The Queen's Education Library supports Ontario's Forest of Reading® by purchasing all K-12 nominated titles each year and supporting classes that read Forest books and prepare Forest classroom activities.
Congratulations to the 2022 Forest Winners!
Blue Spruce Award Winner
Peggy Collins for Harley the Hero
Silver Birch Express Award Winner
Mike White for Mellybean and the Giant Monster
Silver Birch Fiction Award Winner
Iain Lawrence for Deadman's Castle
Yellow Cedar Award Winner
Les Stroud , Andrew P. Barr, & Laura Bombier for Wild Outside: Around the World with Survivorman
Red Maple Award Winner
Eric Walters for The King of Jam Sandwiches
White Pine Award Winner
Kate McLaughlin for What Unbreakable Looks Like
Le prix Peuplier
Anne Renaud & Elodie Duhameau for Albertine Petit-Brindamour deteste les choux Bruxelles
Le prix Mélèze
Jonathan Bécotte & Sabrina Gendron for Honey et Ketchup
Le prix Tamarac
Karine Lambert for Cabane sinistre
Harley the Hero by
An exciting picture book inspired by a real-life classroom service dog with themes of friendship, neurodivergence, and courage Harley the service dog is on the job! He goes to school every day with Ms. Prichard to make sure she feels safe. Their students are a lot of fun, but Harley can't play with them while he's wearing his work vest. They write him lots of letters instead, and everything is perfect in the best, most quiet class in the whole school. Until the day the old stage curtains catch fire. As the fire alarm blares and chaos erupts, Harley remembers that Ms. Prichard isn't the only human in his class who gets upset by loud noises. Inspired by a true story, Harley the Hero celebrates the work of service animals and the normalization of neurodivergence. Author-illustrator Peggy Collins brings Harley and his class to charming life and concludes with an Author's Note about the real dog behind the fictional Harley.
McConnel, J., & de Leon, C. (2020). The brightest part of the Forest: A grit analysis of an Ontario children’s book award. Language & Literacy 22(2).
