Browse Books for Adults

When Lucas Smoke learns the Ojibway art of carving from his grandfather, he proves to be a natural. He can literally make people come to life in wood. Then Lucas's growing reputation attracts a mysterious stranger, who offers him a large advance to carve a spirit mask.
This mask is to represent the master, but Lucas must find its face in his dreams. As his dreams become more and more disturbing, he feels himself changing. And the mask takes control of his life. Then a chance encounter with an old woman introduces him to the identity of the master. He is an ancient sorcerer named Him Standing, a powerful and dark wizard. The more Lucas works on the mask, the closer Him Standing comes to emerging from the dream world to walk the earth again. What follows is a race against time and the forces of evil in this supernatural thriller.

Jenny dealt with the stress by forgiving her mom -- over and over and over again.

This collection of ten true stories is based on interviews with people who, in their youth, lived with an addicted parent or sibling. The subjects speak honestly about what it was like to grow up with a family member addicted to alcohol, drugs, food, pills, or gambling.

While describing how they managed to care for themselves and younger siblings, as well as the addicted family member, interviewees also touch on the topics of depression, social stigma, coming out gay or transgendered, and the health problems caused by addiction and stress.

The maturity, sensitivity, and even the sense of humor in these accounts will give teens going through similar situations the important realization that they are not alone and that there are many ways to break free from the chains of others' addictions and to move on positively with one's own life.

It's estimated that 1 in 8 Americans struggles with addiction to drugs or alcohol. Hooked is an excellent resource for both kids and adults affected by the addiction of friends and family members.

Ages 12 - 18

In a time when darkness covered the land, a boy named Weget is born who is destined to bring the light. With the gift of a raven's skin that allows him to fly as well as transform, Weget turns into a bird and journeys from Haida Gwaii into the sky. There he finds the Chief of the Heavens who keeps the light in a box. By transforming himself into a pine needle, clever Weget tricks the Chief and escapes with the daylight back down to Earth.

Vividly portrayed through the art of Roy Henry Vickers, Weget's story has been passed down for generations. The tale has been traced back at least 3,000 years by archeologists who have found images of Weget's journey in petroglyphs on the Nass and Skeena rivers. This version of the story originates from one told to the author by Chester Bolton, Chief of the Ravens, from the village of Kitkatla around 1975.


Roy Henry Vickers is a renowned carver, painter and printmaker whose Eagle Aerie Gallery in Tofino, BC, has become a provincial landmark. In 1998, Roy was appointed to the Order of British Columbia and in 2006, the Order of Canada, and has received the Queen's Golden and Diamond Jubilee Medals. He currently lives in Hazelton, BC.


Robert Budd (known as Lucky) is the host of the CBC radio series Voices of BC. Holding an MA in history, he has digitized many high profile oral history collections including that of the Nisga'a First Nation. He is the author of the book Voices of British Columbia, which was shortlisted for the 2011 Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award, and currently lives in Victoria, BC.

1 2 3 Kindergarten is a down-to-earth, practical guide to help parents, caregivers and educators ensure children's readiness for kindergarten. Written by a kindergarten teacher and parent, this award-winning book, has tips, explanations, short-cuts and fun. It includes ideas that use resources already available at home or in child care centers and strategies to incorporate learning time into busy, active days. An easy-to-use developmental checklist and rating scale, guidance for the this-year-or-next-year debate, and suggestions for home-school transition make this a birth-to-kindergarten resource.

Whether writing a blog entry or a high-stakes essay, fiction or nonfiction, short story or argument, students need to know certain essentials in order to write effectively. This straightforward book focuses on developing concepts and application of ten key aspects of good writing -- motio, models, focus, detail, form, frames, cohesion, energy, words, and clutter. It provides dozens of strong model texts, both fiction and nonfiction, that will help young writers learn what is possible, and experiment with the strategies professional writers use. The book also provides mini-lessons, mentor texts, writing process strategies, and classroom tips that will motivate students to confidently and competently take on any writing task.

Coming in October 2011!

In recognition of the centenary of the North-West Rebellion in May 1985, the Native Studies Department at the University of Saskatchewan hosted a conference on the theme "1885 and After." The conference drew a wide audience, including Native and non-Native scholars who met to reassess the processes leading to the conflict in 1885 and the impact of the Rebellion on Native society and on the North-West.


The eighteen papers included in this volume have been arranged in two sections. The first deals with the events leading up to and including the outbreak of hostilities, while the second focusses on the transition of Native society following 1885.

Traditional North American Native peoples' cuisine has existed for centuries, but its central tenet of respecting nature and its bounty have never been as timely as they are now. Andrew George, of the Wet'suwet'en Nation in Canada, is a well-respected aboriginal chef and instructor who has spent the last twenty-five years promoting the traditions of First Nations food. In A Feast for All Seasons, written with Robert Gairns, he has compiled aboriginal recipes that feature ingredients from the land, sea, and sky, elements of an enduring cuisine that illustrate respect for the environment and its creatures, and acknowledgment of the spiritual power that food can have in our lives. The 120 recipes include delectable, make-at home dishes such as Salmon and Fiddlehead Stirfry, Stuffed Wild Duck, Barbecued Oysters, Pan-fried Rabbit with Wild Cranberry Glaze, Clam Fritters, and Wild Blueberry Cookies. The book also features recipes with exotic ingredients that provide a fascinating glimpse into the history of Native cuisine: Moose Chili, Boiled Porcupine, Smoked Beaver Meat, and Braised Bear. This unique cookbook pays homage to an enduring food culture?grounded in tradition and the power of nature?that transcends the test of time.

With more than 300 photos, this new edition shows how to identify more than 500 healing plants. Descriptive text includes information on where the plants are found, as well as their known medicinal uses. An index to medical topics, symbols next to plant descriptions, and organization of plants by colors all make this an essential guide to understanding the traditional medicinal uses of the plants around us. At a time when interest in herbs and natural medicine has never been higher, the second edition of this essential guide shows how to identify more than five hundred kinds of healing plants. More than three hundred new color photos illustrate their flowers, leaves, and fruits. The updated descriptive text includes information on where the plants are found as well as their known medicinal uses. An index to medical topics is helpful for quickly locating information on specific ailments, from asthma and headaches to colds and stomachaches. Symbols next to plant descriptions give readers a quick visual alert to plants that are poisonous or may cause allergic reactions. Organized by plant color for fast identification, this guide is an indispensable tool for understanding the traditional medicinal uses of the plants and herbs around us.

The United Native Friendship Centre Literacy Program has developed this workbook for the adult learner to use.

The workbook contains basic information about the Ojibwe culture and lifestyles specific to the Rainy River District. All of the information was obtained from the Ojibwe people in the Treaty #3 area.

There are exercises that the adult learner can use to test his/her knowledge of information he/she has read. The adult learner can also try the literacy exercises within the workbook to test his/her knowledge of the English language.

The workbook also contains local First Nation recipes, Ojibwe words and stories for the reader’s enjoyment.

This mini book is not meant to be accusatory, but is designed to put the basic facts/ truths down in simple words and design, providing an Aboriginal primer.

A is for assimilation, although blunt in its approach, is aimed at teens and anyone who isn’t familiar with the basic history of the nation’s First People.

“I am going to tell you how we are treated. I am always hungry.” — Edward B., a student at Onion Lake School (1923)

“[I]f I were appointed by the Dominion Government for the express purpose of spreading tuberculosis, there is nothing finer in existence than the average Indian residential school.” — N. Walker, Indian Affairs Superintendent (1948)

For over 100 years, thousands of Aboriginal children passed through the Canadian residential school system. Begun in the 1870s, it was intended, in the words of government officials, to bring these children into the “circle of civilization,” the results, however, were far different. More often, the schools provided an inferior education in an atmosphere of neglect, disease, and often abuse.

Using previously unreleased government documents, historian John S. Milloy provides a full picture of the history and reality of the residential school system. He begins by tracing the ideological roots of the system, and follows the paper trail of internal memoranda, reports from field inspectors, and letters of complaint. In the early decades, the system grew without planning or restraint. Despite numerous critical commissions and reports, it persisted into the 1970s, when it transformed itself into a social welfare system without improving conditions for its thousands of wards. A National Crime shows that the residential system was chronically underfunded and often mismanaged, and documents in detail and how this affected the health, education, and well-being of entire generations of Aboriginal children.

A New Vision Guiding Aboriginal Literacy is the follow-up to Vision Guiding Native Literacy that was published over a dozen years ago. This book will explore themes and criteria for best practices that many have found contribute to success in literacy for Aboriginal learners across Canada. It highlights some unique definitions of Aboriginal literacy that have been developed by different groups and projects across Canada.

By providing examples of successful literacy initiatives and factors that have contributed to their success, other literacy workers can use this information to start a new literacy program in their own community or try new tactics within an existing program.

Marilyn Dumont's Metis heritage offers her challenges that few of us welcome. Here she turns them to opportunities: in a voice that is fierce, direct, and true, she explores and transcends the multiple boundaries imposed by society on the self. She mocks, with exasperation and sly humour, the banal exploitation of Indianness, more-Indian-than-thouoneupmanship, and white condescension and ignorance.

This superbly researched, groundbreaking historical atlas presents a history of the civilization and territory of the Stó:l?, a First Nations people. Through words, archival photographs, and 86 full-color maps, the book details the mythic beginnings of the Stó:l? people and how white settlement turned their homeland into the bustling metropolis of Vancouver. An important document packed with fascinating information, the atlas also makes a significant contribution to cross-cultural understanding.

A seminal collection of Haida myths and legends; now in a gorgeous new package.

The linguist and ethnographer John Swanton took dictation from the last great Haida-speaking storytellers, poets and historians from the fall of 1900 through the summer of 1901. Together they created a great treasury of Haida oral literature in written form.

Having worked for many years with these century-old manuscripts, linguist and poet Robert Bringhurst brings both rigorous scholarship and a literary voice to the English translation of John Swanton's careful work. He sets the stories in a rich context that reaches out to dozens of native oral literatures and to myth-telling traditions around the globe.

Attractively redesigned, this collection of First Nations oral literature is an important cultural record for future generations of Haida, scholars and other interested readers. It won the Edward Sapir Prize, awarded by the Society for Linguistic Anthropology, and it was chosen as the Literary Editor's Book of the Year by the Times of London.

Bringhurst brings these works to life in the English language and sets them in a context just as rich as the stories themselves one that reaches out to dozens of Native American oral literatures, and to mythtelling traditions around the world.