By Sharon Jennings
This article was originally published in CANSCAIP News, and is reproduced here with permission. Sharon Jennings, “From the President’s Desk”, CANSCAIP News, Fall 2022, Volume 44 Number 4, page 13.
One of the nicest things about this cross-our-fingers- and-hope-it-dies period of Covid is meeting up with people whom we haven’t seen for over two years—not even on Zoom. So I was thrilled when Meredith Tutching agreed to let me take her out for lunch and interview her for this column. She did note, however, that there are far more interesting people to interview than her. Not for those of us toiling in the children’s book world!
Meredith is the Director of the Forest of Reading® Program. As such, whether you know it or not, she is one of the most important people in our lives. Why? Meredith gets our books (the ones that make it onto the Tree lists) out to the most important people: our young readers. If you are fortunate enough to find your book nominated for a Tree (as most creators have fondly dubbed the awards), you will see more sales than ever before and be asked to more schools and libraries than you thought possible. In other words, royalties and income. Most publishers have little to no money for marketing and promotion, and some publishers (we all secretly believe) don’t seem to have much interest in some of our books. But if you make it to a Tree list, your marketing dreams will come true. (Not Fifty Shades of Grey true, but still.)
Newcomers, or those of us not paying attention, may be wondering: what exactly is a Tree award and why is it important? The program is made up of ten reading categories or divisions, from primary grades to high school young adult, English and French. The tenth category is for adult titles. There are also ten juries of approximately fifteen volunteers each — educators, library professionals, booksellers. These juries choose ten books for their lists. They are mindful of the fact that these awards are about the enjoyment of reading. It is a recreational (not literary) program. In other words—FUN!
The truly brilliant aspect of this program is that once the titles have been selected and the books received by participating schools/libraries, it is the kids who vote (excluding the Evergreen, adult division). Over a few months, they read each (most) of the books and get into heated arguments with their classmates about why this book or that should win. Then they vote; the votes are counted; the winners are announced. Some of us think that our book should have won. But how do you rant against a bunch of six-year-olds? Or sneer at teenagers rolling their eyes? There isn’t a cash prize for winning, but, even better, there is the bulk sales of our books and the adoration of our fans. On a side note, sometimes a reader will tell you, “I didn’t vote for your book.” Why, thank you for sharing, young man.
Back to Meredith. She didn’t set out to have this career. She graduated from Queen’s University with a degree in geography. She is also a professional synchronized skating coach and consultant, in addition to mentoring with Skate Ontario and Skate Canada. This last may seem irrelevant to us, but as she enthused over lunch about her ideas and goals for the Forest program, I could picture her out on the ice, demanding precision and sharp lines and keeping many athletes working smoothly together.
Meredith took a two-week job with OLA (Ontario Library Association) back in 2001. She’s now been there for over twenty years. In the early days, Meredith was the assistant to the Executive Director of the OLA, and the Forest job took up 30% of her time; in 2009 it became her full-time job. Meredith had so many ideas for going bigger and better, and she was so enthusiastic about kids and reading and promoting creators that the job couldn’t be contained in a few hours a week.
Now, the Forest is the largest recreational reading program and the largest children’s literary event in Canada. And Meredith has still more plans for further growth. She has always dreamed of expanding the program to fill the gaps in other provinces, and to do so, she finally managed to remove the program from the OLA website and obtain a standalone Forest website— forestofreading.com. This made it easier to reach out to schools across Canada with a program that could be seen as national, rather than piggybacking on an Ontario institution. Historically, there have been four schools outside of Ontario; this year there are almost fifty. Meredith wants to get to 200 by June 2023.
Just to be clear: books from published creators across Canada have always been eligible for the Forest Program. Meredith wanted to change the number of schools that would participate in the Program. So, if you live in Saskatchewan and your book is nominated for the Blue Spruce, you can now (or hopefully soon) get school visits in your home province and not have to travel to the participating schools in Ontario. (But then you might miss the ‘I feel like a rock star’ ceremony in Toronto as you are swarmed by autograph-seeking readers.)
The Program is always changing as it receives feedback. There are occasionally some complaints and grievances from creators and publishers (I’m shocked!) and, therefore, the team continues to take steps towards greater transparency. Once the books have been chosen, Meredith holds a meeting every September, in partnership with the Official Wholesaler, so that the publishers can learn about
any new developments with the program and ask questions. The lists of nominated books are kept confidential until the official announcement in mid-October. And before that announcement, the wholesaler has pre-packaged listed books in order that they may go out immediately. Last year, the Official Wholesaler, Tinlids sold over 105,000 books alone.
Occasionally, the Program has been accused of ‘hiding’ things (Hmmm. That sounds intriguing!) Meredith is careful to make sure the rules for submission and participation are clear and understood. Also, there is a ten-clause contract between the wholesaler and publisher which must be upheld. For example, there is a fee for each nominated book ($550.00 for a Silver Birch title), the book must be published and available by October 15, and there must be a guaranteed number of books ready to ship (approximately 3500 copies for each Silver Birch title).
Smaller publishers pay willingly and order in the books because this is marketing that they can’t afford and offers big dividends. Interestingly, it is some of the larger publishers who get huffy.
Sometimes, publishers get huffy as well when a book they expected to be on a list isn’t there. On the other hand, I mentioned to Meredith that some of my colleagues aren’t sure if their books got submitted. If we have such doubts, we are allowed to ask; however, she won’t divulge the reasons why the book was declined.
Another way our books are getting into our readers hands: all one hundred titles are sent to a company (AERO—Alternate Education Resources for Ontario) that makes each title accessible in several formats for young people with print disabilities.
So much work done on our behalf, and that isn’t all of it! For years, library staff ran the program in their individual schools. Now the Forest and its volunteers do it all because of, as Meredith stated, “the erosion of school libraries.” And, by the way, Meredith liaisons with over 250 volunteers. Another by the way, only 7% of the Forest budget comes from government funding. And one more: Meredith divulged that she doesn’t read our books. What?! She feels that if she reads one, she will have to read them all. So why is she in this job? “I love the logistics of it.” Yup. Out there on the ice with her whistle!
Two hours flew by. We finished our lunch— chicken and avocado sandwiches and lemon-mint slushies. To be accurate, Meredith finished; I still had half a sandwich to get through as I scrambled to take notes, hoping that I would be able to decipher my own shorthand. She left, and I kept scribbling. Meredith’s final words were about what a close and supportive and helpful community we have. “There is room for everyone in this program.” She also mentioned that, “Sometimes, creators are hard to herd.” Don’t we know it!
Sharon Jennings began her career in grade four when she wrote a play for the school assembly. After earning an MA in English literature, she spent twelve years in educational publishing before writing her first book Jeremiah and Mrs. Ming.
Now Sharon has been published for over 30 years and is the author of over 70 books for young people – picture books to young adult novels. Her first novel, Home Free, was nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Award, the TD Award, and the Silver Birch Award. Her third novel, Unravel, was also a finalist for the GG and is on CBC’s best YA books of the year 2021.
She teaches classes in writing fiction and memoir – most recently through the Toronto District School Board’s Learning4Life program – and is an in-demand editor as well. She is also the President of CANSCAIP (The Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators, and Performers).