Kids Can Press
Kids Can Press is a Toronto children's publisher founded in 1973, best known for the Franklin the Turtle and Scaredy Squirrel books, and owned by Corus Entertainment since 2000.
- Editions tracked
- 30
- First editions
- 28
- Books
- 30
- Years
- 1986 to 2018
Kids Can Press is a publisher based in Toronto, founded in 1973. We track 30 editions it published between 1986 and 2018, 28 of them first editions across 30 books. Each book lists its first edition and the points that identify it.
About Kids Can Press
Kids Can Press is a Toronto children's book publisher founded in 1973 as a small collective by Frieda Forman, Yvonne Singer and Esther Fine, growing out of the Ontario College of Art at a time when Canadian children had few books by Canadian authors and illustrators.
Valerie Hussey and Ricky Englander later became its owners, and from 1986 it was a privately owned business run by them. In 1986 it also introduced Franklin the Turtle, created by author Paulette Bourgeois and illustrator Brenda Clark; the Franklin books have sold more than 65 million copies. Its other well-known lists include Mélanie Watt's award-winning Scaredy Squirrel series and Ashley Spires's The Most Magnificent Thing.
The Canadian animation company Nelvana bought Kids Can Press in 1998, and Corus Entertainment acquired Nelvana in 2000. Kids Can Press has been a Corus division since then and is based at Corus Quay in Toronto. Lisa Lyons Johnston became president in 2007 and left the company in 2023.
We have not yet written the guide to Kids Can Press's first-edition conventions. Until we do, check each book's own page: we list its points where we know them. Know how Kids Can Press marked its firsts? Tell us.
Published by Kids Can Press
Frequently asked questions
How many Kids Can Press books does MyVolumes track?
We track 30 editions published by Kids Can Press, 28 of them first editions, across 30 books.
Where these facts come from
- Kids Can Press, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
- Canadian Publishing 2023: At 50, Kids Can Still Does, Publishers Weekly, 2023 (publishersweekly.com)
- Kids Can Press (Q6404913), Wikidata (wikidata.org)
Every fact on this page was checked against the sources listed. Checked 18 October 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.