Books written by Richard Van Camp, Ashley Spires and Kern Carter are among the nominated titles for the Forest of Reading’s 2026 award initiative.
Hosted each spring, the Forest of Reading is Canada’s largest annual recreational reading program where children and young adults pick their favourite authors and illustrators.
In 2020, 2021 and 2022, the award celebrations were presented in partnership with CBC Books in a virtual format.
A hybrid event announced the winners in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
This year, 270,000 readers across the country will participate in the program. Canadian students from kindergarten to high school are encouraged to read from a selection of shortlisted books and vote for their favourites of the 100 nominated titles, written and illustrated by approximately 147 nominees.
A total of 10 categories reflecting different reading levels and genres are recognized. Each category has 10 nominated titles.
Prolific writer Richard Van Camp is nominated in the White Pine category for his book Beast.
Beast is a YA novel of magic and tradition set in the 1980s. Lawson Sauron has always tried to keep the peace alongside his family on the Dogrib side of “the Treaty” with the Cranes family, who are Chipewyan.
When Silver Cranes finds himself indebted to an eerie spirit set on destroying the peace of the town, Lawson and the community must face a decades-old conflict and ghoulish tales.
Van Camp is a Tłı̨chǫ Dene writer from Fort Smith, N.W.T., who has written 26 books across multiple genres.
His graphic novel A Blanket of Butterflies was nominated for an Eisner Award and his children’s book Little You, illustrated by Julie Flett, was translated into Bush Cree, Plains Cree, South Slavey and Chipewyan.
Kern Carter is nominated in the Red Maple category for his latest book Is There a Boy Like Me?
In the middle-grade novel, Is There a Boy Like Me?, a boy called London is feeling pressured to be the person his school friends and parents think he is. But he doesn’t want to be the confident video gamer, or the genius coder, London just wants to be by himself and read his books.
So one day he starts an anonymous online comic called Is There A Boy Like Me. London’s comic goes viral and a conversation ensues about what being a boy today really means.
Kern Carter is a Toronto author and freelance writer. His other books include the novella Thoughts of a Fractured Soul, the novel Beauty Scars and the YA novels Boys and Girls Screaming and And Then There Was Us.
Kern also has writing credits in Forbes, the New York Times, Global Citizen, Elle Magazine and Fatherly.com and was named a Black writer to watch by CBC Books in 2023.
Spires is nominated in the Blue Spruce category for her picture book The Most Magnificent Team.
The latest in Ashley Spires’s The Most Magnificent book series, The Most Magnificent Team is a story about the challenges of working with others.
The books blends humour and empathy to tell the story of two girls that live next door to each other other and have very different working styles.
When the two are forced to share a workspace and collaborate on a project they have to learn to compromise and work through the emotional and technical challenges of working as a team.
Spires is a B.C.-based author and illustrator. In addition to The Most Magnificent series, some of her other works include the Binky the Space Cat series and Small Saul.
Details about voting will be announced later. The winners will be revealed in spring 2026.
The Forest of Reading program is organized by the Ontario Library Association. The program began in 1995. There is also an adult program, the Evergreen Award, which is run by libraries in the summer.
You can see all the finalists in six English-language categories below.
Blue Spruce Award
The Blue Spruce Award is for picture books for readers in kindergarten to Grade 2 (CBC)
The Blue Spruce Award is for picture books for readers in kindergarten to Grade 2.
The 2026 nominees are:
The 2025 winner was Lost Stick by Anoosha Syed.
Silver Birch Express Award
The Silver Birch Express Award is for fiction or nonfiction for readers in Grades 3-4. (CBC)
The Silver Birch Express Award is for fiction or nonfiction for readers in Grades 3-4.
The 2026 nominees are:
- Barefoot Skateboarders by Rina Singh, illustrated by Sophie Casson
- The Big Splash by Angela Ahn, illustrated by Julie Kim
- Chomp-O-Rama: The Strange Ways That Animals Eat by Maria Birmingham, illustrated by Kyle Reed
- Dogs vs. Humans: A Showdown of the Senses by Stephanie Gibeault, illustrated by Bambi Edlund
- The Great Puptective 02 Purranormal Activity by Alina Tysoe, illustrated by Alina Tysoe
- The League of Littles by Casey Lyall, illustrated by Sara Faber
- Olive Tran 01 Every Little Bit Olive Tran by Phuong Truong, illustrated by Christine Wei
- Plant Attack!: The Fascinating Ways Flora Defends Itself by Erin Silver, illustrated by Julie McLaughlin
- Salma Speaks Up by Danny Ramadan, illustrated by Anna Bron
- This Is How a Ball Rolls: The Science of Wobbling, Bouncing, Spinning Balls by Heather Tekavec, illustrated by Suharu Ogawa
The 2025 winner was Lost & Found: Based on a True Story by Mei Yu.
Silver Birch Fiction Award
The Silver Birch Fiction Award is for fiction for readers from Grades 3-6. (CBC)
The Silver Birch Award is for fiction for readers from Grades 3-6.
The 2026 nominees are:
The 2025 winner was The Legendary Mo Seto 01 by A. Y. Chan.
Yellow Cedar Award
The Yellow Cedar Award is for nonfiction for readers in Grades 4-8. (CBC)
The Yellow Cedar Award is for nonfiction for readers in Grades 4-8.
The 2026 nominees are:
- Game Changers: Stories of Hijabi Athletes from around the World by Charlene Smith, illustrated by Natalya Tariq
- How to Know a Crow: The Biography of a Brainy Bird by Candace Savage, illustrated by Rachel Hudson
- The Land Knows Me: A Nature Walk Exploring Indigenous Wisdom by Leigh Joseph, illustrated by Natalie Schnitter
- Octopus Ocean: Geniuses of the Deep by Mark Leiren-Young
- Salt, Pepper, Season, Spice: All the Flavors of the World by Jacques Pasquet, translated by Ann Marie Boulanger, illustrated by Claire Anghinolfi
- A Sick History of Medicine: A Warts-And-All Book Full of Fun Facts and Disgusting Discoveries by Poleksic Jelena, illustrated by Ella Kasperowicz
- Spooky Lakes: 25 Strange and Mysterious Lakes That Dot Our Planet by Geo Rutherford
- The True Story of Vanilla: How Edmond Albius Made History by Ann Richards, illustrated by Arden Taylor
- Up, Up, Ever Up! Junko Tabei: A Life in the Mountains by Anita Yasuda, illustrated by Yuko Shimizu
- Zoom in On Zombies by Kari-Lynn Winters and Catherine Marie Rondina
The 2025 winner was Haunted Canada Graphic Novel 01: Four Terrifying Tales by Joel A. Sutherland.
Red Maple Award
The Red Maple Award is for fiction for readers in Grades 7-8. (CBC)
The Red Maple Award is for fiction for readers in Grades 7-8.
The 2026 nominees are:
- The Dark Won’t Wait by David Poulsen
- The Discovery of Finnegan Wilde by Caroline Pignat, illustrated by Alan Cranny
- The Factory by Catherine Egan
- Finding Harmony by Eric Walters
- If We Tell You by Nicola Dahlin
- Is There a Boy Like Me? by Kern Carter
- No Purchase Necessary by Maria Marianayagam
- Old School by Gordon Korman
- The Time Keeper by Meagan Mahoney
- Unsinkable Cayenne by Jessica Vitalis
The 2025 winner was 40 Days in Hicksville by Christina Kilbourne.
White Pine Award
The White Pine Award is for fiction for readers in high school. (CBC)
The White Pine Award is for fiction for readers in high school.
The 2026 nominees are:
The 2025 winner was The Space Between Here & Now by Sarah Suk.
The complete list of 2026 Forest of Reading nominees can be found here.