Bookbird 2 / 2026
Bookbird Vol. 64, No.2, 2026. Children’s Literature in Canada.
Every two years Bookbird produces an issue that provides an introduction to literature for young people from the host country for IBBY’s biennial congress. In 2026 the congress issue explores the literature of Canada, looking beyond the traditional iconic symbols of ‘Moose and Maple Syrup’ of colonial and post-colonial literature as the editors put it, to present literature from a country which today is notable for its multiculturalism, its wide-ranging indigenous populations and strong attachments to land and nature. In their editorial they reflect on how indigenous authors, illustrators and publishers have strongly influenced recent literary production which highlights challenges to identity and inclusion familiar to readers from many other countries.
The first article ‘Twenty-five Years of Award-winning Illustrated Books from Canada’s Governor General’s Award’ examines the award itself through a lens of Critical Race Theory and Critical Content Analysis to note how awards and award-winning books are powerful in shaping national identity and national literary heritage. Bookbird readers who have taken part or organized judging panels for books for young readers will be aware of the complexities around these matters so should find much to think about in this article.
The article sets the tone for others which follow in an issue of Bookbird providing insights into a literature about which much may not be known beyond the more familiar texts of an earlier period.
In the ongoing series on censorship and book-banning in children’s literature the Banned Books Network in Germany interrogates the rise in censorship, public protests about certain books and attacks on bookshops internationally, all seeking to restrict readers’ access to books which feature topics such as sex, gender, race, religion, death, immigration and activism.
The familiar Bookbird postcards feature a variety of fiction and non-fiction for young readers from Canada, while Focus IBBY reflects the diversity of children’s books internationally with accounts of projects nominated for IBBY’s Yamada Award, a new IBBY section in Yemen, and a report on the 2025 Asia-Pacific Regional Conference.
Read and enjoy and perhaps we will see you in Ottawa.
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| Moving beyond the Moose and Maple Syrup: (Re)mapping and (Re)envisioning the Landscape of Canadian Children’s Literature | by Naomi Hamer and Chrysogonus Siddha Malilang | I |
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Telling Stories of National Identity: Twenty-Five Years of Award-Winning Illustrated Books from Canada’s Governor General’s Award | by Carolyn Clarke, Kerryn Dixon, and Cassie Clarke | 5 |
Classrooms between Borders: Immigrant Girlhood and the Limits of Multiculturalism in Canadian Children’s Literature | by Mateusz Świetlicki | 15 |
Memory, Trauma, and Identity in Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch’s Stolen Child | by Sharon Smulders | 23 |
Relationality and Kinship in David A. Robertson’s The Barren Grounds | by Geneviève Brisson | 31 |
Reading as Relation: Building Pedagogies through Indigenous Children’s Literature | by Erin Spring, Rachel Stubbs, Anja Dressler Araujo, Jadyn Fischer-McNab, Angela Houle, Aubrey Hanson, Marie-Andrée Bergeron, Finley Rogers, Jasmine Rice, Tracy Dinh, and Kari Dressler | 40 |
The Picturebook App as Land-Based Work: The Six Seasons of the Asiniskaw Īthiniwak Project | by Eric Meyers, Naomi Hamer, Margaret Mackey, and Mavis Reimer | 49 |
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Justice of the Imagination and the Power of Representation: Creating Flamingo Rampant, a Feminist, Culturally Diverse Picturebook Press Celebrating 2SLGBTQ+ Kids, Families, and Communities | by S. Bear Bergman | 59 |
Why We Must Represent: Progress, Issues, and Important Next Moves in Disability Portrayal in Canadian Children’s and Young Adult Literature | by Christina Minaki | 64 |
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Won’t Somebody Think of the Children? | by Jennifer Gouck and Sarah Pyke | 69 |
I Write for Both Woeful and Willful Children: An Interview with Kyo Maclear | by Gita Ralleighl | 72 |
Celebrating Canada’s Diversity: Yolanda T. Marshall’s Picturebooks | by Hyacinth Simpson | 75 |
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