Forest of Reading Awards 2009

A few of us at Annick Press headed downtown on Wednesday to party at the Ontario Library Association's Festival of Trees: a huge event at which the winners of the Forest of Reading awards are announced. This event drew 6,500 students in 2008, and we heard that this year there were about 8,000 students in attendance! The weather cooperated perfectly, resulting in a day filled with sunshine, energetic book-loving kids, and happy authors.

It's up to the students to choose the winning books--over 250,000 readers voted for their favorite nominees--so we were thrilled to hear that our authors Hazel Hutchins and Gail Herbert were nominated for the Blue Spruce award for Mattland, and Elizabeth MacLeod won the Red Maple Non-Fiction award for Royal Murder! Congratulations, Elizabeth, Hazel, and Gail! (Pictures: Elizabeth MacLeod with the Red Maple award; Gail Herbert and Hazel Hutchins enjoying the awards reception)