FernFolio

The books nominated for the Ontario Library Association’s Forest of Reading programs were announced this past Monday. Each year, the nominations are greeted with a shiver of excitement by both students and their teachers.

Yesterday afternoon, after having wiggled my library budget around, and checked pockets for any loose change, I placed the school’s order for Forest books. This year I have decided to make the reading programs a primary focus for the Junior and Intermediate book clubs, in addition to building my library program for Primary students around the Blue Spruce books, so I ordered five copies of each of the five novels nominated for Silver Birch Express (for students in Grades 3 to 5) and each of the ten novels nominated for the fiction prize for Red Maple, as well as eight copies of each of the ten novels nominated for the Silver Birch fiction prize. I have also ordered one copy of each Blue Spruce picture storybook, and two copies of each of the non-fiction books nominated for Silver Birch Express, Silver Birch non-fiction, and Red Maple non-fiction.

I began my reading by curling up with Elijah of Buxton, by Christopher Paul Curtis, which I loved, and eagerly anticipate the next nominated title. I look forward to many hours of enjoyable reading, and to many more discussing the books with students!

Visit the OLA’s Forest of Reading website!

FernFolio Editor