The United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY) has announced their 2026 Outstanding International Books List. Curated since 2006, the annual list highlights exceptional books for children and young adults published or distributed in the United States that originated or were first published in a country other than the US.
This year’s list includes 41 titles originating from 24 different countries that represent the best of children’s literature from around the world. USBBY’s goal is that these titles will help young people in the US to see the world from diverse perspectives, introduce readers in the US to outstanding artists and writers from other countries, help counteract stereotypes, bridge cultural gaps, build connections, and engage and prove accessible to young readers in the US.
Three Canadian titles made the 2026 list. The titles are listed below.
PreK-Grade 2
Everybelly by Thao Lam (Groundwood Books)
My Friend May by Julie Flett (Greystone Kids)
Grades 3-5
The Sunshine Project by Uma Krishnaswami and Julianna Swaney (illus.) (Groundwood Books)
Greystone Kids' Aldana Libros imprint was also honoured in the PreK-2 category for Clara and the Man with Books in His Window by the Argentinian duo of author María Teresa Andruetto and illustrator Martine Trach, and translator Elisa Amado.
This year's selection committe was comprised of Susan Polos (Chair); Junko Sakoi (Asst. Chair); Jackie Garcia-Morales; Robin Gibson; Taraneh Matloob Haghanikar; Suzii Parsons; Emily Pendergrass; Laura Simeon; Riky Stock.
Congratulations to the publishers and their creators. To view the complete list, visit usbby.org.