His "best-loved" novel is Who Has Seen the Wind (1947), which portrays life on the Canadian Prairies from the point of view of a small boy and sold almost a million copies in Canada.

An author of novels, short stories, and plays, Mitchell is best known for his 1947 novel, Who Has Seen The Wind, which has sold close to a million copies in North America,[1] and the radio series and later a collection of short stories 1961, Jake and the Kid, which subsequently won the Stephen Leacock Award.

While residing in Toronto, Mitchell created Jake and the Kid, a weekly radio series for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation whose 320 episodes ran from 1950 to 1956.

The list of other honours Mitchell has received includes honorary doctorates from five Canadian universities and being sworn in as a Member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada on November 5, 1992.

Canadian actor Donald Sutherland quoted the following excerpt from Who Has Seen the Wind at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.