Our Mission

IBBY Canada is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to creating a more inclusive and equitable world by connecting children to books that spark the imagination, challenge thinking, and promote friendship and understanding between cultures around the world.

Our Vision

We strive to make the world a more inclusive, equitable, and connected place through the power of children’s books.

Your Support 

Your support makes a huge impact on our ability to celebrate and promote Canadian children’s picture books — as well as to live the mission of IBBY of bringing books and children together by fostering a reading culture and giving every child the opportunity to become a life-long reader. Your commitment can help make all of this happen at home and, thanks to the cooperation of over 80 IBBY national sections around the world, abroad.

Our Activities

Among our many activities, your support allows our volunteer-run organization to:

• Expand and promote the Indigenous Picture Book Collection, which features the best of children’s literature written and/or illustrated by First Nations, Métis and Inuit creators. Originally published in 2018 to great acclaim worldwide, the second edition launched in spring 2021; and an educators’ resource was released this month.

• Host Reading with Newcomer Children, a program launched in 2018 in response to the increasing number of refugee claimants arriving in Toronto, which expanded to Winnipeg and Montreal. During the pandemic, and in partnership with COSTI Immigrant Services, the program moved to a virtual format with over 15 volunteers continuing to connect with refugee and newcomer children virtually. Readers and listeners have raved that the sessions are always a weekly highlight.

• Sponsor International Children’s Book Day: we’ve been awarded the unique honour of hosting this event in 2022. This year, we are celebrating Indigenous children’s literature, and the talented creators and publishers involved in its production and promotion.

• Champion the Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Canadian Picture Book Award, which recognizes the best of Canadian illustration talent. Marie-Louise Gay won the 2020 prize for The Three Brothers.

• Celebrate, on the international stage, the Hans Christian Andersen Award, Honour List, and Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities Collection by nominating Canadian authors and illustrators — highlighting homegrown talent, their bodies of work and their publishers.