What Canadian books are popular right now? Check out this week's bestsellers

Here are the bestselling Canadian fiction, nonfiction and children's books from Feb. 15-22, 2025.

This week, all five contending Canada Reads 2025 books are on the list.

• Meet the Canada Reads 2025 contenders

Bestseller lists are compiled by Bookmanager using weekly sales stats from over 260 Canadian independent stores.

Canadian fiction

Dandelion by Jamie Chai Yun Liew is the #1 Canadian fiction book this week.

Dandelion is a novel about family secrets, migration, isolation, motherhood and mental illness. When Lily was a child, her mother, Swee Hua, walked away from the family and was never heard from again. After becoming a new mother herself, Lily is obsessed with discovering what happened to Swee Hua.

She recalls growing up in a British Columbia mining town where there were only a handful of Asian families and how Swee Hua longed to return to Brunei. Eventually, a clue leads Lily to southeast Asia to find out the truth about her mother.

Dandelion will be championed by pastry chef Saïd M'Dahoma on Canada Reads 2025.

• Jamie Chai Yun Liew's debut novel Dandelion is a moving portrait of motherhood and migration

See the full Canadian fiction list below.

1. Dandelion by Jamie Chai Yun Liew
2. Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper
3. Watch Out for Her by Samantha M. Bailey
4. Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
5. The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight
6. Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett
7. The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny
8. The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
9. Held by Anne Michaels
10. We Could Be Rats by Emily Austin

Canadian nonfiction

Jennie's Boy by Wayne Johnston is the #1 Canadian nonfiction book this week.

Jennie's Boy is a memoir that recounts a six-month period in Wayne Johnston's chaotic childhood, much of which was spent as a frail and sickly boy with a fiercely protective mother. While too sick to attend school, he spent his time with his funny and eccentric grandmother Lucy and picked up some important life lessons along the way. 

Jennie's Boy will be championed by thriller writer Linwood Barclay on Canada Reads 2025.

• Wayne Johnston reflects on the wisdom, wit and tough love of his mother and grandmother in Jennie's Boy

See the full Canadian nonfiction list below.

1. Jennie's Boy by Wayne Johnston
2. At a Loss for Words by Carol Off
3. All the Little Monsters by David A. Robertson
4. Revenge of the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
5. Who We Are by Murray Sinclair, with Sara Sinclair and Niigaan Sinclair
6. A Two-Spirit Journey by Ma-Nee Chacaby, with Mary Louise Plummer
7. Chasing Shadows by Ronald J. Deibert
8. The Certainty Illusion by Timothy Caulfield
9. Fire Weather by John Vaillant
10. Doppelganger by Naomi Klein

Canadian kids

Rebel Witch by Kristen Ciccarelli is the #1 Canadian kids book this week. 

Rebel Witch is the conclusion to the Crimson Moth duology in which Rune Winters is on the run after the boy she loved, Gideon, revealed her identity. She's forced to team up with the cruel and dangerous Cressida Roseblood to save herself. But when she makes Gideon an offer he can't refuse, they're reunited again, and they'll have to try and put aside their powerful feelings to do what they both feel is right.

See the full kids list below.

1. Rebel Witch by Kristen Ciccarelli
2. Paws: Hazel Has Her Hands Full by Nathan Fairbairn, illustrated by Michele Assarasakorn
3. The New Girl by Cassandra Calin
4. Your Forest by Jon Klassen
5. The Squad by Christina Soontornvat, illustrated by Joanna Cacao
6. The Animal People Choose a Leader by Richard Wagamese, illustrated by Bridget George
7. Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao
8. Your Farm by Jon Klassen
9. Love You Forever by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Sheila McGraw
10. I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen