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Kids Can Press

Kids Can Press is a Canadian-owned publisher of children's books, with a catalogue of nearly 1,000 picture books and 500 e-books, nonfiction, and fiction titles for toddlers to young adults.[2] The Kids Can Press list includes well-known characters such as Franklin the Turtle.

The press was chosen as the principal distributor of the Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada.[3]

Kids Can Press' books are currently distributed by Hachette Client Services.[4]

Description

Kids Can Press started in 1973 as an initiative from the Ontario College of Art to take advantage of growing nationalism within Canada during the 1970s to provide locally relevant children's material. In 1986, the publisher became a privately owned business ran by Valerie Hussey and Ricky Englander.[1] In 1998, the company was purchased by Canadian animation firm Nelvana for $6.1 million.[5] Englander left that same year.[1] In 2000, Corus Entertainment acquired Nelvana, the parent company of Kids Can Press, and they have operated the two aforementioned companies ever since.[6] Hussey remained at the company until 2006, when she stepped down and Lisa Lyons assumed leadership.[1][7]

Kids Can Press has published in partnership with Canadian public institutions such as the Royal Ontario Museum, the Ontario Science Centre, the Federation of Ontario Naturalists, the National Museum, the Museum of Nature, World Wildlife, and the National Hockey League.

Kids Can Press books have received critical acclaim and numerous nominations and awards. Some highlights include:

  • Winning the Governor General's Award for English-language children's literature in 2011 for Cybèle Young's Ten Birds[8]
  • Franklin the Turtle series of stamps issued by Canada Post in May 2012, on the 25th anniversary of the publication of the first Franklin book[9]
  • Winning both Governor General's Award for English-language children's literature in 2008 for John Ibbitson’s The Landing (English-language text) and Stéphane Jorisch’s The Owl and the Pussycat (illustration)[10]
  • Mélanie Watt's multiple award-winning Scaredy Squirrel series[11]
  • The Independent Publisher Book Award for If the World Were a Village by David J. Smith[12]
  • Ryan and Jimmy and the Well in Africa That Brought Them Together by Herb Shoveller, a featured selection on Oprah.com[13]
  • Receiving a Kirkus Reviews starred review for My Name Is Elizabeth! by Annika Dunklee[14]

See also

  • One Hen

External links

References

  1. Leigh Williams. The Can-Do Spirit: Four Decades of Kids Can Press Publishers Weekly, January 31, 2014, retrieved December 20, 2017^
  2. Publisher: Kids Can Press openlibrary.org, retrieved 2022-07-14^
  3. Royal Canadian Geographical Society. The Royal Canadian Geographical Society celebrates a Canadian first: The Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada Canada Newswire, 21 June 2018, retrieved 25 September 2018^
  4. Hachette - Our Clients^
  5. Andy Hoffman. Nelvana buys kids' book pub Playback, Brunico Communications, August 24, 1998, retrieved December 20, 2017^
  6. Keith Damsell. Corus to buy Nelvana for $540-million The Globe and Mail, The Woodbridge Company, September 18, 2000, retrieved December 20, 2017^
  7. James Adams. Hussey steps down from helm of Kids Can Press The Globe and Mail, The Woodbridge Company, August 29, 2006, retrieved December 20, 2017^
  8. Past Winner: Children's Illustration Canada Council for the Arts, 29 September 2012, retrieved 22 April 2013^
  9. Canada Post - Collecting retrieved 2012-12-04^
  10. Winners retrieved 2012-12-04^
  11. http://www.kidscanpress.com/canada/CreatorDetails.aspx?CID=223^
  12. 2003 Independent Publisher Book Awards Results^
  13. Thanksgiving - Oprah.com www.oprah.com^
  14. My Name is Elizabeth! Kirkus Reviews, 5 April 2011, retrieved 20 January 2023^