Last month, Kirkus Reviews released their list of the Best Books of the 21st Century (So Far). Twenty-one Canadian titles made the list. Congratulations to the authors, illustrators and their publishers. To access the complete list, click here. The Canadian selections are listed below.
Picture Books
The Big Bath House, written by Kyo Maclear, illustrated by Gracey Zhang (Random House Studio, 2021)
The Big Red Lollipop, written by Rukhsana Khan, illustrated by Sophie Blackall (Viking Books for Young Readers, 2010)
Birdsong, written and illustrated by Julie Flett (Greystone Kids, 2019)
Hey, Boy, written by Benjamin Strouse, illustrated by Jennifer Phelan (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2017)
I Want My Hat Back, written and illustrated by Jon Klassen (Candlewick Press, 2011)
The Night Gardener, written and illustrated by the Fan Brothers (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2016)
Sidewalk Flowers, storyline by JonArno Lawson, illustrated by Sydney Smith (Groundwood Books, 2015)
Ten Little Dumplings, written by Larissa Fan, illustrated by Cindy Wume (Tundra Books, 2021)
Wallpaper, storyline and illustrations by Thao Lam (Owlkids Books, 2018)
Middle Grade
The Barren Grounds, written by David A. Robertson (Puffin Canada, 2020)
Elijah of Buxton, written by Christopher Paul Curtis (Scholastic Canada, 2007)
Everything on a Waffle, written by Polly Horvath (Groundwood Books/Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2001)
The Nest, written by Kenneth Oppel, illustrated by Jon Klassen (HarperCollins Publishers/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2015)
The Night Gardener, written by Jonathan Auxier (Puffin Canada/Amulet Books, 2014)
The Only Child, written and illustrated by Guojing (Schwartz & Wade Books, 2015)
Seen and Unseen: What Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake, and Ansel Adams's Photographs Reveal About the Japanese American Incarceration, written by Elizabeth Partridge, illustrated by Lauren Tamaki (Chronicle Books, 2022)
Teen/Young Adult
Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, written by Robin Wall Kimmerer, adapted by Monique Gray Smith, illustrated by Nicole Niedhardt (Zest Books, 2022)
I'm the Girl, written by Courtney Summers (Wednesday Books, 2022)
The Marrow Thieves, written by Cherie Dimaline (DCB Young Readers, 2017)
Saints and Misfits, written by S.K. Ali (Salaam Reads, 2017)
This One Summer, written by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki, illustrated by Jillian Tamaki (Groundwood Books/First Second, 2014)