Fiction

Le prix Peuplier

Le prix Mézèle

Le prix Tamarac