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Welcome to the WexLibrary Book Club - White Pine initiative. If you are one of the Club members who have read the list of White Pine books, this is the place where you can comment on the books as you read them.

Just Read It! A TDSB program where all readers can submit the titles of books they read and comment on them. There are prizes to be won! Go to the WexLibrary web page at [] Look for the Just Read It! icon in the upper left corner, click on it, and submit your titles.

[|White Pine Award]

Forest of Reading® 2010 – UPDATE #5 – DECEMBER 16th, 2009

1. PASSWORD-PROTECTED SITES ARE OPEN!! These sites contain more detailed information about the books, resources, supplementary materials etc., that only registered participants will be able to view. As we receive resources from our committee’s and participants we will post them up on-line. Some areas say “coming soon” and as we get information we will post it. Everything we have is posted up on line to date. All information about the Festival, Author Visits, Voting etc. will also be found at this site. All the passwords for these sites were sent to you automatically after your registration went through. They were included in your confirmation email.

PLEASE NOTE: If you have any resources or activities to do with this year’s nominated titles that you have created and would like to share with your colleagues across the province, please forward them to Meredith Tutching, Program Coordinator at olaprograms@accessola.com. She will post them to the password-protected sites and credit your work so that other program administrators across the province can share with their readers. 2. THE READING TRACKING SHEETS Copies of the tracking sheets for each program are now posted under the Password-Protected sites.

3. 2010 FOREST of READING FESTIVAL of TREES The Forest of Reading Festival of Trees is on May 12th and 13th at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto. This year Blue Spruce, Red Maple and White Pine will be having their Festival and Ceremonies on the 12th. May 13th will be dedicated to Silver Birch Fiction, Non-Fiction and Express. Le Prix Tamarack’s ceremony date is still to be determined. We are expecting 7000 readers over 2 days. There will be separate ceremonies for each program and events throughout the day for all age groups in addition to authors, illustrators and live music. Come join the fun in May. Tickets will go on sale late January 26th and they will be sold on a first come, first served basis. Please watch the website for ticket information. Tickets will be NOT be available through the OLA office. All information with regards to when tickets can be purchased will be available on the Password-Protected sites by the beginning of January.

To date the following authors have confirmed they will be doing workshops, plus many more will be in attendance Julie Burtinshaw (WP), Lesley Livingston (WP), Susan Juby (WP), Jennifer McGrath Kent (SB), Anne Kerz (SB), Alma Fullerton (SB), Robert Weston (SB), Natale Ghent (SB), Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch (SB), Cyndi Sand-Eveland (SB), Stephanie Innes and Harry Endrulat (SB), Mindy Willett and Fran Hurcombe (SB) and Lois Peterson (SB). Red Maple authors are in the process of confirming.

4. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Please refer to our new FAQ section on at <[]> to answer all of the most commonly asked questions.

5. AUTHOR VISITS – Have you booked a Forest® author yet? The OLA has partnered with Authors’ Booking Service to assist nominees with arranging school and library bookings. All nominee contact information is listed under each book title, however many of the nominees are listed on their website available for school and library readings. If they are not on the Author Booking site, you can contact them directly from their Forest page. Nominees who are based in Ontario have more flexibility in timing their school visits. Many out of province nominees will be clustering their presentations proceeding the Festival of Trees on May 12th and 13th. For more information please go to the link below or to the author/illustrators page directly. [].

6. REVISED VOTING DATE - FRIDAY, APRIL 23rd, 2010 The Voting date for the Blue Spruce ™, Silver Birch®, Red Maple ™, White Pine™ Award programs, and Le Prix Tamarack™ are on the same day for 2010. The official voting date is FRIDAY, APRIL 23rd, 2010 (it was incorrectly stated in the last update as April 22nd). This is World Book Day. All votes must be submitted by this date. The Vote summary form will be opened in early April for those that cannot use the official voting date as their date.

7. STEERING & SELECTION COMMITTEE'S FOR 2010 & 2011 SELECTION COMMITTEE’S Work is beginning now for 2011. Silver Birch Selection is now divided into two committees, Fiction and Non-Fictiona, and together they will select the Express list. They are currently accepting applications. If you are interested in being part of the selection process for Blue Spruce™ and Silver Birch® please apply to the Committee of your choice now. This registration form can be found under each program on our Web site at <[]>. STEERING COMMITTEE’S – The Steering Committee’s are still looking for members for 2010. Please go to <[]> to see what the Steering Committee responsibilities are. This is an exciting opportunity to work with other passionate reading folks as well as having direct contact with authors/illustrators to help build this years Forest programs into even better programs.

8. ORDERING YOUR BOOKS. S & B Books Ltd., the official sponsor of the Forest of Reading Programs, is offering registrants a substantial discount and is including spine labels with each full set ordered. S & B Books, as official wholesaler of the Forest, provides significant financial support to the Award programs. We thank S & B for their generous participation.

9. PRODUCTS TO SUPPORT YOUR PROGRAMS Products such as bookmarks, certificates, winner labels, pencils and magnets are available from OLA. To see what is available please order through <[]>. Alternatively, you can pick up your Forest of Reading products at Super Conference 2010.

Happy Holidays everyone from The Forest® Folks and the Ontario Library Association!