2025 Forest of Reading® winners announced

Over the past week, the Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading®, a readers' choice book award program, announced the winners at its annual Festival of Trees at Harbourfront in Toronto and virtually.

Here are this year's winners and honour books for each reading program, as voted by young readers from JK to Grade 12.

 

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Winner

The Lost Stick
Written and illustrated by Anoosha Syed
PRHC Viking Books

Honour Books:

Harold the Iceberg Melts Down
Written by Lisa Wyzlic
Illustrated by Rebecca Syracuse
RAI Feiwel and Friends

 

Mandeep's Cloudy Days
Written by Kuljinder Kaur Brar
Illustrated by Samrath Kaur
Annick Press

 

Winner

Lost and Found: Based on a True Story
Written and illustrated by Mei Yu

Union Square Kids

Honour Books:

Ghost Girl

Written by Brooke Carter
Illustrated by Alyssa Waterbury
Orca Book Publishers

Dragon on the Loose
Written by Marty Chan
Illustrated by Grace Chen
Orca Book Publishers

Winner

 

The Legendary Mo Seto
Written by A.Y. Chan
Aladdin

 

Honour Books:

Eerie Tales from the School of Screams
Written and illustrated by Graham Annable
First Second

Iggy Included
Written by Deborah Kerbel
Scholastic Canada

Winner 

Four Terrifying Tales 

 (Haunted Canada: The Graphic Novel, Volume 1)
Written by Joel A. Sutherland
Illustrated by Hannah Barrett, David Bishop, Matt Salisbury, and Jenn Woodall
Scholastic Canada

Honour Books:

The Longest Shot: How Larry Kwong Changed the Face of Hockey
Written by George Chiang and Chad Soon
Illustrated by Amy Qi
Orca Book Publishers

The Halifax Explosion: 6 December 1917, at 9:05 in the Morning
Written and illustrated by Afua Cooper
Plumleaf Press

 

Winner

40 Days in Hicksville
Written by Christina Kilbourne
DCB

Honour Books:

The Cricket War
Written by Tho Pham and Sandra McTavish
Kids Can Press

Tig
Written by Heather Smith
Tundra Books

Winner

The Space Between Here and Now
Written by Sarah Suk
Quill Tree Books (HarperCollins)

Honour Books:

Where the Dark Stands Still
Written by A. B. Poranek
Margaret K. McElderry Books

 

Sweetness in the Skin
Written by Ishi Robinson
HarperCollins

Winner/Lauréat

Hugo
Écrit et illustré par Catherine Braun-Grenier
Fonfon

 

 

 

Honour Books/Livres distingués:

Si j’avais su
Écrit et illustré par Geneviève Després
Les 400 coups

Dernière heure: La déconfiture du lièvre
Écrit par Robert Soulières
Illustré par Sans Cravate
Fonfon

Winner/Lauréat

Le cumulus machinus
Écrit par Ugo Monticone
Ilustré par Orbie
La courte echelle 

 

Honour Books/Livres distingués: 

Ntangu
Écrit par Malika Tirolien
Illustré par Kiara Thompson
Fonfon

Blanche comme un drap
Écrit par Chloé Varin
Illustré par Rémi Allen
Fonfon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winner/Lauréat

L’homme aux araignées
Écrit par Jocelyn Boisvert
La courte échelle

Honour Books/Livres distingués:

Le manoir Hillcrest
Écrit par Sandra Dussault
Illustré par Martin Côté
La courte echelle

Lili Jade 01: Pro des animaux
Écrit par Audrée Archambault
Illustré par Simone Duchesne
Éditions de la Bagnole
 

 

Congratulations to everyone!

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Our Ancestors' Kitchen

Written by Willie Poll

Illustrated by Shaikara David 

Annick Press

978-1-77321-962-2

36 pp.

Ages 4-7

April 2025 

 

Our ancestors teach us that there are memories in our meals.

There is magic in our cooking.

There is culture in our food.

 

So begins Willie Poll's story of a child learning at the stove of her grandma. With each dish comes a story and an invitation to witness how their ancestors lived and her own memories of her Grandpa and her community.

From Our Ancestors' Kitchen, written by Willie Poll, illustrated by Shaikara David

First they cook the minoomin (wild rice) and the girl begins to see a different scene within the kitchen. She can smell the water in which the wild rice grows, and she can hear the frogs, and see her ancestors on the water harvesting the rice. 

From Our Ancestors' Kitchen, written by Willie Poll, illustrated by Shaikara David

Next, Grandma is cooking meat, and the child sees the kitchen transformed with the colours of fall and animals stocking food for winter, and she remembers hunting with her Grandpa. That meat brings memories of finding mooz (moose) with their moose calls, and the tradition of giving thanks with prayer and asemaa (tobacco) after the mooz's "spirit danced into the sky." As important is the sharing of the meat with their Elders so that they might also care for their community. Their cooking together continues with maple syrup (zhiiwaagamizigan) and sunchokes (ashkibwaa) and blueberries, each bringing memories of time with her Grandpa and with the lives of their ancestors. And when the family and friends gather to eat, their ancestors join them.

From Our Ancestors' Kitchen, written by Willie Poll, illustrated by Shaikara David

Willie Poll, a Métis writer from Sault Ste. Marie and now of Prince Edward Island, reminds us of the importance of food to culture and to connecting us with those who came before us. Whether we learned to cook the foods from their hands or how to harvest the ingredients from age-old practices, those culinary experiences are almost bred in the bone. And when connected to our ancestors, the experiences are almost spiritual, as this child recognizes in the richness of the memories and the awareness of her heritage. With each ingredient and dish, she is transported to places she has been and to people she may have never met. But still the sensory experiences of those foods have become a part of her, to share with others now and forever.

 

Shaikara David, an Indigenous Mohawk from Akwesáhsne, uses her double-spread illustrations to bridge the contemporary with the past seamlessly. On a single spread, the child and her grandmother cook in a modern kitchen which transitions to an outdoor setting of trees and water and include Woodland-style artwork on blue backgrounds for animals and more. (See the rabbit, fox, squirrel and birds in the illustration below.) Shaikara David creates an organic connection between the present and the past almost effortlessly but still with some whimsy like the presence of the water rising beneath the kitchen table upon which a frog sits.

From Our Ancestors' Kitchen, written by Willie Poll, illustrated by Shaikara David

Many of us know that connection with our heritage and our ancestors through food but Willie Poll and Shaikara David help us to see the one that comes through an intergenerational relationship and into a culture with which most of us are unfamiliar. Moreover, in her author's note, Willie Poll wants readers to think about Indigenous Peoples and their connection with the land, as well as other cultures and their connection to food and the land. It's a relationship that is borne from acknowledgement and appreciation, enduring generations even as things change around us.

Just a Minute!

Written by Josée Bournival

Illustrated by Luke Ives

CrackBoom! Books (Chouette Publishing)

978-2-89802-605-8

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

May 2025 

 

How long is a minute? If you ask an adult, they will say 60 seconds or 1/60th of an hour. But for children, it can be measured by what can happen in that time, good or bad. So, a minute can seem like an eternity or a flash, depending on how they are feeling.

From Just a Minute!, written by Josée Bournival, illustrated by Luke Ives

Josée Bournival, well-known Quebec radio and TV host as well as author of adult and children's books, examines the concept of a minute from the perspective of different children. As diverse as the children and the families is the variety of ways to see a minute. First she looks at times when a minute seems like a long time, from waiting in line for a washroom or being told to wait when wanting something from an adult or when you can't fall asleep.

From Just a Minute!, written by Josée Bournival, illustrated by Luke Ives

But then there are those times when a minute just isn't long enough, like when playing with friends or getting a cuddle from your mother or watching a sunset. In those cases, time just flies by.

From Just a Minute!, written by Josée Bournival, illustrated by Luke Ives

Finally, a minute can be long enough to do things like brush your teeth or walk across the road and even change your whole life, like the moment you meet a new baby in the family. Sometimes we lose minutes through anger and arguing, but also through daydreaming. Ultimately, though, "when we line them up, one after the next, minutes make up our lives."

Whatever you way you look at a minute, good, bad, or neutral, it's time that comes and goes and brings with it something from which we learn, gain comfort, emote, interact, and so much more, all of which go into making our lives fuller. Josée Bournival covers the concept of a minute not as a unit of time but as a dimension of living, never judging or grumbling about time spent in any activity and always recognizing the fullness of a life that is both brimming with moments of different qualities.

From Just a Minute!, written by Josée Bournival, illustrated by Luke Ives

Montreal's Luke Ives ensures that all those moments of minutes of play and affection, learning and stressing are included but always with gentleness and good nature. Even standing in a line for a portable toilet does more than draw attention to the uncomfortable child, showing us people living their lives in moments of biding their time, either patiently or impatiently. His cartoon images keep the message light and amusing, always familiar in their circumstances and recognizable in the children's sentiments.

 

It may take you more than a minute to read Just a Minute! but whether a young child reading for themselves or an adult reading aloud to a child, the minutes spent reading this picture book will be worthwhile and completely satisfying.

 🕐🕑🕒🕓🕔🕕🕖🕗🕘🕙🕚🕛

 

A French-language version, Une (petite) minute!, is also available.

Une (petite) minute!

Written by Josée Bournival

Illustrated by Luke Ives

CrackBoom! Books

978-2-89802-572-3

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

May 2025

 

The Most Magnificent Team

Written and illustrated by Ashley Spires

Kids Can Press

978-1-5253-1295-3

40 pp.

Ages 4-8

May 2025 

 

The most magnificent little girl and her dog from The Most Magnificent Thing, The Most Magnificent Idea, and The Most Magnificent Maker's A to Z return and they're still making and building but with colleagues now.

From The Most Magnificent Team, written and illustrated by Ashley Spires

It's another day of doing for our young maker. She and her pug may do lots of things from helping others, snacking and dreaming but coming up with ideas for new builds is at which the child excels. Gathering her materials for her latest idea she heads down to her working space on the street and encounters another child already there. There's another little girl, this one with fabulous hair buns, a green headband, glasses and a grey cat out on the sidewalk with a collection of materials and the start of a house. Impressed with what she sees, our first little girl invites her neighbour to work with her on her new idea.

From The Most Magnificent Team, written and illustrated by Ashley Spires

Although our little girl starts off wanting to take the neighbour's ideas into consideration, the two have very different styles of working. While the girl gets right to work, the neighbour child is all about measuring and calculating and considering and making suggestions for making the idea better but never starting to build her part of the project.

 

Even when the girl just does it all her way, the neighbour girl has criticisms.

 

The neighbor insists her idea will be better.

But that's impossible since the girl's idea is already the BEST.

And you can't make the best BETTER – it's already

THE BEST!

 

From The Most Magnificent Team, written and illustrated by Ashley Spires

Not only does the neighbour criticize, but she also undoes the work of the girl. At this point, they huff off and decide to work on their own projects. But they both feel their projects to be mediocre, more "HMMM" than "WOW" so decide to amalgamate. They combine their efforts and help the other and while they still run into disagreements, they find that taking a breath, consulting their canine and feline assistants and rejigging their concept can lead to something even more magnificent than they imagined.

 

They might do things differently, and

they'll probably disagree sometimes, but they

know that whatever they make together is

sure to be MAGNIFICENT.

 

Working with someone can be challenging the first time. You have to take into consideration their ideas and their way of doing things and it might require some compromise and even relinquishing some control. But what happens when your styles of making are drastically different? The little girl in Ashley Spires's The Most Magnificent Team finds out soon enough that it's not just a question of adding a person to the mix. It doesn't mean your workload will be lessened immediately or that it'll be more fun. It sometimes means more work upfront to get to know them, how they work, how they can contribute and how to deal together when the partnership is challenged. Fortunately, Ashley Spires shows how a partnership or team can develop from individuals through disagreement and into compromise and finally lead to success and achievement. While young children will certainly benefit from reading a story about how a team comes together, whether they are working in a makerspace, on a sports team or in a group on a class project, I believe their teachers and parents would also be helped to understand that kids don't always hit it off immediately and that with time they can find solutions for themselves that work. It might not always be the solution we would have chosen, but if it's a solution that works for all, we have to let them try.

From The Most Magnificent Team, written and illustrated by Ashley Spires

I love Ashley Spires's stories whether it be her Binky the Space Cat or Burt the Beetle series or her standalone books like Larf and Small Saul. Though her approach is playful, and her illustrations whimsical and bright, she handles tough issues of fitting in and trying your best. In The Most Magnificent Team, Ashley Spires gives us two very different children and helps them find a way to work together, a big goal for everyone. Still, Ashley Spires always keeps it good-natured and lighthearted rather than confrontational or competitive. The kids want to work together; they just haven't figured out how to do it yet. But they do and their collaboration becomes a masterpiece for all, assistants included.

 

Being a magnificent creator can be a solitary activity, whether it be building or writing or something else altogether. But it can be the work of a team and, when a team works together, it can be truly magnificent.