Novels

Referencing a classic Haida oral narrative, this stunning full-colour graphic novel documents the powerful story of Red, a leader so blinded by revenge that he leads his community to the brink of war and destruction.

Set in the islands off the northwest coast of B.C., it tells the tale of orphan Red and his sister, Jaada. When raiders attack their village, Red, still a boy, escapes dramatically. But Jaada is whisked away. The loss of Jaada breeds a seething anger, and Red sets out to find his sister and exact revenge on her captors.

Red blends traditional Haida imagery into a Japanese manga-styled story. Tragic and timeless, it is reminiscent of such classic stories as Oedipus Rex, Macbeth and King Lear.

This innovation in contemporary storytelling consists of 108 pages of hand-painted illustrations. When arranged in a specific order, the panels of the narrative create a Haida formline image four metres long. The sequence for this complex design is displayed on the inside jacket.

Educator & Series Information
Haida manga is a contemporary style of Haida comics and print cartoons that explores the elements of both traditional North Pacific Indigenous arts and narrative, while also adapting contemporary techniques of artistic design from the western portion of the North Pacific, namely the Japanese manga from which its name derives.

This book is available in French: Red: Un manga haïda 

Additional Information
120 pages | 8.00" x 8.75"

The year is 1870, and the last great smallpox epidemic is sweeping the prairies. After witnessing the death of his entire family, White Cloud, a young Plains Cree boy, summons the strength to deliver himself from the terrible disease and journey to a new home. Readers also reconnect with Edwin, a lost young man on his own quest who must summon his own courage and travel to confront the main source of his own despair.

Educator Informaiton
Scars is Book 2 in the graphic-novel series 7 Generations.

7 Generations is an epic, 4-book graphic novel series by David Alexander Robertson that spans three centuries and seven generations. The central character in the series is Edwin. Edwin, an Indigenous teenager, must learn of his family’s past if he is to have any future. The impact of his journey of discovery, and the revelation that follows, will change his life.

The stories that run through 7 Generations explore the following historical concepts:

• Social customs
• Political structures
• Plains Cree culture
• Spiritual practices and rituals

Recommended for grades 9–12.

Books in this series include:
Book 1: Stone 
Book 2: Scars
Book 3: Ends/Begins
Book 4: The Pact

This resource is also available in French: 7 Générations: Volume 2.

Additional Information
30 pages | 6.50" x 10.00"

Stone introduces Edwin, a young man who must discover his family's past if he is to have any future. Edwin learns of his ancestor Stone, a young Plains Cree man, who came of age in the early 19th century. Following a vision quest, Stone aspires to be like his older brother, Bear, a member of the Warrior Society. But when Bear is tragically killed during a Blackfoot raid, Stone, the best shot and rider in his encampment, must overcome his grief and avenge his brother's death. Only then can he begin a new life with his bride, Nahoway. It is Stone's story that drives Edwin to embark on his own quest.

Educator & Series Information
Stone is the first book in the graphic novel series, 7 Generations. 7 Generations is an epic, 4-book graphic novel series by David Alexander Robertson that spans three centuries and seven generations. The central character in the series is Edwin. Edwin, an Indigenous teenager, must learn of his family’s past if he is to have any future. The impact of his journey of discovery, and the revelation that follows, will change his life.

The stories that run through 7 Generations explore the following historical concepts:

• Social customs
• Political structures
• Plains Cree culture
• Spiritual practices and rituals

Recommended for grades 9–12.

Books in this series include:
Book 1: Stone 
Book 2: Scars
Book 3: Ends/Begins
Book 4: The Pact

This resource is also available in French as 7 Générations: Volume 1.

Additional Information
30 pages | 6.50" x 10.00"

In his first new fiction since winning the National Book Award for The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, best-selling author Sherman Alexie delivers a virtuoso collection of tender, witty, and soulful stories that expertly capture modern relationships from the most diverse angles. War Dances brims with Alexie’s poetic and revolutionary prose, and reminds us once again why he ranks as one of our country’s finest writers.

With bright insight into the minds of artists, entrepreneurs, fathers, husbands, and sons, Alexie populates his stories with average men on the brink of exceptional change: In the title story, a son recalls his father’s “natural Indian death” from alcohol and diabetes, just as he learns that he himself may have a brain tumor; “The Ballad of Paul Nonetheless,” dissects a vintage clothing store owner’s failing marriage and courtship of a Puma-clad stranger in airports across the country; and “Breaking and Entering” recounts a film editor’s fateful confrontation with an thieving adolescent.

Brazen and wise War Dances takes us to the heart of what it means to be human. The new beginnings, successes, mistakes, and regrets that make up our daily lives are laid bare in this wide-ranging new work that is quintessential

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208 pages | 5.50" x 8.25"

"Spotting her target, the lady in uniform took Gmiwan by the arm and began to shuffle him toward Mary. Mary gave herself a shake to break the spell, and with Sonny pasted to her side, took a few steps forward. Obviously something had happened to Gmiwan."

Moving back through three decades, through World War II, the Depression and years spent in the horrific residential Mohawk Institute, Where Mary Went is the first half of a two-volume work of a brilliant and compelling new First Nations storyteller. This is the story of Mary Fisher, an engaging young girl who turns into a tough yet tender young wife and mother. It is also the story of the men in her life: her father, a proud and gentle man who loses his children through no fault of his own; her husband Gmiwan, a sensitive artist not made for the rigors of war; and Tom Dunsby, the mayor of Jackson, whose unrequited love for Mary knows no bounds. Tender, tragic and beautifully poignant, set against the backdrop of fears of displacement, hunger and death, Where Mary Went is a sensual novel of relationships that offers up inspiring revelations, heart-breaking twists and boundless expression of spirit.

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Set on and around a North Dakota Ojibwe reservation, Love Medicine—the first novel by bestselling, National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich—is the epic story about the intertwined fates of two families: the Kashpaws and the Lamartines.

With astonishing virtuosity, each chapter draws on a range of voices to limn its tales. Black humor mingles with magic, injustice bleeds into betrayal, and through it all, bonds of love and family marry the elements into a tightly woven whole that pulses with the drama of life.

Filled with humor, magic, injustice and betrayal, Erdrich blends family love and loyalty in a stunning work of dramatic fiction.

Michael O'Reilly is the shortest kid on the lacrosse team, and the youngest. He doesn't play rough, and everyone says he's not tough enough for the sport. When tension breaks out between teams and one team accuses the other of racist behavior, Michael realizes that he is tough after all -- he's the only one brave enough to speak the truth.

Reviews
"...lacrosse fans will enjoy the action, and those not familiar with the sport will benefit from the brief, appended description." — Todd Morning, Booklist, June 2010

Additional Information
144 pages | 5.00" x 7.75"

Louis Nolette, a fifteen-year-old Abenaki Indian from Canada, is recruited to fight in the northern Irish Brigade in the Civil War. Though he is too young, and neither American nor Irish, he finds the promise of good wages and the fight to end slavery persuasive enough to join up. But war is never what you expect, and as Louis fights his way through battles, he encounters prejudice and acceptance, courage and cowardice, and strong and weak leadership in the most unexpected places.

When the Edmonton Oil Kings discover that Reuben Reuben has a hockey game as unforgettable as his name and his Inuit heritage, life changes in a hurry for him and his best friend Gear. A wealthy businessman sponsors a three-on-three pond-hockey tour across the western Arctic, and Reuben and Gear find out more than they ever bargained for about teamwork, about the North and about a dangerous family secret.

Educator & Series Information
This book is part of the Orca Sports series. Orca Sports stories engage middle-schoolers and teens with fast-paced plots and easy-to-read language. Topics include a variety of team and individual sports. Reading levels from grade 2.0 to 4.5; Interest level ages 10+.

Fry Reading Level: 4.1

Additional Information
240 pages | 4.25" x 7.00"

In One Native Life, Wagamese looks back down the road he has travelled in reclaiming his identity and talks about the things he has learned as a human being, a man and an Ojibway in his fifty-two years. Whether he's writing about playing baseball, running away with the circus, attending a sacred bundle ceremony or meeting Pierre Trudeau, he tells these stories in a healing spirit. Through them, he celebrates the learning journey his life has been.

Free of rhetoric and anger despite the horrors he has faced, Wagamese’s prose resonates with a peace that has come from acceptance. Acceptance is an Aboriginal principle, and he has come to see that we are all neighbours here. One Native Life is his tribute to the people, the places and the events that have allowed him to stand in the sunshine and celebrate being alive.

Reviews
"One Native Life contains sixty-five stories that are divided into four books: Ahki (Earth), Ishskwaday (Fire),Nibi (Water), andIshpiming (Universe). From this diverse selection emerge accounts not only of disappointment and racial discrimination but also of the transformative power of love and caring." - Sean Carleton, The British Columbia Quarterly

Educator Information
Suggested Grades: 9-12
ABPBC

Grades 10-12 BC English First Peoples Resource for units on First Peoples' Story and Place-Conscious Learning.

Additional Information
272 pages | 5.63" x 8.75"

James Nathan and Jake Noland have been best friends for their entire lives. Like most residents in their small northern Gwich’in community, they like to get drunk, get high and sleep around. It helps them forget the past—a horrific past full of painful memories. At times just one bullet to the temple away from a self-inflicted death, James and Jake fumble through life, tormented and haunted by the demons of their residential school abuse.

The decision by one man to publicly disclose his abuse causes upheaval within the community and forces other victims to consider their options: either share their secret and begin healing, or maintain their silence and suffer alone. Raw and gripping, Porcupines and China Dolls is impossible to put down.

Educator Information
Resource for English First Peoples 11-12.

Additional Information
312 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"

Four chronically homeless people–Amelia One Sky, Timber, Double Dick and Digger–seek refuge in a warm movie theatre when a severe Arctic Front descends on the city. During what is supposed to be a one-time event, this temporary refuge transfixes them. They fall in love with this new world, and once the weather clears, continue their trips to the cinema. On one of these outings they meet Granite, a jaded and lonely journalist who has turned his back on writing “the same story over and over again” in favour of the escapist qualities of film, and an unlikely friendship is struck.

A found cigarette package (contents: some unsmoked cigarettes, three $20 bills, and a lottery ticket) changes the fortune of this struggling set. The ragged company discovers they have won $13.5 million, but none of them can claim the money for lack of proper identification. Enlisting the help of Granite, their lives, and fortunes, become forever changed.

Ragged Company is a journey into both the future and the past. Richard Wagamese deftly explores the nature of the comforts these friends find in their ideas of “home,” as he reconnects them to their histories.

Additional Information
384 pages | 5.20" x 7.99"

In his first book for young adults, bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.

Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author's own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings by Ellen Forney that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he was destined to live.

Educator Information
Recommended Grades: 7-12.

Resource for English First Peoples 10-12.

Caution: This text has some mature language.

Additional Information
288 pages | 5.50" x 8.25"

After living in the city for years, Sandy Lafond returns to her childhood home at the Watishka First Nation reserve to care for her ailing Aunt Emma. Little has changed since she left, a young teen has just committed suicide, a local gang menaces the area, the community is splintered and dysfunctional, and the Métis youth are left restless and frustrated.

Sandy realizes that she needs to do something to unite everyone once more, so she proposes to start a junior hockey team. At first she is met with great resistance first from the band council and then from the team itself, who can barely stop fighting long enough to play hockey.

Drawing on her own past, Sandy steps in as coach and tries to reign in the star player, hot-headed Jeffrey Lambert, a 14-year-old hockey prodigy who just can't seem to stay out of trouble.

Sandy struggles to keep the team and the community together despite crippling odds and the ever-present gang lurking in the background.

And Jeffrey faces a decision that could affect the fate of the team, and his own life.

Additional Information
168 pages | 5.50" x 8.50"

Taylor's powerful, haunting and incredibly entertaining stories in Fearless Warrior are a full frontal assault on stereotypes of all kinds--an edifying affirmation of humanity unlike anything else. More than anything else, these stories shine with a wisdom, an understanding of the human condition, that is rare among writers courageous enough to take on these themes.

Internationally acclaimed as a playwright, screen-writer, comic and sardonic commentator on the endless gaffs, absurdities and the profound and painful misunderstandings that continue to characterize social interactions between aboriginal and non-aboriginal peoples, Taylor’s stories in Fearless Warriors are a full frontal assault on stereotypes of all kinds and an edifying affirmation of humanity unlike anything else in fiction.

Each of these stories is as remarkably different in terms of its unique narrative tone, origin and direction, as are the characters of his plays, making Taylor’s singular collection of fictions quite intentionally much more than the sum of their parts. By degrees dramatic, shocking, tender, chilling, affirmative and tragic, each story takes on a different cliché or “common sense understanding” of inter-racial and inter-cultural relations, all of them suffused with the incomparable wit, gentle and generous humour, mercilessly critical edge and profound emotional empathy of a master story-teller.

No quarter is given, nor is it taken—Native stereotypes of White culture are as fair a species of game for this writer as any other. Ultimately, each of these narratives becomes a bridge of understanding between cultures, giving its readers access to the seemingly inexplicable actions of characters at the distant edges of our imaginations—even just one of these stories, “The Boy in the Ditch,” does more to illuminate the tragedy of the pre-teen gasoline sniffing culture of Davis Inlet than any number of Royal Commissions will ever do.

Educator Information
Grades 10-12 BC English First Peoples resource for the units How Do We Define Ourselves and Place Conscious Learning - Exploring Texts through Local Landscape.

Additional Information
192 pages | 5.50" x 8.50"