IBBY Collection of Books for Young People with Disabilities

Established in 1985 at the Norwegian Institute for Special Education at the University of Oslo, and currently housed at the North York Central Library in Toronto, the IBBY Collection of Books for Young People with Disabilities features more than 4,000 multilingual books in a variety of accessible formats including Braille, Picture Communication Symbols, Sign Language, and tactile and textile books. Biennially, the national sections of IBBY are invited to submit books for inclusion in the Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities catalogue and collection.

In 2020, a committee co-chaired by Nicholas Aumais and Theo Heras read dozens of books submitted by Canadian publishers for the 2021 catalogue. English-language readers were Grace Andrews, Helena Aalto, Janet Pilby and Pam Mountain. French-language readers were Marion Bacci, Anne-Marie Fortin and Catherine Bond. We wish to thank our volunteer readers for all their help.

The committee selected 12 books for consideration to the Collection. They were:

Burning the Boats by Christina Minaki. FriesenPress, 2018. Teen Fiction. Cerebral Palsy

Corde raide by Stéphanie Perron. Éditions de Mortagne, 2019. Teen Fiction. Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)

Coup de vent by Cécile Gariépy. Éditions de la Pastèque, 2019. Board Book. Universal Access/Wordless

L’enfant qui vivait dans un mur by Agnès de Lestrade, illustrated by Sébastien Chebret. Éditions Les 400 coups, 2018. Picture Book. Autism

Frida, c’est moi by Sophie Faucher, illustrated by Cara Carmina. Éditions Édito, 2017. Non-fiction Picture Book. Polio

Funny, You Don’t Look Autistic: A Comedian’s Guide to Life on the Spectrum, Michael McCreary. Annick Press, 2019. Teen Non-fiction. Autism

Golden Threads by Suzanne Del Rizzo, illustrated by Miki Sato. Owlkids Books, 2020. Picture Book. Blindness

J’ai mal et pourtant, ça ne se voit pas by Lucile de Pesloüan, illustrated by Geneviève Darling. Éditions de l’Isatis. Teen Non-fiction. Variety of disabilities

My Ocean Is Blue by Darren Lebeuf, illustrated by Ashley Barron. Kids Can Press, 2020. Picture Book. Using a cane

Sockeye Silver, Saltchuck Blue by Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd. Harbour Publishing, 2019. Board Book. Universal Access

Ted et les oiseaux du paradis by Guy Pratte and Myriam de Repentigny, illustrated by Leanne Franson. Soulières éditeur, 2018. Juvenile Fiction. Intellectual disability.

The Turing Machinists, by M.E. Reid. DCB, 2016. Teen Fiction. Asperger’s

Of these, two were selected by IBBY for the Collection:

Frida, c’est moi by Sophie Faucher, illustrated by Cara Carmina. Éditions Édito, 2017.

Funny, You Don’t Look Autistic: A Comedian’s Guide to Life on the Spectrum by Michael McCreary. Annick Press, 2019.

We wish to thank all of the publishers who submitted books. We congratulate Éditions Édito and Annick Press.

The official announcement will be at the (virtual) International Children’s Book Fair in Bologna on June 14, 2021. The books will become part of the permanent and travelling collections.

Contributed by: Theo Heras

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