FRANÇAIS
The Forest of Reading® is Canada’s largest recreational reading program! This initiative offers ten reading programs to encourage a love of reading in people of all ages. The Forest helps celebrate Canadian books, publishers, authors and illustrators. More than 270,000 readers participate annually from their school and/or public library. All Canadians are invited to participate via their local public library, school library, or individually.
The Forest of Reading Award Programs are where children and young adults pick the winner! Readers choose a program that they would like to be a part of, usually based on their age or grade, and simply begin reading! They can read all ten of the titles, or pick and choose to read only the ones they are interested in. Participants are encouraged to read at least five of the ten titles to be eligible to vote in April. This program aims to encourage a genuine and life-long love of reading among readers of all ages.
Goals of the Forest of Reading
- Love of reading: Create a meaningful experience for your readers and give exciting opportunities for reluctant readers to become lifelong readers.
- A proven head start: The results are in! Children who read for fun have higher literacy scores, have more success in science and math, and are more socially and civically engaged (Reading for Joy, P4E, 2011).
- Libraries at centre stage: With fun activities, prizes and more, the Forest of Reading puts libraries at the heart of the action!
- Reading Canadian: Help support and celebrate Canadian books, publishers, authors and illustrators by taking advantage of the Forest’s curated, all-Canadian reading lists for all ages and levels.
Read about the history of the Forest of Reading
The Forest of Reading program is designed to provide quality online literacy and reading engagement activities for school and public library programming – it’s reading for fun.
- 100 books nominated each year for young people and adults.
- 500 Activities for the nominated titles – minimum 4/per book = Value $2500
- 20+ Author Visits (English-language) = Value $3000
- 8-10 Author Visits (French-language) = Value $1500
- Additional Presentations from Nominees = Value $3000
- Voting privileges = PRICELESS
- 9 virtual award ceremonies with the nominees = PRICELESS
THE REGISTRATION COST: Only $30-$70, plus the cost of books
Check out our other reading lists!
Our Programs are designed for various age ranges as follows:
Programs for Kids
| Program Name | Age/Grade Range | Book Type/Language | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Blue Spruce Award™ | ages 4-7, JK–Grade 2 | English, picture books |
 | Silver Birch Express Award® | ages 8-10, Grades 3–4 | English, fiction / non-fiction |
 | Silver Birch Fiction Award® | ages 8-12, Grades 3–6 | English, fiction |
 | Yellow Cedar Award | ages 9-14, Grades 4–8 | English, non-fiction |
 | Red Maple Award™ | ages 12-14, Grades 7–8 | English, fiction |
 | White Pine Award™ | high school, Grades 9–12 | English, fiction |
 | Le prix Peuplier | Varies | French, picture books |
 | Le prix Mélèze | Varies | French, shorter chapter books or mature picture books (maximum 100 pages) |
 | Le prix Tamarac | Varies | French, chapter books (100-250 pages) |
Programs for Adults
| Program Name | Age/Grade Range | Book Type/Language | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Evergreen Award™ | Adults of any age | English, fiction / non-fiction |
Program Timeline
In October, the school aged-programs are launched when the lists of nominated titles are announced. Most schools and libraries start to run the program in December/January. School-aged programs are given in May at the Forest of Reading Festival. The Evergreen Award is given during Ontario Public Library Week (third week of October) and the new list is announced later that week.
Registering Your School, Library or Child
You simply need to register online. The cost of the registration is for one school or library, no matter the number of readers in your program. Parents are encouraged to register their own child if they want to run it outside of either the school or library. Within a public library system each branch is a different site, therefore each branch must register separately. The nominal registration fee is separate from the cost of the books.
Getting the Books
Books are sold by the official wholesaler of the Forest, Tinlids Inc., and are available in retail stores and public libraries. We encourage you to support your local independent bookstores when possible. Tinlids Inc. offers schools and public libraries a discount. Alternatively, when registering for the program, books can be purchased through the registration system, but will be shipped by Tinlids Inc.
Official Wholesaler
The Forest of Reading Official Wholesaler is Tinlids Inc. Without their support this program would not be possible. Visit the Official Wholesaler webpage to learn more.
Trademarks
The Forest of Reading Award programs are trademarked with either a ® or ™. Only registered sites are permitted to be using the Forest brand.
