I still genuinely cannot believe I’m typing this: this past week, FOR SHE IS WRATH won Canada's biggest literary children's award, the 2026 Forest of Reading White Pine Award!!! For anyone outside Canada, the Forest of Reading is Canada's largest recreational reading program and one of the biggest reader-choice literary programs in the country. Thousands of readers across schools and libraries read the nominated books throughout the year and then students themselves vote for the winners. Which means this award was chosen by READERS!! The same readers who came to my table, made me tiny gifts, told me they saw themselves in Wrath, said it inspired them to keep reading, and reminded me exactly why stories matter in the first place. I honestly went into the day feeling nervous and overwhelmed and left feeling incredibly hopeful and honoured. Meeting so many smart, thoughtful, funny readers and hearing what books mean to them was the best part of all of this. Thank you to everyone who voted, showed up, read the book, shared it, supported me, or stopped by just to say hi. You made an author’s dream come true. Still kind of in shock over here!! Thank you thank you!! 🏷️  #forestofreading #bookstagram #yafantasy #canadianauthors #authorlife

🎉 Congratulations to all the winners of the 2026 @forestofreadingprogram , including: Red Maple Award Winner 📘 If We Tell You by @dahlinwords (@kidscanpress / 9781525311475) Yellow Cedar Honour Book 📘 Spooky Lakes by @geodesaurus (@abramskids / 9781419770531) Blue Spruce Honour Book 📘 Fox and the Mystery Letter by @alexggriffiths (@quartokids / 9781836001102) #ForestofReading #canadianauthor #bookstagram #kidslit

What an incredible two days we had at the 2026 Forest of Reading in Toronto, ON! 💙 We loved being part of Canada’s largest recreational reading program alongside thousands of young readers, educators, authors, illustrators, and vendors celebrating Canadian books and storytelling. Thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth at Harbourfront Centre to take part in our activities and learn more about FOLD Kids! #ForestOfReading #FOLDKids #BookFestival Forest of Reading 2026, Kids Book Event, Bookish Experiences, Kids Book Festival, Silver Birch

I really love The Forest of Reading program! Reading Canadian books written by Canadian authors and instilling a love of books and reading in children is easy when you have a great collection to share with them. We can’t wait see who will win the Blue Spruce Award! Running the program in the library is a little harder when your position keeps getting reduced like ours is in our school board but I believe in it so much that I decided to get creative with it. We read the books over the last few weeks, and then I hosted a “Blue Spruce Day” and invited the classes I teach to come enjoy the activities associated with the books and vote on their favourite book while listening to the books again courtesy @cbckidsca who has a playlist on YouTube. My wish would be able to do this with the whole school. What was your favourite Blue Spruce book this year? Now that the voting is over I’ll share mine: The Girl Who Loved Poutine by Lorna Shultz Nicholson with illustrations by Rachel Qiuqi 🍟

I love the Forest of Reading! Some of our students voted for books in 3 of the programs: Blue Spruce, Silver Birch Express and Red Maple. Swipe to see our Blue Spruce results in pictograph format (well … an imperfect display, but displayed all the same). Excited to share the official winner with primary students tomorrow. Also - was so lucky to be able to attend the Red Maple award ceremony on May 13 with a small group of readers. Keep swiping to hear the winner announced. Thank you to all the @forestofreadingprogram volunteers and organizers. Thank you to all the authors and book lovers who made the festival amazing.. great job to all the Student presenters. Thank you @firstbookcanada for giving a free book to every student. Thank you. @tpl.teens for the book prize (last slide). . . . Student Choice reading program, Forest of Reading, Book Lovers, Canadian children’s books

Congratulations to @vicki_grantya for being a finalist at the #ForestofReading festival this week @harbourfrontcentre ! My bookworm, Jamie was so excited to meet you and he was very proud to be your sign carrier. 📖🌳✨ #forestofreadingfestival #readCanadian #CanadianKidLit

It’s been such a delight to be part of this incredible program. ❤️ To have The Weedflower recognized as an Honour Book is the icing on the cake! Congratulations to all the other nominees and winners! Thank you @forestofreadingprogram , @owlkidspublishing , @marianneferrer.jpg

Still can’t quite believe it!! As an author and illustrator you spend a lot of time isolated and making your stories and just hope that someone out there likes them - to hear actual children cheering loudly for my book was a life changing experience. I’m so grateful for the win especially when nominated alongside such great authors and illustrators. The Great Puptective Purranormal Activity won the Silver Birch Express award for the Forest of Reading program and the Dunham Forest Celebration. The nomination meant that thousands of kids across Canada read and voted for our books which is just amazing. Congratulations to the other winners and nominees ❤️ Thank you @forestofreadingprogram @ontariolibraryassociation for this opportunity and for the wonderful work that you do. #forestofreading

The Forest of Reading overflowed my word nerd heart with SO MUCH JOY! Celebrating exceptional books from across Canada by authors @tboteju , @cherylparisienauthor , @emilyvargabooks , @pauljcoccia , @evansvictoria , @cherisaacs has been everything baby writer Léa dreamed of and more. I still can’t believe A Drop in the Ocean was a WHITE PINE HONOUR BOOK 😭🥹🤩🥰🥳in the best of company with The History of Everything by @evansvictoria and well-deserved winning novel For She is Wrath by @emilyvargabooks !!!! Some highlights included getting a handmade angry avocado 🥑 keychain that makes hilarious sense if you read the book, meeting readers who shared that Mira’s story made them feel less alone with their own OCD experiences, listening to my writing prompt presentation attendees’ work (so many future authors are gonna take Canlit by storm in the next generation) meeting @luxmy.quackquack and @cherylparisienauthor who I did the hardship and resilience panel with IRL just as we’d promised, discovering @99.9neo also wore a gorgeous shell necklace like the one I wear to match my book’s ocean theme, having one of my dearest friends, Madelaine come to visit with me and celebrating later via pizza feast with some fellow nominees, Madelaine and my effervescent agent @alimcdme Shout out to all the staff and volunteers who made the festival possible including my guide Kara who has been a white pine volunteer for around 10 years and @m_the_bookdragon for taking such great pics! Image Descriptions in next comment!

Huge congratulations to @emilyvargabooks for winning the 2026 White Pine Award! The award celebrates outstanding Canadian YA fiction, voted on by teen readers.🌟 #StarlingLit #StarlingShelf #StarlingBooks #YAlit

Day 1 at the Forest of Reading was pure magic ✨ So many kids stopped by to create stories, meet characters, and discover a new way to play together through imagination. Seeing kids laugh, explore, and instantly connect with Mysh reminded us what this is all about. Stories feel different when you live them together 💜

Every spring, students across Canada from kindergarten to high school vote on their favourite books to win at the Forest of Reading, the largest annual recreational reading program! Tap through to see this year’s English category winners selected by about 154,000 readers ➡️ #ForestOfReading #CBCBooks #IReadYA