4 decades ago, Robert Munsch attended Moira Green's birthday. Her story became a children's classic

On Moira Green’s 10th birthday, she put on a giant paper bag and a homemade crown and headed down to Hay River’s public library, where a surprising number of residents from the remote Northwest Territories town were waiting. 

There were 200 pizzas and 200 little cakes. She ran into a dragon, Prince Ronald and other valiant attempts by her Grade 5 classmates to bring the beloved characters from Robert Munsch’s earliest works to life.

Technically, Green could have come dressed as herself: the inspiration behind Moira’s Birthday. 

“After we did our little performances and stuff, they got Robert Munsch on the line,” Green said in a recent interview. “I don't know how they did it back in the day, but everyone in the library could hear him. And then, he read the story [to] all of us."

It was November 1987.

Six months earlier, Toronto-based Annick Press had published Moira’s Birthday. And exactly four years previous, the Guelph, Ont., children’s author had visited the Northwest Territories for the first time, leaving behind a trail of memories for many in the community of roughly 3,500 people living there at the time, and, as Green recalls, whenever anyone new turned up, her parents insisted they come for supper.  

That small-town friendliness was how Munsch, known for billeting with families during his tours, came to stay with Bruce and Marilyn Green and their five children, all of whom would make an appearance in the first of three books he would dream up during the trip.

Green, shown wearing the Paper Bag Princess costume, is seen here at her 10th birthday party in Hay River, N.W.T., in November 1987. She and other kids performed skits based on Munsch's books. (Submitted by Moira Green)

Those connections Munsch forged with kids, living in big cities and tiny hamlets, became the fabric of the nearly 100 books he has written in his career. In an interview with CBC News last year, his “last hurrah,” the author revealed that another 50 books will likely be published after his death. 

As first reported in the New York Times in September 2025, Munsch has been approved for medical assistance in dying (MAID), when he chooses. He has been living with Parkinson’s disease and dementia.

“Nobody lives forever," he told CBC in December. “But I will at least have a couple of years, as many years as I’ve already had [after I’m gone], and that will be nice," he said, of his hope to publish a book per year after his death.

Munsch and his wife, Ann, who have been married for more than five decades, are shown here at their home in November 2025. (Turgut Yeter/CBC)

The breadth of his travels helped him capture what it was like to be a kid in a country as vast as Canada.

Even in a place as remote as Hay River.

Moira’s 6th birthday

On the morning of her sixth birthday party in November 1983, Green and her siblings went to see Munsch perform at the library. He captivated his audience, she said, despite having just flown in hours before from Yellowknife.

Her party had already been planned for that afternoon before news of Munsch’s visit came out. 

It was not quite as raucous as the story suggests — a handful of friends, not the whole school, showed up. And during a quiet moment, her dad walked over. 

“He said ‘You should ask Mr. Munsch if he could tell you a story.’ And I was like, ‘Mmmm, I'm not going to do that. I'm way too shy.’”

Green, left, shown in her Grade 1 photo, which helped artist Michael Martchenko illustrate the book, shown right. (Submitted by Moira Green/Annick Press)

But a friend did it for her, she said. The author recalls that he couldn’t refuse.

“Sometimes when a kid asks me to make up a story, I get this strange feeling that something is going to happen,” Munsch wrote of the experience. “I look out at a group of kids and get this firm conviction that I can tell a new story about a particular kid. 

“Usually, it’s not true, but I do always try a new story when I get the feeling.”

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Green was just as surprised, as she had assumed he would retell a previous story.

“But he came over … sat down and then he just sort of started telling — making up — the story on the spot: Moira’s Birthday.

Anyone who has heard Munsch perform knows how he revs up a crowd, along with his own volume, asking questions and weaving the answers into his words. 

“Lots of interactions, stopping to talk about the local bakery and, you know, other things from around town and kind of integrate that into the story."

Even before he finished, Munsch said, he knew he had a winner. 

He added Green to his “Story Kids file" and asked if he could stay in touch, both recalled. Illustrator Michael Martchenko followed up, looking for pictures of the family, their green house and even the dog.  

The Green family's home, shown here in the 1980s, in Hay River, N.W.T. It became part of the iconic story. (Submitted by Moira Green)

“We heard later that he had continued to tell that story,” Green said, “kind of fine-tuning it and shaping it as he does by telling it to the kids and gauging their reaction."

When Munsch sent her an early draft, Green saw the story had evolved.

In the first rendition, she had received money in all of her presents. And she said she used the money to either pay for the massive order of pizza and cake — or paid her guests to help clean up.

"There was a little bit of a difference in how the story kind of tied up.”

In the published version, Moira’s beleaguered parents look at the destruction of their home. Then, the birthday girl announces that anyone who helps clean up will get one of her (many, many) presents. Within minutes, the house is spotless. 

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Reconnecting as an adult

Green and the author stayed in touch, exchanging Christmas cards, letters and signed copies of new books.

“Sometimes, he would even send manuscripts of a potential story, asking for feedback,” she said. “It was kind of a neat world to be a part of at that point — you sort of joined the Robert Munsch family."

Each of Munsch’s books — which have sold more than 90 million copies in North America alone — is dedicated to the child who inspired it. Several feature his own children: Tyya, Andrew and Julie. In fact, Julie’s decision to invite far more kids than she was allowed to contributed to the narrative behind Moira’s Birthday, the author writes.

Others, like Green, continued corresponding with Munsch — like Gah-Ning Tang, the protagonist in Where is Gah-Ning, whose letters spanned more than 30 years, leading her to eventually refer to the author and his wife as uncle and aunt, she told CBC’s Day 6 in a 2025 interview. 

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Green lost touch shortly after university, she said.

Then, as a young mother in Saskatoon, she saw that Munsch was coming into town for a performance. She brought her daughter and reconnected with him afterward.

“He spent some time with us and was thrilled,” Green said. They exchanged contact information and he got in touch before his next trip to the city. 

Green loved reading her copies of Munsch’s books to her four children, though “mine wasn’t necessarily their favourite,” she said, laughing.

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As she celebrates her 49th birthday this month, she recalls being a shy kid who didn’t always appreciate the attention. 

Now, though, she said she “can recognize the cool factor” in all of it.