2023 Willow Awards: Winners announced for the Saskatchewan Young Readers' Choice Awards

The winners of the SaskEnergy Willow Awards, Saskatchewan's Young Readers' Choice Awards, were announced last week at Perdue School in Perdue, Saskatchewan.  Readers in Kindergarten to Grade 9 read and then voted on the titles in their award category, and young readers announced the winners. Videos and announcements are detailed at the Willows' website here. 

 

Congratulations to the  

winners of the three Willow Awards!

The winner of the Shining Willow Award, selected from those books written for youngest readers, those in Kindergarten to Grade 3, is...

The Strangest Thing in the Sea: And Other Curious Creatures of the Deep
Written by Rachel Poliquin
Illustrated by Byron Eggenschwiler
Kids Can Press
Reviewed here

 

The winner of the Diamond Willow Award, selected from those books written for readers of Grades 4 to 6, is...

Children of the Fox 

 (Thieves of Shadow, Book 1)

Written by Kevin Sands

Puffin Canada

 

 

The winner of the Snow Willow Award, selected from those books written for readers in Grades 7 to 9, is ...

Under the Iron Bridge
Written by Kathy Kacer
Second Story Press

2017 Forest of Reading® nominees announced

We've all waited for the day that the Ontario Library Association announced the nominees for the 2017 Forest of Reading® programs. Now extending beyond Ontario, even more readers are enjoying new Canadian literature as part of the Forest of Reading® programs.

These readers' choice award programs invite teachers and librarians (school and public), as well as parents of home-schoolers, to sign up for these programs through the Ontario Library Association. Once you've registered for the programs and purchase the books, young readers will be on their way to voting for their favourites in April.

With over one hundred nominated titles, I have presented the nominees in multiple posts. See the lists below for nominees for the different programs.

Blue Spruce and Silver Birch Nominees

Red Maple and White Pine Nominees

Le Prix Tamarac and Le Prix Peuplier Nominees

Exciting news: 2014 Forest of Reading winners announced!

The Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading's book awards have been an important part of my school library program and my personal volunteer experiences for many years, so I am always proud to post the results of this wonderful reading program.

It's impossible to congratulate all those who made this reading program and the Festival of Trees such a success but here are some of the amazing people who play important roles in its success:

• the readers;
• the selection committees who read so many books to choose the best for the shortlists;
• the steering committees that organize and put on the fabulous Festival of Trees;
• the OLA staff, with Meredith Tutching at the helm;
• the authors and illustrators who provide enviable youngCanLit;
• the publishers who publish youngCanLit and promote it; and
• the winners and honourees in each reading program.

Here are this year's readers' choice winners for each reading program:

Blue Spruce

WINNER

Oddrey
by Dave Whamond
Owlkids

Reviewed here

 

Silver Birch EXPRESS

   WINNER

The Secret of the Village Fool

by Rebecca Upjohn
Illustrated by Renné Benoit
Second Story Press


Reviewed here
 

Silver Birch FICTION

 WINNER

Recordbreaker

by Robin Stevenson
Orca Book Publishers

Reviewed here

Silver Birch NON-FICTION

WINNER

One Step at a Time: A Vietnamese Child Finds Her Way

by Marsha Skrypuch

Pajama Press 


Reviewed here

 

Le prix Peuplier

            Lauréat               

Une mouche, un chat et une patate 

by Céline Malépart
Simon & Schuster BFYR/Simon & Schuster

Le Prix Tamarac

                   Lauréat

Une fille à l’école des gars

by Maryse Peyskens

Dominique et Compagnie

Le Prix Tamarac EXPRESS

                   Lauréat

Attention, j’arrive ! (BiBop) 

by Raymond Parent
Boomerang

Red Maple Fiction

WINNER

The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen
by Susin Nielsen
Tundra Books

Reviewed here

White Pine FICTION

WINNER

Live to Tell
by Lisa Harrington
Dancing Cat Books

White Pine NON-FICTION

WINNER

The Secret of the Blue Trunk
by Lise Dion 
Translated by Liedewij Hawke
Dundurn

                                                                                                             

Thrilling news for all authors, illustrators and publishers!

Enjoyed all the more for being selected 

by young Canadian readers!

Congratulations to everyone!

The full list of winners and honour books is posted at CanLit for LittleCanadians Awards here or on the news release from OLA .

Launch of the inaugural TD Canadian Children's Literature Fan Choice Award

TD and CBC Books 

present 

the TD Canadian Children's Literature Fan Choice Award

Starting today, young readers will have a chance to go online and pick their favourite book

from the 5 finalists for the 2013 TD Canadian Children's Literature Award

The book with the most votes will win and be awarded the 

TD Canadian Children's Literature Fan Choice Award

and

one lucky entrant will win a trip to Toronto 

to present the award at the gala ceremony on October 22.

See details at CBC Books (www.cbc.ca/books/kids).

Here are this year's 5 finalists:

Kids of Kabul: Living Bravely Through a Never-Ending War
Written by Deborah Ellis
Groundwood Books
Ages 11+

One Year in Coal Harbour
Written by Polly Horvath

Groundwood Books
Ages 9-13

The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen
Written by Susin Nielsen
Tundra Books
Ages 11+

The Stamp Collector
Written by Jennifer Lanthier

Illustrated by François Thisdale

Fitzhenry & Whiteside
Ages 8+

Virginia Wolf
Written by Kyo Maclear
Illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault
Kids Can Press
Ages 5-10

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
As an aside, I hope this experiment in a fan choice award works somehow.  Having been part of both juried award selections and readers' choice award selections, I suspect that different titles may be selected from the same short-list of finalists.  Although both award winners will be honest and worthy selections, I have to wonder how not being the fan choice might diminish the thrill of winning the juried award. 

Moreover, although juries can look at a wide variety of books, here ranging for readers from ages 5 to 13+, young readers will be limited as to the books they can and will read.  An eight-year-old is unlikely to select The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen because he or she would not have read it.  And a 12-year-old may too easily dismiss Virginia Wolf and The Stamp Collector as picture books, the realm of the youngest readers.  And how will Deborah Ellis' complex and heart-stopping Kids of Kabul: Living Bravely Through a Never-Ending War fare amongst die-hard fiction readers?

Mixing picture books, middle-grade fiction and non-fiction in a single list for adult jurors is not an issue but for young readers it is.  This is why popular readers' choice book awards like Ontario's Silver Birch,  BC's Red Cedar Book Award and the Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award compile lists of nominees according to age of readership and genre.  I suspect that, for the TD Canadian Children's Literature Fan Choice Award, readers and titles are at a disadvantage, making the ultimate selection less accurate and more subjective.

That said, young readers are still privileged to choose one of these fine titles for this new award and any title chosen from this complex list will be a worthy recipient of the award.  Good luck to all nominees.

Forest of Reading ® 2013 Nominees Announced!

Today, the Ontario Library Association announced the nominated titles for the 2013 Forest of Reading® readers' choice awards. This popular literacy program is designed to cultivate a love of reading for people of all ages, from JK to adult.  For those of us who love reading, it's a great opportunity to focus on new Canadian literature.  For those of us who teach, we know that...

...a print-rich environment leads to more reading and free voluntary reading is the best predictor of comprehension, vocabulary growth, spelling and grammatical ability and writing style  (Michele Lonsdale, Impact of School Libraries on Student Achievement: A Review of the Research: Report for the Australian School Libraries Association, 2003)

The Forest of Reading® already connects over 250,000 readers across Ontario and beyond.  Ask your school library or public library about the Forest of Reading®.  If they're registered, great!  If they're not, ask them, "Why not?"  Registration for these programs through your school or public library is accessible at the OLA website.

With 110 nominated titles, I have presented the nominees in multiple posts.  See the lists below for nominees for the different programs.

Blue Spruce and Silver Birch Nominees

Red Maple, White Pine and Golden Oak Nominees

Le Prix Tamarac and Le Prix Peuplier Nominees

Red Cedar Award 2012 winners announced

 

British Columbian children in Grades 4 through 7 have read and voted for their favourite titles among the Fiction nominees and Information Book nominees for 2011/2012. We are pleased to announce the winners in each category.

For the Red Cedar Book Award for Fiction, the winner is . . .

After the Fire

by Becky Citra

 Orca Books 

186 pp.

Ages 8-11

2010 

While her mom and boyfriend are passed out drunk, a fire breaks out and Melissa is left scarred.  Two years later, Melissa, her brother and mom are spending the summer at a friend's cottage. There Melissa meets Alice and, although she is embarrassed about her less-than-perfect family, Melissa learns that Alice is not what she seems, her family also less than perfect and dealing with grief in a variety of unhealthy ways.


For the Red Cedar Information Book Award, the winner is . . .

How to Build Your Own Country 

by Valerie Wyatt

Illustrated by Fred Rix

Kids Can Press

40 pp.

Ages 9-11

2009 

This "how-to" book will help readers establish their own countries, learn how to set up their governments and how to set up international relations with other countries.  All the organization needed and the knowledge of government, economics, trade and other key national endeavours are illustrated in this worthwhile book.