The Ontario Library Association (OLA) and the Forest of Reading have announced the winners of the 2024 Forest of Reading Awards.

The two-day event, which had an in-person and digital component, was hosted by Hamilton teen and book-club host Ainara Alleyne and comedian Ali Hassan.

The winners are:

Blue Spruce Award
Benny the Bananasaurus Rex by Sarabeth Holden (Inhabit Media Inc.)

Silver Birch Express Award
Rock? Plant? Animal? How Nature Keeps Us Guessing by Etta Kaner (Owlkids)

Silver Birch Fiction Award
Apartment 713 by Kevin Sylvester (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.)

Yellow Cedar Award
Animal Eyes: How Creatures See and How Their Eyes Have Adapted to Their World by Françoise Vulpé (Firefly Books)

Red Maple Award
The Fort by Gordon Korman (Scholastic Canada Ltd.)

White Pine Award
Pieces of Me by Kate McLaughlin (St. Martin’s Press/Macmillan)

Almost 154,000 children read the nominated books, which included Canadian fiction and nonfiction books by English- and French-language authors and were announced in October 2023. More than 127,000 kids voted this year across nine programs.

The winners of the French-language Forest of Reading programs (Le prix Peuplier, Le prix Mélèze, and Le prix Tamarac) will be announced on May 22 at Fête de la Forêt de la lecture.