Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2018/19
Created by ABPBC on November 8, 2018
Being Ts'elxwéyeqw
The traditional territory of the Ts'elxwéyeqw First Nation covers over 95,000 hectares of land in Southwestern BC. It extends throughout the central Fraser Valley, encompassing the entire Chilliwack River Valley (including Chilliwack Lake, Chilliwack River, Cultus Lake and areas, and parts of the Chilliwack municipal areas). In addition to being an area of natural beauty and abundant resources, it also has a rich cultural history. The Chilliwack region gets its name from the Ts’elxwéyeqw tri …
“Our stories identify for us the land which surrounds us and tie us to our ancestors. We find ourselves inextricably linked to the past, to the land, to the river, to each other, to the future.”
—Shirley Hardman, contributor
Black Chuck
Psycho. Sick. Dangerous. Réal Dufresne's reputation precedes him.
When the mangled body of his best friend, Shaun, turns up in a field just east of town, tough-as-hell Réal blames himself. But except for the nightmares, all Ré remembers is beating the living crap out of Shaun the night of his death. Shaun's girlfriend, sixteen-year-old Evie Hawley, keeps her feelings locked up tight. But now she's pregnant, and the father of her baby is dead. And when Réal looks to her to atone for his sins, …
Blackbird Song
Drawing deeply from his Cree ancestors and equally from European and Asian traditions, Randy Lundy offers an exquisite series of meditations on memory, evanescence, and the land. This is the mind of prayer, a seeing and re-seeing of the immense cyclic beauty of the earth.
“What meditative power there is in Blackbird Song, what pure acts of attention and remembrance.”—Don McKay, author of Strike/Slip
“Lundy’s poems carry the immediacy and radiance and intelligence of the lived world itsel …
The Break
Winner of the Amazon.ca First Novel Award and a finalist for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the Governor General’s Literary Award, The Break is a stunning and heartbreaking debut novel about a multigenerational Métis–Anishnaabe family dealing with the fallout of a shocking crime in Winnipeg’s North End.
When Stella, a young Métis mother, looks out her window one evening and spots someone in trouble on the Break — a barren field on an isolated strip of land outside her hou …
Clouds
In this brave first book, Lucy Haché transports the reader with intimate revelations on self-awareness and identity by exploring both her personal and ancestral relationship to the sea, forest and sky. Through skilled restraint and beautifully astute description, Haché's prose reaches past her own contemplation to connect us all. Masterfully illustrated by artist Michael Joyal, his stunning and meteorologically accurate cloud drawings contribute to the overall sensory and transcendent experien …
Coyote Tales
Two tales, set in a time “when animals and human beings still talked to each other,” display Thomas King’s cheeky humor and master storytelling skills. Freshly illustrated and reissued as an early chapter book, these stories are perfect for newly independent readers.
In Coyote Sings to the Moon, Old Woman and the animals sing to the moon each night. Coyote attempts to join them, but his voice is so terrible they beg him to stop. He is crushed and lashes out — who needs Moon anyway? Furiou …
Excerpt from Coyote Sings to the Moon:
One evening, Coyote hears Old Woman and the animals singing to the moon.
“Pardon me,” says Coyote, smiling his Coyote smile. “Exactly what are you doing?”
“We’re singing to the moon,” says Old Woman.
“Well,” says Coyote, taking out his comb and brushing his coat, checking his teeth with his tongue, and wiping his nose on his arm. “What you need is a good tenor.”
“No! No!” shout all the animals. “You have a terrible singing voice!”
“Yes,” says Old Woman. “Your voice could scare Moon away.”
“Hummph,” says Coyote, whose feelings are hurt. “Why would anyone want to sing to Moon, anyway?”
Excerpt from Coyote’s New Suit:
Just then Bear came out of the woods, all hot and sweaty. She took off her bear suit, folded it up neatly and left it on a large, flat rock.
“Wheeeeeee!” she shouted as she hopped into the pond. She waved her arms and kicked her legs and splashed water all over the place.
“Now that’s a suit,” said Raven, eyeing Bear’s suit as it lay on the rock. “I don’t believe I’ve seen a suit like that in my entire life.” And she flew away.
But she didn’t go far.
“Hummmph!” grumped Coyote. “What does Raven know about fashion?”
But he had to admit that Bear’s suit did look substantial. When no one was looking, he tiptoed over and held the suit up to the light, rubbing his nose in the thick fur.
“It’s not as classy as my suit, but it certainly is impressive.”
Then Coyote had an idea. It wasn’t a good idea, but then most of Coyote’s ideas weren’t.
A Day with Yayah
Set in the Okanagon, BC, a First Nations family goes on an outing to forage for herbs and mushrooms. Grandmother passes down her knowledge of plant life to her young grandchildren.
Death by Dinosaur
Fourteen-year-old Sam Stellar and her cousin Paige have decided to spend the summer working at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta, as part of the Summer Studies and Work Experience Program. While not the ideal scenario for a summer vacation, both girls try to make the best of it: Paige, a whiz with the computers in the IT department, has one eye on her work and the other on the adorable assistant helping out in the museum, while Sam, a wannabe detective (who has stu …
