Cherie Dimaline is among the 2018 Forest of Reading nominees for her YA novel The Marrow Thieves

The Ontario Library Association has announced the nominees for the 2018 edition of its Forest of Reading initiative, which aims to promote recreational reading and raise the profile of Canadian authors and publishing houses. Each year, library professionals encourage hundreds of thousands of participating readers to read and vote on books across a number of categories based on reading level and age group. Readers can vote for their favourite books in April, and the winning authors will receive an award at a Festival of Trees ceremony in May.

The English-language nominees are:

Blue Spruce Award (picture books for JK–Grade 2)

• Roselynn Akulukjuk and Amanda Sandland, ill., The Owl and the Lemming (Inhabit Media)
• Shelly Becker and Eda Kaban, ill., Even Superheroes Have Bad Days (Sterling Publishing)
• Bree Galbraith and Josée Bisaillon, ill., Milo and Georgie (Owlkids Books)
• Glen Gretzky and Lauri Holomis; Kevin Sylvester, ill., Great (Puffin Canada)
• Jess Keating and Marta Alvarez Magueys, ill., Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean’s Most Fearless Scientist (Sourcebooks)
• Andrew Larsen and Mike Lowery, ill., A Squiggly Story (Kids Can Press)
• Mireille Messier and Pierre Pratt, ill., The Branch (Kids Can)
• Carolyn Huizinga Mills and Brooke Kerrigan, ill., The Little Boy Who Lived Down the Drain (Fitzhenry & Whiteside)
• Kari-Lynn Winters and François Thisdale, ill., French Toast (Pajama Press)

Silver Birch Award (Grades 3–6)

Fiction

• Laura Best, Cammie Takes Flight (Nimbus Publishing)
• Heather Camlot, Clutch (Red Deer Press)
• Becky Citra, The Griffin of Darkwood (Coteau Books)
• Marina Cohen, The Doll’s Eye (Roaring Brook Press)
• Svetlana Chmakova, Brave (Yes Press)
• Shari Green, Macy McMillan and the Rainbow Goddess (Pajama)
• Faith Erin Hicks, The Stone Heart: Nameless City 2 (First Second Press)
• Gordon Korman, Restart (Scholastic Canada)
• Miriam Körner, Yellow Dog (Red Deer)
• Alex Lyttle, From Ant to Eagle (Central Avenue Publishing)

Non-fiction

• Antonia Banyard and Paula Ayer; Belle Wuthrich, ill., Eat Up! An Infographic Exploration of Food (Annick Press)
• Helaine Becker and Phil McAndrew, ill., Monster Science: Could Monsters Survive (and Thrive!) in the Real World? (Kids Can)
• Anne Innis Dagg, 5 Giraffes (Fitzhenry & Whiteside)
• Claire Eamer and Bambi Edlund, ill., What a Waste: Where Does Garbage Go? (Annick)
• Sarah Elton and Julie McLaughlin, ill., Meatless? A Fresh Look at What You Eat (Owlkids)
• Mary Beth Leatherdale and Eleanor Shakespeare, ill., Stormy Seas: Stories of Young Boat Refugees (Annick)
• Elizabeth MacLeod, Top Dogs: True Stories of Canines That Made History (Annick)
• Michell Mulder, Pocket Change: Pitching in for a Better World (Orca Book Publishers)
• Laura Scandiffio, Fight to Learn: The Struggle to Go to School (Annick)
• Dr. Dave Williams and Loredana Cunti; Theo Krynauw, ill., To Burp or Not to Burp: A Guide to Your Body in Space (Annick)

Express

• Sara Cassidy, A Boy Named Queen (Groundwood Books)
• Joanne George, Smiley: A Journey of Love (Fitzhenry & Whiteside)
• Kallie George and Stephanie Graegin, ill., Heartwood Hotel: A True Home (HarperCollins)
• Linda Granfield and Brian Deines, ill., The Vimy Oaks: A Journey to Peace (Scholastic)
• Chris Hadfield and the Fan Brothers, ill., The Darkest Dark (Tundra Books)
• Jenny Kay Dupuis and Kathy Kacer; Gillian Newland, ill., I Am Not a Number (Second Story Press)
• Anita Miettunen, Big Blue Forever: The Story of the Largest Blue Whale Skeleton (Red Deer Press)
• Liam O’Donnell and Mike Deas, ill., Tank & Fizz: The Case of the Missing Mage (Orca)
• Andrée Poulin and Isabelle Malenfant, ill., Pablo Finds a Treasure (Annick)
• Nicholas Read and Ian McAllister, ill., Wolf Island (Orca)
• Katie Smith Milway and Shane W. Evans, ill., The Banana-Leaf Ball: How Play Can Change the World (Kids Can)

Red Maple Award for Fiction (Grades 7–8, with a non-fiction award also offered in alternating years)

• Jennifer Dance, Hawk (Dundurn Press)
• Gord Downie and Jeff Lemire, ill., Secret Path (Simon & Schuster Canada)
• Vicki Grant, Short for Chameleon (HarperTrophy)
• Wesley King, Laura Monster Crusher (Puffin Canada)
• David A. Poulsen, And Then the Sky Exploded (Dundurn)
• Lorna Schultz Nicholson, Bent Not Broken: Madeline & Justin (Clockwise Press)
• David Skuy, Run (Dancing Cat Books)
• Allan Stratton, The Way Back Home (Scholastic)
• Joel A. Sutherland, Summer’s End (Scholastic)
• Vikki VanSickle, The Winnowing (Scholastic)

White Pine Award (fiction, Grades 9–12)

• Cherie Dimaline, The Marrow Thieves (Dancing Cat Books)
• M-E Girard, Girl Mans Up (HarperCollins)
• Beth Goobie, The Pain Eater (Second Story)
• Susan Juby, The Fashion Committee (Penguin Teen Canada)
• J.M. Kelly, Speed of Life (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
• Fonda Lee, Exo (Scholastic)
• Karen Nesbitt, Subject to Change (Orca)
• Susin Nielsen, Optimists Die First (Tundra)
• Kenneth Oppel, Every Hidden Thing (HarperTrophy)
• Danielle Younge-Ullman, Everything Beautiful is Not Ruined (Razorbill Canada)

Golden Oak Award (fiction and non-fiction, ESL adults)

• Katherine Ashenburg and Cupucine Mazille, ill., All the Dirt: A History of Getting Clean (Annick)
• Melodie Campbell, The Bootlegger’s Granddaughter: A Gina Gallo Mystery (Orca)
• Brenda Chapman, No Trace (Grass Roots Press)
• Vicki Delaney, Blood and Belonging (Orca)
• Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch with Tuan Ho; Brian Deines, ill., Adrift at Sea: A Vietnamese Boy’s Story of Survival (Pajama)
• Susan Raby-Dunne, John McCrae: Beyond Flanders Fields (Heritage House Press)
• Laura Scandiffio, Fight to Learn (Annick)
• Joanne Schwartz and Sydney Smith, ill., Town is by the Sea (Groundwood)

For the first time, all nominated titles for school-aged readers will be available in alternate formats provided by the Centre for Equitable Library Access and Alternative Education Resources of Ontario.