Forest of Reading winners announced!

After two fantastic days of great weather, words and winning, it is clear that young readers in Ontario appreciate and applaud the great Canadian literature that the Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading promotes.  At the Festival of Trees event at Toronto's Harbourfront yesterday and today, young readers celebrated the culmination of their reading programs with the announcement of the winning books.

Congratulations to:
• the readers on their amazing selections from exemplary lists of Canadian literature for young people;
• the countless volunteers and OLA staff who ensure that Ontario readers see the best titles and who help bring the Festival of Trees to fruition (pun intended);
• the authors and illustrators honoured with Forest of Reading nominations;
• the authors and illustrators who enjoyed the undeniable adoration of thousands of reading fans;
• the publishers who are recognizing the importance of publishing and promoting children's and YA literature in Canada; and
• the winners and honourees in each reading program. 

Here are the winners and honour books for each reading program:

Blue Spruce

WINNER

Giraffe and Bird
Rebecca Bender

Dancing Cat Books/Cormorant Books

HONOUR BOOKS

One Hockey Night

David Ward and Brian Deines

Scholastic Canada/North Winds Press 

Kiss Me! (I'm a Prince!)

   Heather McLeod and Brooke Kerrigan

   Fitzhenry & Whiteside

Silver Birch EXPRESS

   WINNER

When Apples Grew Noses and White Horses Flew: Tales of Ti-Jean 

 Jan Andrews and Dušan Petričić 

Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press

HONOUR BOOKS

The Time Time Stopped 

Don Gillmor 

Scholastic Canada

  

The Last Loon 

Rebecca Upjohn 

Orca Book Publishers

Silver Birch FICTION

 WINNER

Undergrounders 

David Skuy 

Scholastic Canada

HONOUR BOOKS

Neil Flambé and the Aztec Abduction 

Kevin Sylvester  

Simon and Schuster 

Ghosts of the Titanic 

Julie Lawson 

Scholastic Canada

Silver Birch NON-FICTION

WINNER

Don’t Touch That Toad & Other Strange Things Adults Tell You 

Catherine Rondina and Kevin Sylvester 

Kids Can Press

HONOUR BOOKS

50 Poisonous Questions: A Book With Bite 

Tanya Lloyd Kyi and Ross Kinnaird 

Annick Press

  

Case Closed? Nine Mysteries Unlocked by Modern Science

Susan Hughes and Michael Wandelmaier 

Kids Can Press

Le Prix Tamarac

 WINNER

Secrets de Famille

Sylvie Marcoux
Éditions du Phoenix

HONOUR BOOKS

L’étrange affaire du 413 

Nadya Larouche
Éditions Vents d’Ouest

Le Prix Tamarac EXPRESS

                   WINNER

Les Dragouilles: Les Rouges de Tokyo 

Karine Gottot et Maxim Cyr
Éditions Michel Quintin

HONOUR BOOKS

Une Petite bouteille jaune 
Angèle Delaunois et Christine Delezenne
Éditions de l’Isatis                                                       

Le Zaillemeur

Marie-Pierre Meunier et Sébastien Pinard
Les Éditions Z’ailées

Red Maple Fiction

WINNER

Half Brother

Kenneth Oppel
HarperCollins Canada

HONOUR BOOK

Haunting Violet
Alyxandra Harvey
Walker & Company

White Pine FICTION

WINNER

The Gathering

Kelley Armstrong

 Random House Canada/Doubleday Canada

HONOUR BOOKS

Blood Red Road
Moira Young
Random House Canada/Doubleday Canada

  

Chance to Dance for You 

Gail Sidonie Sobat

Great Plains Publications

White Pine NON-FICTION

WINNER

The Book of Awesome
Neil Pasricha
Random House Canada/ Doubleday Canada

HONOUR BOOKS

Two Generals 
Scott Chantler
McClelland & Stewart

 Nice Recovery 

Susan Juby
Penguin Group Canada/Viking Canada

Festival of Trees May 16, 2012

The second day of the Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading's Festival of Trees will take place Wednesday, May 16 at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre.

Another great day of activities are scheduled for readers in the Silver Birch reading programs.  Attendees are encouraged to get maps, schedules of workshops and other events, author signing schedules, etc. at the OLA Festival of Trees link.

Here's just a capsule of who and what will be at the Festival this day, organized by Reading Programs:

 
SILVER BIRCH® EXPRESS

AUTHORS / ILLUSTRATORS in attendance
Monica Kulling - All Aboard! Elijah McCoy's Steam Engine

Cary Fagan - Banjo of Destiny
Ian Wallace - Canadian Railroad Trilogy
Philippa Dowding - The Gargoyle Overhead
Rebecca Upjohn - The Last Loon
Janet Wilson - Our Earth: How Kids are Saving the Planet
Natalie Hyde - Saving Arm Pit
Don Gillmor - The Time Time Stopped
Anna Ziegler - Uumajut: Learn About Arctic Wildlife!
Jan Andrews - When Apples Grew Noses and White Horses Flew: Tales of Ti-Jean

ACTIVITIES

• Silver Birch Express Awards Ceremony

• Workshop with Philippa Dowding (The Gargoyle Overhead)

• "First Steps in Storytelling" Workshop with Jan Andrews (When Apples Grew Noses and White Horses Flew: Tales of Ti-Jean)

• Q & A with Natalie Hyde (Saving Arm Pit) and Rebecca Upjohn (The Last Loon)

• "Inspiration in Everyday Things: How a broken chair led to the writing of Banjo of Destiny" Workshop with Cary Fagan (Banjo of Destiny)

• "The Railway that Built a Nation" Workshop with Ian Wallace (Canadian Railroad Trilogy)

• Workshop with Don Gillmor (The Time Time Stopped)

• Workshop with Janet Wilson (Our Earth: How Kids are Saving the Planet)

SILVER BIRCH FICTION

AUTHORS / ILLUSTRATORS in attendance

Anna Kerz - Better Than Weird
Jacqueline Guest - Ghost Messages
Julie Lawson - Ghosts of the Titanic

Valerie Sherrard - The Glory Wind
Colleen Sydor - The McGuillicuddy Book of Personal Records
Alan Silberberg - Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze
Kevin Sylvester - Neil Flambé and the Aztec Abduction
David Skuy - Undergrounders 

ACTIVITIES

• Silver Birch Fiction Awards Ceremony

• Workshop with Anna Kerz (Better Than Weird) and Colleen Sydor (The McGuillicuddy Book of Personal Records)

• "Ghost Messages: Voyage with the Author" Workshop with Jacqueline Guest (Ghost Messages)

• "Dueling Illustrators on Centre Stage" with Kevin Sylvester (Neil Flambé and the Aztec Abduction) and Alan Silberberg (Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze)

• "Fact or Fiction" Workshop with Julie Lawson (Ghosts of the Titanic)

• Workshop with David Skuy (Undergrounders)

SILVER BIRCH NON-FICTION

NON-FICTION AUTHORS / ILLUSTRATORS in attendance 

Richard B. Lee - Africans Thought of It: Amazing Innovations 

Keltie Thomas - Animals That Changed the World 

Susan Hughes - Case Closed? Nine Mysteries Unlocked by Modern Science 

Catherine Rondina - Don't Touch That Toad & Other Strange Things Adults Tell You 

Kevin Sylvester - Game Day: Meet the People Who Make It Happen 

Kathy Stinson - Highway of Heroes 

Lynda Colgan - Mathemagic! Number Tricks 

Cynthia Pratt Nicolson - Totally Human: Why We Look and Act the Way We Do 

Jan Thornhill - Who Wants Pizza? The Kids' Guide to the History, Science & Culture of Food 

ACTIVITIES

• Silver Birch Non-Fiction Awards Ceremony

• Workshop with Jan Thornhill (Who Wants Pizza) This workshop is limited to 45 persons so get there early.

• "Dueling Illustrators on Centre Stage" with Kevin Sylvester (Neil Flambé and the Aztec Abduction) and Alan Silberberg (Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze)

• ALOUD A Celebration for Young Readers with Karen Levine (Hana's Suitcase) 

LE PRIX TAMARAC
 

AUTEURS / ILLUSTRATEURS seront présents

Sylviane Thibault - Peur, voleur et film d'horreur 

Karine Gottot et Maxim Cyr - Les Dragouilles: Les Rouges de Tokyo 

Marie-Pierre Meunier - Le Zaillemeur 

ACTIVITIES

• Le Prix Tamarac Awards Ceremony

• Atelier avec Syliane Thibault (Peur, voleur et film d'horreur)

• Atelier avex Karine Gottot et Maxim Cyr (Les Dragouilles: Les Rouges de Tokyo)

LE PRIX TAMARAC EXPRESS

AUTEURS / ILLUSTRATEURS seront présents

Marie Sylvie Legault - Anne Frank: une jeune écrivaine juive 

Nadya Larouche - L'étrange affaire du 413 

Stéphanie Hurtubise - La Zone: Les Adventures D'Edwin Robi 

Mireille Messier - Coup de théâtre à Stratford

ACTIVITIES

• Le Prix Tamarac Express Awards Ceremony

• Atelier avec  Nadya Larouche (L'étrange affaire du 413)

ACTIVITIES FOR EVERYONE
• Forest® Bookstore (S&B Books Ltd.)
• Forest of Reading® 2012 Illustrator Exhibit celebrating 10 years of Blue Spruce
• magician, circus performers, games for book prizes, etc.
• The Toronto Zoo
• Toronto Police Services
• button-making station
• graffiti sheets for authors/illustrators
• PAWSWAY
• book-making workshops
• Kajama boat tours
• TVOntario tent
• canoeing on the pond
• games to win prizes

See you Wednesday!

Festival of Trees May 15, 2012

Going to the Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading's Festival of Trees tomorrow at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre?  Consider yourself fortunate as the day's activities are stellar.  Attendees are encouraged to get maps, schedules of workshops and other events, author signing schedules, etc. at the OLA Festival of Trees link.

Here's just a capsule of who and what will be at the Festival tomorrow, according to the Reading Programs:

BLUE SPRUCE

BLUE SPRUCE ACTIVITIES

• Blue Spruce Awards Ceremony

• letter-writing and postcard-making with Sarah Tsiang

• story-telling with Heather Mcleod

• tent for Blue Spruce Activities only, including face-painting, in Brigantine Tent 

• 10 Years of Blue Spruce Illustrator Exhibit

RED MAPLE

RED MAPLE ACTIVITIES

• Red Maple Awards Ceremony

• Q & A with Sharon E. McKay (Thunder Over Kandahar)

• Workshop with Jill Maclean (Home Truths)

• Q & A with Susin Nielsen (Dear George Clooney, Please Marry My Mom)

• ALOUD A Celebration for Young Readers with Eric Walters (Fly Boy, The Taming) and Teresa Toten (The Taming)

• "The Mother of All Adventure Stories" Workshop with Patrick Bowman (Torn from Troy)

• QR Scavenger Hunt (for Smartphone users)

WHITE PINE

WHITE PINE ACTIVITIES

• White Pine Fiction Awards Ceremony

• White Pine Non-Fiction Awards Ceremony

• Workshop with Don Aker (The Fifth Rule) and Lesley Anne Cowan (Something Wicked)

• "Judging a Book by Its Cover" Workshop with Kelley Armstrong (The Gathering) and "Titillating Titles" Workshop with Gail Sidonie Sobat (Chance to Dance for You)

• "Stick to your Vision" Workshop with Wes "Maestro" Williams (Stick to Your Vision)

• Workshop with Don Calame (Beat the Band) and Drew Hayden Taylor (Motorcycles and Sweetgrass)

• "The Story of Me" Workshop with Kate Scowen (I.D.: Stuff that Happens to Define Us) and "Modern-Day Illustrator" Workshop with Peter Mitchell (I.D.: Stuff that Happens to Define Us)

• "Visual Storytelling" Workshop with Scott Chantler (Two Generals)

• QR Scavenger Hunt (for Smartphone users)

ACTIVITIES FOR EVERYONE
• musical entertainment from the band DONE WITH DOLLS
• Forest® Bookstore (S&B Books Ltd.)
• Forest of Reading® 2012 Illustrator Exhibit
• magician, circus performers, games for book prizes, etc.
• button-making station
• graffiti sheets for authors/illustrators
• PAWSWAY
• book-making workshops
• Kajama boat tours
• TVOntario tent
• canoeing on the pond
• games to win prizes

See you tomorrow!

B.C. Book Prizes' winners announced!

Last night, the winners of this year's BC Book Prizes were announced at the 28th Annual Lieutenant Governor's BC Book Prizes Gala in Vancouver.

Congratulations to all winners and nominated titles!

The prize winners in the Children's literature categories are as follows:

 Sheila A. Egoff 

 Children’s Literature Prize 

Supported by the BC Library Association
Judges: Rob Bittner, Sylvia Olsen, Cathleen With

Winner:

Blood Red Road
by Moira Young
DoubleDay Canada

 Reviewed here on December 27, 2011

 Christie Harris Illustrated 

 Children’s Literature Prize 

Supported by Ampersand Inc.
Judges: Julie Flett, Dionne Risler, Judith Saltman

Winner:

When I Was Small
by Sara O'Leary
Illustrated by Julie Morstad
Simply Read Books

Reviewed here on April 4, 2012

The Paper House

by Lois Peterson
Orca Book Publishers
978-1-4598-0051-9
108 pp.
Ages 8-11
2012

Safiyah's ten years of life have been fraught with many hardships and tragedies.  She and her grandmother, Cucu, live in slums of Kibera outside of Nairobi, Kenya.  Her parents have both passed, her mother from AIDS, and now Cucu is ill and coughing up blood.  Fearful of losing the only family she has, and far away from her birth place, where the failure of the crops forced them to Kibera, Safiyah is determined to make improvements to their hut by repairing the holes that let the smoke and cold night air in.  In her daily scavenges of the dump, where she usually excavates those items which she can sell, Safiyah gathers old magazines with their glossy pictures of beautiful women, glamourous homes, fancy cars, and unfamiliar lives, hoping to use the paper to chink the cracks.

After repairing the walls, Safiyah selects magazine pictures to decorate the outside of the hut, using the scissors and paste shared from her friend Pendo's school.  The magazines are coveted by others, including young Chidi who tries to steal the magazines from her in the dump.  Fortunately for Safiyah, the infamous red-hair-dyed gang leader, Blade, comes to her rescue several times, while ensuring his cousin Chidi attends school regularly.  Although Cucu is vehement that Safiyah stay away from Blade a.k.a. Rasul, Safiyah reveals to him her fears for her grandmother's health.

This innocent admission to Rasul and her engagement with Pendo in the decoration of the house walls bring Safiyah to reognizing the efforts she must make in order to enrich her life with others.  As Cucu has reminded her, "Words are easy. Friendship is hard."  By embracing the help of others, without demeaning their efforts, Safiyah gets medical help for her grandmother and creates a work of art on the walls of their hut that brings even more blessings.

Safiyah's story of The Paper House demonstrates that, though the lives of children may be different, everyone has a way to connect with others and can benefit from these connections.  Safiyah learns that not everyone is as poor as they are but this is a lesson she needs to understand to elicit assistance.  Furthermore, although Rasul's family is obviously far wealthier than Safiyah's, the loss of Rasul's sister and the necessity for Chidi to become part of a new family indicate that anyone can experience tragedies and hardships.  With The Paper House, Safiyah makes her own luck, achieving a dream she believed impossible to attain, while endeavouring to improve the lives of others.

While I was not always sympathetic to Safiyah's reactions when she was upset (e.g., chastisizing Pendo for pasting the pictures on wrong when her friend only wanted to help), I cannot imagine the breadth of disappointment, fear, and unhappiness which pervades her responses.  Lois Peterson provides Safiyah with the demeanour of a child who must endure life, not embrace it, and so Saffy's less-than-considerate attitude may be more authentic even if less desirable.

The Paper House is a perfect read for sharing the lives of children in different parts of the world and providing a foundation of empathy upon which the supporting walls of understanding and caring can be built.

Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Awards 2013 Nominees announced

The Manitoba School Library Association marked the International Year of Literacy, 1990, with the implementation of a literacy program aimed at promoting literacy for children of ages 10 to 14 years of age.

The Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Awards (MYRCA) program presents 15 to 18 Canadian novels written in English for the targeted young readers.  Those young people who have read or heard a minimum of 3 nominated titles vote for their favourite title in April.  The winning title and honour books are announced in May and celebrated at an awards ceremony in October.

This week's press release which announced the winners for 2012 also announced the shortlist of nominated titles for the 2013 MYRCA.  Congratulations to the authors and publishers of these eighteen nominees:

Against All Odds 
by Natale Ghent
HarperCollins
227 pp.
Ages 8-12

The Bedmas Conspiracy 

by Deborah Sherman

Fitzhenry & Whiteside

172 pp.

Ages 8-11

Blood Red Road 
by Moira Young
Doubleday
459 pp.
Ages 14+ 

Box of Shocks

by Chris McMahen
Orca
160 pp.
Ages 9-12

The Case of the Missing Deed
by Ellen Schwartz
Tundra
189 pp.
Ages 8-12

Dragon Seer's Gift 

by Janet McNaughton
HarperCollins
282 pp.
Ages 10+ 

The Dragon Turn: The Boy Sherlock Holmes, His 5th Case
by Shane Peacock
Tundra
220 pp.
Ages 10-14

Encore Edie 

by Annabel Lyon
Puffin Canada
163 pp.
Ages 9-12

End of Days
by Eric Walters
Doubleday
316 pp.
Ages 10-15

Fly Boy

by Eric Walters
Puffin Canada
192 pp.
Ages 8-12

Ice Storm (Disaster Strikes #6)
by Penny Draper
Coteau Books
198 pp.
Ages 9-13

Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes

by Jonathan Auxier
Puffin Canada
381 pp.
Ages 10-13

This Dark Endeavour: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein
by Kenneth Oppel
HarperCollins
298 pp.
Ages 12+

The Tiffin

by Mahtab Narsimhan
Dancing Cat Books
190 pp.
Ages 9-12

Timber Wolf
by Caroline Pignat
Red Deer Press
206 pp.
Ages 11-14

True Blue

by Deborah Ellis
Pajama Press
229 pp.
Ages 11-14

Undergrounders
by David Skuy
Scholastic Canada
194 pp.
Ages 11-14

Witchlanders

by Lena Coakley
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
416 pp.
Ages 12+ 

Manitoba Young Readers' Choice 2012 Award winners announced!

This week the Manitoba School Library Association announced the winners of the Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Awards (MYRCA) for 2012. 


The 2012 winning title, as voted by young Manitoba readers of ages 10 to 14, is

Dear George Clooney, 

Please Marry My Mom

by Susin Nielsen

Tundra Books

2010

Also 

Winner of the 2012 Rocky Mountain Book Award Gold Medal

Winner of the 2011 Snow Willow Award

          *          *          *          

Congratulations to the readers' two Honour Books:

Half Brother

by Kenneth Oppel

HarperTrophy 

 

Stolen Child

           by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

                                              Scholastic Canada

 

  CONGRATULATIONS

 to all Nominees and Winners 

and young readers in this literacy program