Selection of Books for the 2001 edition of Read Up On It was made with the following criteria in mind:

• books published in Canada or abroad of which the author or illustrator is Canadian;
• books available from bookstores, publishers or from a public library;
• books in English and/or French, with due respect given to geographic distribution and multi-cultural diversity;
• books appropriate for age categories covering 2 to 16 years;
• books from the following categories: fiction, non-fiction and picture books; and
• books in which the quality of text and illustration is evident, as well as the quality of the text in relation to the illustrations.

The definition of "Nature and the Environment" as a theme was as follows:

• books that help us discover the world of nature: wilderness, natural events, the environment and its importance;
• books in which nature and the environment take many forms: as sources of inspiration for the characters, or as main events in the story (snowstorms, ice storms, floods, etc.);
• fiction and non-fiction books in which nature and the environment are explored; and
• books in which the beauty and power of nature and the environment are described and presented in words and in illustrations.