Forest of Reading®: Festival of Trees coming soon

If it's April, then young readers are voting for their favourite books in the Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading® award programs. And those votes will be tallied and awards announced at the Festival of Trees. These award ceremonies were always a big event at Toronto's Harbourfront, though over the pandemic, award ceremonies were conducted online. For the first time in several years, young readers will have the opportunity to attend in-person events which include workshops by authors and/or illustrators, get their books autographed by authors, and cheer in person when the award winners are announced. The Festival of Trees will be held from Tuesday May 16 through Thursday May 18, 2023. If you're still not convinced to attend (tickets available here), check out the full schedule of events below.

 

TUESDAY, MAY 16, 2023

SILVER BIRCH EXPRESS

 

AWARD CEREMONY 10:30-11:30 AM

 

WORKSHOPS

 

11:45 AM-12:15 PM Eric Walters: Bear in the Family

  

12:15-12:45 PM  Shenaaz Nanji: Alina in a Pinch

 

12:45-1:15 PM Alma Fullerton: Flipping Forward Twisting Backward

 

AUTHORS AUTOGRAPHING

 

11:45 AM-12:45 PM

    Alma Fullerton: Flipping Forward Twisting Backward
    Greer Stothers: Kaleidoscope of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life: Their colors and patterns explained

    Rachel Poliquin: The Strangest Thing in the Sea: And Other Curious Creatures of the Deep

 

1:00-2:00 PM

    Shenaaz Nanji: Alina in a Pinch
    Eric Walters: Bear in the Family
    Juliana Armstrong: This is What I’ve Been Told / Mii yi gaa-bi-wiindmaagooyaan

    Kallie George (tentative): Crimson Twill: Witch in the City
  

 

 

SILVER BIRCH FICTION

 

AWARD CEREMONY 12:00-1:00 PM

 

WORKSHOPS

 

10:15-10:45 AM Colleen Nelson: The Undercover Book List

10:15-10:45 AM J. Torres and David Namisato: Stealing Home

 

10:30-11:00 AM  Wesley King: Butt Sandwich & Tree

11:15-11:45 AM Catherine Egan: Sneaks

 

11:15-11:45 AM Meagan Mahoney: Meranda and the Legend of the Lake

1:15-1:45 PM David A. Robertson: The Stone Child (The Misewa Saga, Bk 3)

 

 

AUTHORS AUTOGRAPHING

 

10:00-11:00 AM

    Rosena Fung: Living with Viola
    Meagan Mahoney: Meranda and the Legend of the Lake

    Catherine Egan: Sneaks

    David A. Robertson: The Stone Child (The Misewa Saga, Bk 3)

 

1:00-2:00 PM

    Wesley King: Butt Sandwich & Tree

    Colleen Nelson: The Undercover Book List
    J. Torres and David Namisato: Stealing Home  

 

 

BLUE SPRUCE

 

DIGITAL AWARD CEREMONY 1:30-2:00 PM EST

 

 

 •   •   •   •   •   •   •

 

 WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 2023

 

RED MAPLE

 

AWARD CEREMONY 10:30-11:30 AM

 

WORKSHOPS

 

11:45 AM-12:15 PM  Teresa Toten: Eight Days

12:15-12:45 PM Meaghan McIsaac: The Bear House

12:15-12:45 PM Chad Lucas: Let the Monster Out

 

12:45-1:15 PM Kevin Sands: Children of the Fox (Thieves of Shadow, Bk 1)

1:15-1:45 PM Paul Coccia and Eric Walters: On the Line

 

1:15-1:45 PM Lori Weber: The Ribbon Leaf

 

 

AUTHORS AUTOGRAPHING

 

11:45 AM-12:45 PM

    Kevin Sands:  Children of the Fox (Thieves of Shadow, Bk 1)
    Paul Coccia and Eric Walters: On the Line

    Lori Weber: The Ribbon Leaf

    Joanne Levy: Sorry for Your Loss

    Kathy Kacer: Under the Iron Bridge 

 

1:00-2:00 PM

    Leisl Adams: Batter Royale
    Meaghan McIsaac: The Bear House

    Teresa Toten: Eight Days

    Chad Lucas: Let the Monster Out

 

WHITE PINE

AWARD CEREMONY 12:00-1:00 PM

WORKSHOPS

10:15-10:45 AM Christy Goerzen: River Mermaid

 

10:15-10:45 AM H. N. Khan: Wrong Side of the Court

 

10:30-11:00 AM Kate McLaughlin: Daughter

11:15-11:45 AM Nicola Davison: Decoding Dot Grey

 

11:15-11:45 AM Jen Ferguson: The Summer of Bitter and Sweet

 

AUTHORS AUTOGRAPHING

1:00-2:00 PM
    Kate McLaughlin: Daughter

    Nicola Davison: Decoding Dot Grey

    Christy Goerzen: River Mermaid

    Jen Ferguson: The Summer of Bitter and Sweet

    Louisa Onomé: Twice as Perfect

    H. N. Khan: Wrong Side of the Court 

 

 

YELLOW CEDAR

 

Digital Award Ceremony  1:30-2:00 PM EST

 

 •   •   •   •   •   •   •

THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2023

LE PRIX MÉLÈZE

 

AWARD CEREMONY 10:30-11:30 AM

 

WORKSHOPS

 

11:45 AM-12:15 PM Andrée-Anne Gratton: L'enfant qui jouait du piano dans sa tête
 

11:45 AM-12:15 PM Marie-Andrée Arsenault: La Guerre des pupitres

  

12:15-12:45 PM  Patrick Blanchette: Aube du monde des rêves 01 Le réacteur onirique
 

12:15-12:45 PM Carole Tremblay: La chose dans l'étang

 

12:45-1:15 PM  Jocelyn Boisvert: La ligue des (pas si) champions
 

12:45-1:15 PM Pierre Chastenay: Une visite guidée du système solaire

 

 

AUTHORS AUTOGRAPHING

 

11:45 AM-12:45 PM
    Jocelyn Boisvert: La ligue des (pas si) champions
    Pierre Chastenay: Une visite guidée du système solaire

 

1:00-2:00 PM

    Patrick Blanchette: Aube du monde des rêves 01 Le réacteur onirique
    Carole Tremblay: La chose dans l'étang
    Andrée-Anne Gratton: L'enfant qui jouait du piano dans sa tête
    Marie-Andrée Arsenault: La Guerre des pupitres

 

 

LE PRIX TAMARAC

 

AWARD CEREMONY 12:00-1:00 PM

 

WORKSHOPS

 

10:15-10:45 AM Annie Bacon: Chroniques post-apocalyptiques d'un garçon perdu

 

10:15-10:45 AM Dïana Bélice: L'escouade du bonheur

 

10:30-11:00 AM Isabelle Roy: Brûlé 01 Premier degré

 

10:30-11:00 AM Marie-Hélène Jarry: Les carnets de novembre

 

11:15-11:45 AM Simon Lafrance: Carnet de bord d'un (aspirant) chef de meute

 

11:15-11:45 AM Alexandre Côté-Fournier: Quincaillerie Miville

 

1:15-1:45 PM  Suzanne Aubry: Le Septième étage et demi

 

 

AUTHORS AUTOGRAPHING

 

10:45-11:45 AM

    Isabelle Roy: Brûlé 01 Premier degré
    Marie-Hélène Jarry: Les carnets de novembre
    Suzanne Aubry: Le Septième étage et demi
    Paul Tom: Seuls
    Gabrielle Boulianne-Tremblay: La voix de la nature

 

1:00-2:00 PM

    Simon Lafrance: Carnet de bord d'un (aspirant) chef de meute
    Annie Bacon: Chroniques post-apocalyptiques d'un garçon perdu
    Dïana Bélice: L'escouade du bonheur
    Alexandre Côté-Fournier: Quincaillerie Miville 

 

 

LE PRIX PEUPLIER

 

Digital Award Ceremony: 1:30-2:00 PM EST 

 

 •   •   •   •   •   •   •

         

Links to purchase tickets for these Festival of Trees (including General Admission tickets without award ceremonies but all other events) as well as those that are only available as Digital Ceremonies (Blue Spruce, Yellow Cedar and Le prix Peuplier) are available at https://forestofreading.com/festival/.

Ottawa Public Library presents Teen Author Fest 2018 (Ottawa, ON)

On

 Saturday, October 27, 2018

12-5 p.m.

the Ottawa Public Library 

presents

Teen Author Fest 2018

a free event with 11 French- and English-language 
writers of stories for young adults

Lucile de Pesloüan 

Pourquoi les filles ont mal au ventre?

Émilie Rivard

1re avenue

Sophie Labell

Ciel

Hadley Dyer

Here So Far Away

Susan Glickman

The Discovery of Flight

Tiffany D. Jackson

Monday’s Not Coming

E.K. Johnston

That Inevitable Victorian Thing

Sarah Raughley

Siege of Shadows

Justin Joschko

Yellow Locust

Star Spider

Past Tense

Reviewed here

Danielle Younge-Ullman

Everything Beautiful Is Not Ruined

Reviewed here

There will be workshops,
panel discussions, 
author signings, 
a meet-and-greet, 
and 
book sales (through Octopus Books).

••••••••••••••••••••••••

All events will take place at

Ottawa Public Library Sunnyside branch 

1049 Bank Street

and

across the street at 

Southminster United Church 

15 Aylmer Avenue

•••••••••••••••

This is a free event!

Details about the schedule and authors and their books are available on the Teen Author Fest pages at https://biblioottawalibrary.ca/en/content/teen-author-fest (English) or at https://biblioottawalibrary.ca/fr/content/festival-des-auteurs-pour-ados (French)

Picture the Sky: Art show and sale (Toronto, ON)

Last August, 

author/illustrator Barbara Reid

the Queen of plasticine art

launched her newest picture book

Picture the Sky

Written and illustrated by Barbara Reid

Scholastic Canada

9781443163026

32 pp.

Ages 3-8

2017

Now youngCanLit readers and art enthusiasts can enjoy

  Picture the Sky

through Barbara Reid's amazing art 

in an Art Show and Sale

which runs from

  Saturday, March 3, 2018 - Thursday, April 12, 2018

with 

special events 

on the official launch day

Sunday, March 4, 2018

1 p.m.:  Launch of the Art Show and Sale

2 p.m.:  Story time

at

The Young Welcome Centre

Evergreen Brick Works

550 Bayview Avenue

Toronto, ON

Celebrate Inuktitut Language Month with Inhabit Media book signing (Iqaluit, NU)

Inuit-owned publishing company

Inhabit Media

in partnership with

Qikiqtani Inuit Association 

are hosting 

a multi-author/illustrator book signing

on Saturday, February 18, 2017

from 1-3 p.m.

at

Frobisher Inn

Koojesse (North) Room

Iqaluit, Nunavut

Authors and illustrators in attendance include:

Author Celina Kalluk

Reviewed here

Christina Rooney

Illustrator Germaine Amaktauyok

Reviews here and here

Author Laura Deal

Author Nadia Mike

Author Nadia Sammurtok

Review here

Author Noel McDermott

Author Roselynn Akulukjuk

Review here

Author Solomon Awa

Authors Susan Avingaq & Maren Vsetula

Review here

Author William Flaherty

I'm so pleased to promote this event 

(though with very little lead time, sorry)

 because I so rarely hear about events this far away.  

But if you're in Iqaluit,

 this is a great event to meet a plethora of 

authors and illustrators of important youngCanLit. 

(If you go, please let me know how great it was.)

Sammy and the Headless Horseman: Book signing (Toronto)

Join award-winning youngCanLit author 

of numerous fiction and non-fiction 

including

The Last Train

On a Canadian Day

and

Courage and Compassion: Ten Canadians Who Made a Difference

Rona Arato

for the release and signing of her newest book

Sammy and the Headless Horseman

by Rona Arato

Fitzhenry & Whiteside

9781554552696

156 pp.

Ages 9-11

May/September 2016

on

Sunday, August 28th, 2016

 2 p m.

 Indigo Yorkdale

Toronto, ON

This middle-grade mystery of historical fiction is described on the publisher's website at http://www.fitzhenry.ca/Detail/1554552699 as follows:

Thanks to his Aunt Pearl, eleven-year-old Sammy is stuck in the Catskill Mountains for the summer with his awful cousin Joshua. While he doesn't relish the idea of getting to know his new stepmom, at least he'd have his gang to hang out with in New York if he got to stay there instead. But when Sammy realizes he was brought on to be hired help at the hotel, he makes the most of it and enjoys bunking with his teenage co-worker, Adam.

Trouble seems to follow Sammy as he becomes entangled in a series of mysterious occurrences, including a terrifying headless horseman who seems to be haunting the reclusive "Hermit" at the top of the neighbouring hill. Sammy and his new friends form a team called "The Ichabods" to crack the mystery.

Set in the early 1920s, after WWI. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

I'll be reviewing Sammy and the Headless Horseman later this week but I thought I give readers in the Toronto area an early heads up (!) about this author event.  I'm sure that it's a book that you won't want to miss.  

Cross Katie Kross

by Donna Morrissey
Illustrated by Bridgette Morrissey
Penguin Canada
978-0-670-06479-3
32 pp.
Ages 4+
2012

Katie Kross is the mean woman that every child on any street knows to avoid.  She's always cross and unhappy. Often what makes someone mean is a mystery, except for Katie Kross.  She doesn't "like most anything" except Love Valley: a wondrous place from her dreams with soft grass, sweet air, and kindly animals, and where Katie is very happy.

As with most of us, Katie Kross is determined to recapture that happiness by finding Love Valley.  But the road to Love Valley is not clear.  Katie walks for days and days, only to find herself at the crossroads where a rabbit points her along the "obvious" road.  But, after a long trek, she reaches a dead end.  Cross and achy, Katie attempts to sleep but is kept awake by an irritatingly loud brook.  Jumpins! Nothing seems to be going right for Katie.

Back to the crossroads, Katie returns and chooses a different road, as advised by a preening fox.  Unfortunately, her travels end without finding Love Valley again.  Finally, Katie travels the only crossroad remaining and ventures into dark woods with lovely fountains of sweet pink juice from which Katie drinks and drinks and drinks.  Katie does find Love Valley but the reader will need to enjoy Cross Katie Kross to find its location.

Donna Morrissey, author of award-winning adult fiction including Downhill Chance (Penguin Canada, 2002) and Sylvanus Now (Penguin Canada, 2005), joins her daughter, artist Bridgette Morrissey, in their first picture book collaboration.  Children will recognize quite quickly what makes Katie Kross so mean and that her reaction to disappointment feeds her exasperation.  But it's the great teachable moment that Cross Katie Kross offers, about being "at the crossroads" and the strife most of us perceive when at this point, that will stoke important discussions.

Bridgette Morrissey's whimsical illustrations add the magic to Katie's home and her travels in search of Love Valley.  I needed to know how Bridgette Morrissey (see her website) creates the softness and touchability (I know it's not a word but tactile sensation sounds insensate) to the trees, animals, cakes - everything.  An email query to Bridgette Morrissey revealed her technique:

Everyone thinks the illustrations are colored pencil but they are indeed acrylic on paper.  I tend to paint very thin so the grain of the paper shows through, giving it that slightly textured look.

 (Morrissey, Bridgette. "Re: type of illustration." Email message, March 7, 2012.)

Children may not pick up on the "grass is always greener" allegory but they will pick up on the incongruity of Katie Kross' meanness and the softness of the illustrations and recognize that things are not always as we see them.

***

Below, Donna Morrissey and Bridgette Morrissey discuss their collaboration at a Cross Katie Kross book signing event at The Inside Story bookshop in Greenwood, Nova Scotia. The video was created by Edward Wedler.

Uploaded by Club8104 on Feb 28, 2012 on YouTube.