Today, Canada celebrates its 150th birthday.
The CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) recently published a list of the top 150 bestselling Canadian books of the last decade. Many children’s and teens books made the list and I thought I would share them with you.
The #1 & #3 books were by Robert Munsch. Love You Forever was #1 and my favorite Munsch book, The Paperbag Princess, was #3.
Munsch books appear 27 more times on the list – and most of them are illustrated by the same person, Michael Martchenko!
The first non-Munsch book to appear is A Porcupine in a Pine Tree: A Canadian 12 Days of Christmas written by Helaine Becker and illustrated by Werner Zimmermann. It came in at #33.
Number 37 was Sing A Song of Mother Goose by Barbara Reid.
Number 45 was ABC of Canada by Kim Bellefontaine, illustrated by Per-Henrik Gürth.
One of my favorites came in at number 56: Scaredy Squirrel by Mélanie Watt.
You might not know what a zamboni is, but Canadian kids do. It is no surprise that written by Matt Napier and illustrated by Melanie Rose.
The most classic story is Roch Carrier’s The Hockey Sweater, illustrated by Sheldon Cohen. It was # 84.
A new one to me was #85, Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard.
Anne of Green Gables made the list at #89, the only one of L. M. Montgomery’s many books to make the list.
The team of Kim Bellefontaine and Per-Henrik Gürth make a second appearance at #101 for Canada 123.
Did you know Gordon Korman was Canadian? He made the list at #110 for One False Note, part of the 39 Clues series.
Astronaut Chris Hadfield made the list 3 times. His picture book, The Darkest Dark is lucky #113.
Number 121 is Eric Walters’ action-packed novel The Rule of Three.
Phoebe Gilman’s Something From Nothing makes the list at # 124.
The classic Red is Best by Kathy Stinson, illustrated by Robin Baird Lewis is # 144 and the final children’s book on the list.