The Ontario Library Association has announced the shortlists for its 2013 Forest of Reading program, as selected by committees of library practioners. The winners, voted on by readers, will be announced during the Forest of Reading Festival in May.

Here are the English-language nominees:

Blue Spruce (Grades K“2)

• The Busy Beaver, Nicholas Oldland (Kids Can Press)
• Don’t Laugh at Giraffe, Rebecca Bender (Pajama Press)
• Ella May and the Wishing Stone, Cary Fagan; Geneviève Côté, illus. (Tundra Books)
• Here Comes Hortense! Heather Hartt-Sussman;Georgia Graham, illus. (Tundra)
• JoJo the Giant, Jane Barclay; Esperaça Melo, illus. (Tundra)
• Kate and Pippin, Martin Springett; Isobel Springett, illus. (Puffin Canada)
• Larf, Ashley Spires (Kids Can)
• Really and Truly, Émilie Rivard; Anne-Claire Delisle, illus.; Sarah Quinn, trans. (Owlkids Books)
• Splinters, Kevin Sylvester (Tundra)
• You Are Stardust, Elin Kelsey; Soyeon Kim, illus. (Owlkids)

Silver Birch Fiction (Grades 3“6)

• Cat Found, Ingrid Lee (Chicken House/Scholastic)
• The Dead Kid Detective Agency, Evan Munday (ECW Press)
• Dragon Seer’s Gift, Janet McNaughton (HarperCollins Canada)
• The Grave Robber’s Apprentice, Allan Stratton (HarperCollins Canada)
• Making Bombs for Hitler, Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch (Scholastic Canada)
• The Mighty Miss Malone, Christopher Paul Curtis (Wendy Lamb/Random House)
• Missing, Becky Citra (Orca Book Publishers)
• Neil Flambé and the Crusader’s Curse, Kevin Sylvester (Simon & Schuster)
• Sinking Deeper or My Heroic Decision to Invent a Sea Monster, Steve Vernon (Nimbus Publishing)
• A Tinfoil Sky, Cyndi Sand-Eveland (Tundra)

Silver Birch Non-fiction (Grades 3“6)

• 50 Underwear Questions: A Bare-All History, Tanya Lloyd Kyi; Ross Kinnaird, illus. (Annick Press)
• Case Files: 40 Murders and Mysteries Solved by Science, Larry Verstraete (Scholastic Canada)
• Duped! True Stories of the World’s Best Swindlers, Andreas Schroeder; Rémy Simard, illus. (Annick)
• Earth-Friendly Buildings, Bridges and More: The Eco-Journal of Corry Lapont, Etta Kaner; Stephen MacEachern, illus. (Kids Can)
• Explorers Who Made It¦ or Died Trying, Frieda Wishinsky; Bill Dickson, illus. (Scholastic Canada)
• No Shelter Here: Making the World a Kinder Place for Dogs, Rob Laidlaw (Pajama)
• Sable Island: The Wandering Sandbar, Wendy Kitts (Nimbus)
• The Shadows that Rush Past, Rachel A. Qitsualik; Emily Fiegenschuh and Larry MacDougall (Inhabit Media)
• Shannen and the Dream for a School, Janet Wilson (Second Story Press)
• To Hope and Back: The Journey of the St. Louis, Kathy Kacer (Second Story)

Silver Birch Express (Grades 3“6)

• Ankylosaur Attack: Tales of Prehistoric Life, Daniel Loxton; Jim W.W. Smith, illus. (Inhabit)
• Dalen & Gole: Scandal in Port Angus, Mike Deas (Orca)
• Harry Houdini: The Legend of the World’s Greatest Escape Artist, Janice Weaver; Chris Lane, illus. (Abrams/Canadian Manda Group)
• In the Bag! Margaret Knight Wraps It Up, Monica Killing; David Parkins, illus. (Tundra)
• I Owe You One, Natalie Hyde (Orca)
• Loon, Susan Vande Griek; Karen Reczuch, illus. (Groundwood Books)
• Margaret and the Moth Tree, Brit Trogen and Kari Trogen (Kids Can)
• Matatu, Eric Walters; Eva Campbell, illus. (Orca)
• The Paper House, Lois Peterson (Orca)
• Who Needs a Swamp? Karen Patkau (Tundra)

Red Maple Fiction (Grades 7“8)

• Crush. Candy. Corpse. Sylvia McNicoll (Lorimer)
• The Dragon Turn: The Boy Sherlock Holmes, His Fifth Case, Shane Peacock (Tundra)
• End of Days, Eric Walters (Doubleday Canada)
• First Descent, Pam Withers (Tundra)
• Testify, Valerie Sherrard (Dundurn Press)
• This Dark Endeavour: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein, Kenneth Oppel (HarperCollins Canada)
• The Tiffin, Mahtab Narsimhan (Dancing Cat Books)
• The Town that Drowned, Riel Nason (Goose Lane Editions)
• The Vampire Stalker, Allison van Diepen (Scholastic)
• The Vindico, Wesley King (G.P. Putnam’s Sons/Penguin)

Red Maple Non-fiction (Grades 7“8)

• The Adventures of Medical Man: Kids Illnesses and Injuries Explained, Dr. Michael Evans and David Wichman; Gareth William, illus. (Annick)
• Beyond Bullets: A Photo Journal of Afghanistan, Rafal Gerszak with Dawn Hunter (Annick)
• Last Airlift: A Vietnamese Orphan’s Rescue from War, Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch (Pajama)
• Lizards in the Sky: Animals Where You Least Expect Them, Claire Eamer (Annick)
• The Lowdown on Denim, Tanya Lloyd Kyi; Clayton Hanmer, illus. (Annick)
• Real Justice: Fourteen and Sentenced To Death: The Story of Steven Truscott, Bill Swan (Lorimer)
• Running to Extremes: Ray Zahab’s Amazing Ultramarathon Journey, Steve Pitt with Ray Zahab (Puffin Canada)
• The Sea Wolves: Living Wild in the Great Bear Rainforest, Ian McAllister and Nicholas Read (Orca)
• The Secret Life of Money: A Kid’s Guide to Cash, Kira Vermond; Clayton Hanmer, illus. (Owlkids)
• You Just Can’t Help It!: Your Guide to the Wild and Wacky World of Human Behavior, Jeff Szpirglas; Josh Holinaty, illus. (Maple Tree Press)

White Pine (Grades 9“12)

• All Good Children, Catherine Austen (Orca)
• Dark Inside, Jeyn Roberts (S&S)
• First Day On Earth, Cecil Castellucci (Scholastic Canada)
• Getting Over Garrett Delaney, Abby McDonald (Candlewick/Random House)
• Karma, Cathy Ostlere (Razorbill Canada)
• The Opposite of Tidy, Carrie Mac (Razorbill Canada)
• The Taming, Eric Walter and Teresa Toten (Doubleday Canada)
• Way to Go, Tom Ryan (Orca)
• The Way We Fall, Megan Crewe (Hyperion/Hachette Book Group)
• Witchlanders, Lena Coakley (S&S)

Evergreen (Adult)

• The Accident, Linwood Barclay (Doubleday Canada)
• Bedtime Story, Robert J. Wiersema (Vintage Canada)
• The Far Side of the Sky, Daniel Kalla (HarperCollins Canada)
• Mennonites Don’t Dance, Darcie Friesen Hossack (Thistledown Press)
• Natural Order, Brian Francis (Doubleday Canada)
• Requiem, Frances Itani (HarperCollins Canada)
• Shelter, Frances Greenslade (Random House Canada)
• They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children: The Global Quest to Eradicate the Use of Child Soldiers, Roméo Dallaire (Random House Canada)
• Under an Afghan Sky: A Memoir of Captivity, Mellissa Fung (HarperCollins Canada)
• Various Positions, Martha Schabas (Doubleday Canada)

Golden Oak (Adult)

• A Stranger at Home, Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton; Liz Amini-Holmes, illus. (Annick)
• Behind Enemy Lines: World War II, Sam Frederiksen, Nazi-Occupied Europe, 1944, Carol Matas (Scholastic Canada)
• Remembering the Titanic, Frieda Wishinsky (Scholastic Canada)
• Home Invasion, Joy Fielding (Grass Roots/HarperCollins)
• In the bag! Margaret Knight Wraps it Up, Monica Kulling; David Parkins, illus. (Tundra)
• Matatu, Eric Walters; Eva Campbell, illus. (Orca)
• No Ordinary Day, Deborah Ellis (Groundwood)
• Sable Island: The Wandering Sandbar, Wendy Kitts (Nimbus)