For the past few years, I've been following and trying to read some of the fiction nominees for the Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading. Every year kids across Canada read the nominated books and vote for their favourites in the spring. Nominees for the 2015 awards were announced yesterday. This year, my goal is to read all of the Silver Birch nominees (fiction for grades 3 - 6) and all of the Blue Spruce nominees (picture books for grades JK - 2).
I'm excited about these lists, because I haven't read any of them yet! These are the nominees for the 2015 Silver Birch Award:
The Creature Department - Robert Paul Weston
Dial M for Morna – The Dead Kid Detective Agency - Evan Munday
The Hidden Agenda of Sigrid Sugden - Jill MacLean
The Madman of Piney Woods - Christopher Paul Curtis
Me & Mr. Bell - Philip Roy
Night Gardner - Jonathan Auxier
Red Wolf - Jennifer Dance
Saving Houdini - Michael Redhill
September 17: A Novel - Amanda West Lewis
Striker - David Skuy
Here are the nominees for the 2015 Blue Spruce Award:
The Day my Mom Came to Kindergarten - Maureen Fergus
The Highest Number in the World - Roy Macgregor
Kenta and the Big Wave - Ruth Ohi
Loula is Leaving for Africa - Anne Villeneuve
The Man with the Violin - Kathy Stinson
Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress - Christine Baldacchino
The Most Magnificent Thing - Ashley Spires
My Blue is Happy - Jessica Young
Oddrey and the New Kid - Dave Whamond
Young Frank, Architect - Frank Viva
Congratulations to all the nominees!
You can find summaries of the novels on the Silver Birch nominee page at the OLA Forest of Reading website. Summaries of
the picture books are listed on the Blue Spruce nominee page at the OLA Forest of Reading website.
In the middle grade category (Silver Birch), the winner is THE NIGHT GARDENER by Jonathan Auxier.
I read (or have heard read aloud) most of the picture book nominees, and I'm so glad I didn't have to pick a winner, because they were all amazing!
