The Ontario Library Association has announced the nominees for the 2026 Forest of Reading.

This year’s 100 nominated titles were written and illustrated by more than 147 nominees and will be read by 270,000 participants.

The 10 nominees in the Blue Spruce category (JK–Grade 2) include Bannock in a Hammock (Inhabit Media) by Masiana Kelly and illustrated by Amiel Sandland, and The Most Magnificent Team (Kids Can Press) by Ashley Spires.

In the Silver Birch Express category (Grades 3–4), Phuong Truong and Christine Wei are nominated for Every Little Bit Olive Tran (Second Story Press), as are Danny Ramadam and Anna Bron for Salma Speaks Up (Annick Press).

For the Yellow Cedar (Grades 5–8), which is the nonfiction category, the 10 nominees touch on a variety of topics, from animals in Octopus Ocean: Geniuses of the Deep (Orca Book Publishers) by Mark Leiren-Young, to medicine in A Sick History of Medicine: A Warts-And-All Book Full of Fun Facts and Disgusting Discoveries (Neon Squid) by Jelena Poleksic and illustrated by Ella Kasperowicz.

The Red Maple category (Grades 7–8) includes Kern Carter’s Is There a Boy Like Me? (Scholastic Canada) and Meagan Mahoney’s The Time Keeper (DCB Young Readers).

The nominees for the White Pine category (Grades 9–12) include Léa Taranto’s A Drop in the Ocean (Arsenal Pulp Press) and Cheryl Isaacs’s The Unfinished (HarperCollins).

The full 2026 Forest of Reading nominees are listed at forestofreading.com.