Literacy

A Vital Resource to Preserve, Teach, and Live the Bush Cree Language

Reading and Writing Bush Cree is a heartfelt, practical, and approachable guide for fluent speakers and Cree language educators who want to learn to read and write sakâw nîhiyawîwin—Bush Cree, or the Northern Y dialect. Written by Connie Twin, a first-language speaker from Bigstone Cree Nation in northern Alberta, and Tanya Fontaine, a dedicated Cree language learner and educator, this book bridges oral fluency with written literacy to support language preservation and revitalization.

Through personal stories and cultural insight, the authors guide readers into the structure of Cree grammar and the use of Standard Roman Orthography (SRO). With clear examples of both fluent and full written forms, this book also sheds light on how Cree sounds are represented in writing and highlights important differences between Northern and Southern Y dialects.

This is more than a how-to book—it’s a call to keep sakâw nîhiyawîwin alive for future generations.

Features

• A first-language speaker’s perspective on learning to read and write Cree
• Focus onsakâw nîhiyawîwin (Bush Cree / Northern Y dialect)
• A step-by-step introduction to Standard Roman Orthography (SRO) and syllabics
• Need-to-know basics of Cree reading, writing, grammar, and Y dialect variation

Additional Information
116 pages | 6" x 9" | Paperback 

Explore Native American culture and learn Hand Talk, also known as Plains Indian Sign Language, Plains Sign Talk, and First Nation Sign Language.

In Talking with Hands, professional Native American dancer, storyteller, and educator Mike Pahsetopah reveals the beauty of Plains Indian Sign Language, which was once used as a common language between the Indigenous peoples of the region now generally known as the Great Plains of North America. The language was used for trade, but also for storytelling and by the Deaf community, making it a very common and useful tool in society. Today, only a few native speakers remain.

This beautifully designed book makes practicing Plains Indian Sign Language easy and engaging. Learn the proper positions and motions of this now-rare language with photos and descriptions throughout the pages. Follow along with diagrams to perfect your abilities.

Learn how to use your hands to convey the meanings of over 200 common words. In this detailed guide, you will learn to sign words like:

• Hungry
• Camp
• Evening
• Angry
• Fire
• Owl
• Together
• Brave
• And more

Honor and carry on the culture of the Plains peoples by learning the sign language they shared.

Additional Information
168 pages | 8.30" x 10.35" | 100+ color photos | Paperback

By the celebrated author of Canada Reads Finalist Indian Horse, a stunning new novel that has all the timeless qualities of a classic, as it tells the universal story of a father/son struggle in a fresh, utterly memorable way, set in dramatic landscape of the BC Interior. For male and female readers equally, for readers of Cormac McCarthy, Thomas King, Russell Banks, and general literary.

Franklin Starlight is called to visit his father, Eldon. He's sixteen years old and has had the most fleeting of relationships with the man. The rare moments they've shared haunt and trouble Frank, but he answers the call, a son's duty to a father. He finds Eldon decimated after years of drinking, dying of liver failure in a small town flophouse. Eldon asks his son to take him into the mountains, so he may be buried in the traditional Ojibway manner.

What ensues is a journey through the rugged and beautiful backcountry, and a journey into the past, as the two men push forward to Eldon's end. From a poverty-stricken childhood, to the Korean War, and later the derelict houses of mill towns, Eldon relates both the desolate moments of his life and a time of redemption and love and in doing so offers Frank a history he has never known, the father he has never had, and a connection to himself he never expected.

A novel about love, friendship, courage, and the idea that the land has within it powers of healing, Medicine Walk reveals the ultimate goodness of its characters and offers a deeply moving and redemptive conclusion.

Wagamese's writing soars and his insight and compassion are matched by his gift of communicating these to the reader.

Reviews
“In Medicine Walk, Wagamese manages the nuances of betrayal and redemption with uncommon artistry. It is a breathtaking novel of sorrow, hope and polished steel.” – Thomas King

“A deeply felt and profoundly moving novel, written in the kind of sure, clear prose that brings to mind the work of the great North American masters; Steinbeck among them. But Wagamese's voice and vision are also completely his own, as is the important and powerful story he has to tell.” – Jane Urquhart

“Medicine Walk recounts the mythic journey of an estranged father and son who are searching for reconciliation and love. Richard Wagamese’s novel renders the Canadian wilderness with staggering insight and beauty. The same can be said for his understanding of the fragility, wildness and resilience of the human heart. Magnificent.” – Lisa Moore

“Medicine Walk is a masterpiece, a work of art that explores human interconnectedness with a level of artistry so superb that the personal becomes eternal.” – National Post

“A moving story…. Wagamese balances the novel’s spiritual and political subtexts with sly humour, sharp, believable dialogue and superb storytelling skills. Medicine Walk is a major accomplishment from an author who has become one of Canada’s best novelists.” – Toronto Star

“This is very much a novel about the role of stories in our lives, those we tell ourselves about ourselves and those we agree to live by…. Wagamese understands that the stories we don’t tell are as important as the ones we do….But Medicine Walk is also testament to the redemptive power of love and compassion.” – Globe and Mail

“One of the finest novels of the year…. Medicine Walk is not only a graceful book, it is a novel of grace, of coming to terms with hidden truths, of coming to know the secrets behind forbidding appearances, of finding the humanity within strangers.” – Vancouver Sun

“An essential read…. Superbly written.” – Now Magazine (NNNN)

Educator & Series Information
This edition of Medicine Walk is part of the Kanata Classics series, which celebrates timeless books that reflect the rich and diverse range of voices in Canadian literature. 

Grades 10-12 BC English First Peoples resource for units on Childhood, Place-Conscious Learning, and Family.

Additional Information
256 pages | 5.50" x 8.25" | Paperback 

Stories are alive--and shape our personal and collective identities, for better and worse.

In Everything Is a Story, award-winning Indigenous author Kaitlin B. Curtice considers how stories take root in our lives like an acorn becoming an oak tree. Following a story's life cycle, Curtice explores how narratives shape both our inner lives and broader communities. Which stories should we pass on to future generations--and which can we finally let go?

This book invites readers to explore the power of story to liberate or limit, to build compassion or create division. With gentle insight that speaks to people across the spiritual spectrum, Curtice guides us through the art of storytelling as a path toward healing and connection.

With contemplative poetry woven throughout and a foreword by Simran Jeet Singh, Everything Is a Story offers a hope-filled framework for reshaping our lives by reclaiming stories of courage, wholeness, and deep-rooted compassion.

Reviews
"A beautiful book about the stories that make us who we are and connect us to the earth, the cosmos, and one another."- Eboo Patel, founder and president, Interfaith America; author of We Need to Build: Field Notes for Diverse Democracy

"As most good communicators know, we best understand our world not through data or evidence or reason but mostly through stories. That's why this is such a potentially powerful book for those who read it!" - Bill McKibben, author of Here Comes the Sun

Educator Information
Table of Contents

Foreword by Simran Jeet Singh
As We Begin
Part 1: Seed
1. The Origins of Stories
2. Oak Stories
3. Stories Are Mirrors
4. The Shape of Stories
Part 2: Sprout
5. Gathering Stories
6. Stories of Faith and Religion
7. Returning to Our Body's Stories
8. A Maze of Stories
Part 3: Sapling
9. Stories of Aging and Happiness
10. Stories We Tell About One Another
11. Stories of Myth and Othering
12. Stories of Sports and Exploration
Part 4: Mature Tree
13. Stories Are Labels
14. Stories of Land and Food
15. Stories Told in Public
16. Stories of Belief and Letting Go
Part 5: Dropping Seeds
17. Interfaith, Expansive, Futuristic Stories
18. Merging Stories
19. Stories for Healing
20. The Future of Storytelling

Additional Information
208 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | Hardcover 

The groundbreaking Indigenous style guide every writer needs.

The first published guide to common questions and issues of Indigenous style and process for those who work in words and other media is back in an updated new edition. This trusted resource offers crucial guidance to anyone who works in words or other media on how to work accurately, collaboratively, and ethically on projects involving Indigenous Peoples.

Editor Warren Cariou (Métis) and contributing editors Jordan Abel (Nisga’a), Lorena Fontaine (Cree-Anishinaabe), and Deanna Reder (Cree-Métis) continue the conversation started by the late Gregory Younging in his foundational first edition. This second conversation reflects changes in the publishing industry, Indigenous-led best practices, and society at large, including new chapters on author-editor relationships, identity and community affiliation, Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer identities, sensitivity reading, emerging issues in the digital world, and more.

This guide features:

• Twenty-two succinct style principles.
• Advice on culturally appropriate publishing practices, including how to collaborate with Indigenous Peoples, when and how to seek the advice of Elders, and how to respect Indigenous Oral Traditions and Traditional Knowledge.
• Terminology to use and to avoid.
• Advice on specific editing issues, such as biased language, capitalization, citation, accurately representing Indigenous languages, and quoting from historical sources and archives.
• Examples of projects that illustrate best practices.

Additional Information
208 pages | 5.50" x 7.50" | Paperback

This book features the Stoney Nakoda First Nation language in context and in action. The book contains a collection of stories by Trent and Valentina Fox, with each teaching culminating in a learning section. To assist in nuances of the language, the book also includes audio components as web links. The Îethka Stoney Nakoda People are an integral part of the Treaty 7 group of Indigenous Nations in Southern Alberta. Their spoken language is part of the Dakota-Sioux linguistic group.

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 14 to 18.

Additional Information
144 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback

A Little Plains Cree Book for Children—Teaching Guide contains lesson plans, student assignments, and other helpful information for teaching the Plains Cree language—a companion to nēhiyawēwin awāsimasinahikanis: A Little Plains Cree Book for Children: A Reference for Teaching the Plains Cree Language, the content of which focuses on terms familiar to the First Nations Cree people of Saskatchewan and follows curriculum for Kindergarten to Grade 12.

Educator Information
Find the companion resource here: A Little Plains Cree Book for Children: A Reference for Teaching the Plains Cree Language

A colouring book companion is here: A Little Plains Cree Colouring Book: Plains Cree People

Additional Information
128 pages | 8.50" x 11.00" | Spiral Bound

United States Poet Laureate Joy Harjo gathers the work of more than 160 poets, representing nearly 100 indigenous nations, into the first historically comprehensive Native poetry anthology.

This landmark anthology celebrates the indigenous peoples of North America, the first poets of this country, whose literary traditions stretch back centuries. Opening with a blessing from Pulitzer Prize–winner N. Scott Momaday, the book contains powerful introductions from contributing editors who represent the five geographically organized sections. Each section begins with a poem from traditional oral literatures and closes with emerging poets, ranging from Eleazar, a seventeenth-century Native student at Harvard, to Jake Skeets, a young Diné poet born in 1991, and including renowned writers such as Luci Tapahanso, Natalie Diaz, Layli Long Soldier, and Ray Young Bear. When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through offers the extraordinary sweep of Native literature, without which no study of American poetry is complete.

Reviews
This anthology is revelatory and stunning.… It shows the remarkable strength and diversity of Native poetry, which vitalizes all of American poetry. It is essential reading.—Arthur Sze, National Book Award–winning author of Sight Lines

Additional Information
352 pages | 6.14" x 9.29" | Paperback

Hockey fans will love this action-packed middle-grade novel about teamwork, overcoming adversity, and being proud of who you are and where you come from.

Everything is changing for 11-year-old Alex Robinson. After his father accepts a new job, Alex and his family move from their community to the city. For the first time in his life, he doesn’t fit in. His fellow students don’t understand Indigenous culture. Even a simple show of respect to his teacher gets him in trouble.

Things begin to look up after Alex tries out for a local hockey team. Playing for the Kodiaks, Alex proves himself as one of the best, but he becomes a target because he’s Indigenous. Can Alex trust his teammates and stand up to the jerks on other teams? Can he find a way to fit in and still be who he’s meant to be?

Reviews
“Conflicts that make you think. David expertly weaves entertainment and humour with life lessons—and suggestions for making the world a better place.” — Kevin Sylvester, author/illustrator of The Hockey Super-Six

"Hockey fans will love this action-packed middle grade novel...a really nice addition to the field." — School Library Journal 

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 9 to 12.

This book is part of the Breakout Chronicles series.

Big Ideas: Aspects of Indigenous Cultures, Worldviews, Teachings and Protocols, Contemporary Setting, Diverse and Inclusive Representation, Identity, Social Emotional Learning, Character Education, Courage, Friendship, Self-Esteem and Self-Reliance, Social Justice, Discrimination, Impacts of Colonization and Colonialism, Prejudice and Racism, Bullying, Resilience.

Recommended in the Indigenous Books for Schools catalogue as a valuable resource for English Language Arts in grades 6 to 10.

Content Warning: Racism, stereotypes, culturally offensive language, violence, and bullying

This book is available in French: Les Kodiaks: L'avantage de la glace

Additional Information
184 pages | 5.25" x 8.00" | Paperback

The first comprehensive lexicographic work on Cayuga, an Iroquoian language spoken in southern Ontario at Six Nations of the Grand River, this dictionary, combines the work of Dyck, a professor of linguistics, and Froman, Keye, and Keye, all Cayuga language teachers at Six Nations. It contains over 3000 entries, including 1000 verb forms and many nouns never before printed; extensive cross-referencing, thematic appendices that highlight cultural references and provide 1600 further entries, and a short grammatical sketch complete this accomplished work.

Entries in the main dictionary are organized by bases, which will make the dictionary especially helpful to those learning Cayuga as a second language. The dictionary's accuracy and extensiveness will make it an indispensable reference not only to the Cayuga speaker and student, but also to other Iroquoian speakers, linguists, anthropologists, and historians of Indigenous Peoples.

Produced under the auspices of the Sweetgrass First Nations Language Council Inc.

Reviews
"The first extensive dictionary of Cayuga, this benchmark work documents the language in 3,000 entries and in word lists organized thematically in appendixes ... A valuable tool for linguists of Iroquoian languages and anthropologists, as well as those who study the Cayuga language. Summing up: Highly recommended."— R. Hanson, Choice

"A major milestone in Iroquoian studies and an extremely important tool in the preservation of the Cayuga language."— Blair A. Rudes, Department of English, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Additional Information
786 pages | 6.88" x 9.73" | Paperback

The first book published in Tsuut’ina—a critically endangered language—in over a century!

With fewer than 150 speakers, Tsuut’ina is a critically endangered language. Isúh Áníi / As Grandmother Said brings together nine traditional narratives and historical accounts in the Tsuut’ina language, originally narrated by Elders Dátł’ìshí Ts’ìká Bessie Meguinis (1883–1987) and Ninàghá Tsìtł’á Willie Little Bear (1912–1989). At once an act of language preservation and a learning resource, each story is retold in Tsuut’ina by Dit’óní Didlíshí Dr. Bruce Starlight and is presented with English translations and a Tsuut’ina-to-English glossary.

The narratives included in this collection cover considerable ground, ranging from the creation of the world in the caring hands of Xàlítsa-tsii and his animal helpers, to accounts of separation, migration, and cross-cultural contact that mark major turning points in Tsuut’ina history, and to important cultural and ceremonial items and practices that the Tsuut’ina Nation maintains to this day.

These stories will be of lasting value to Tsuut’ina language learners and teachers, and will share the legacy of Elders Bessie Meguinis and Willie Little Bear with generations of Tsuut’ina to come.

Educator & Series Information
This book is part of the First Nation Language Readers series. With a mix of traditional and new stories, each First Nations Language Reader introduces an Indigenous language and demonstrates how each language is used today. 

Additional Information
186 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | Paperback

Aided by Grandmother Spider, Star Woman discovers the Hole-in-the-Sky, opening a pathway for the Star People to experience the wonder of life on earth. But the world falls into the hands of the Paper People, jeopardizing the sacred harmony between nature and the cosmos. And so Little Spirit, a young boy, must search for meaning and find redemption in the care of Grandmother Moon.

An epic narrative, The Star Poems explores the black hole of colonial history—Residential Schools, the loss of the father, youth suicide—and the vital role of women in reclaiming our traditional knowledge, the teachings that stitch together the fabric of the universe.

The Star Poems creatively engages Cree oral tradition in a new way, connecting Indigenous spirituality and quantum physics to honour and adapt some of our most ancient stories about the origins of life and our place in the universe. Presented in both English and Cree, The Star Poems is a timely contribution to the revitalization of the Cree language—and the fascinating world of star stories.

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 15+

Additional Information
132 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback

Uncover the incredible life story of Germaine Arnattaujuq, a singularly important Inuit artist, in this high interest/low reading level reference book for struggling readers.

Germaine Arnattaujuq is an award-winning Inuit artist. This book tells the story of her life, from growing up at a camp in Nunavut to her education as an artist in Winnipeg and Ottawa and her eventual return to the North. Germaine's incredible drawings, etchings, and illustrations are featured throughout the book, along with archival photographs.

Filled with personal anecdotes and fun facts, this book encourages reluctant readers to discover how Germaine started drawing on gum wrappers as a child and went on to become one of the most well-known artists from the North.

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 12 to 18.

This is a Hi-Lo (high-interest, low readability) book.

Additional Information
60 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Colour Photographs | Paperback

The River Run is the third installment in The Legend of Big Heart series. To fulfill the government's policy to -- destroy the Indian and save the man -- Alfred Swallow and his friends Orson and Junior are forced to leave their families and homes to attend a residential mission school.

The students' beautiful long hair is cut, and they are forbidden to speak their native language. Even the slightest infraction is severely punished. At the height of hopelessness, Alfred gets a ghostly visit from beyond the grave, telling him to run to the river. With a bounty on their heads, Alfred and his friends Orson and Junior plunge into a harrowing quest for freedom.

The boys must rely on their instincts and intelligence as their journey takes them to Sioux City, Iowa. Here they find work at a carnival, but their jobs lead them into the underground world of gangsters and crime, and ultimately to Alfred's missing parents.

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for teens.

This is Book 3 in the The Legend of Big Heart Series. The Legend of Big Heart Series takes place during the early twentieth century amid the forced assimilation of Native tribes into mainstream America. The series features the exciting adventures of young Alfred Swallow as he matures into a man and helps his family survive and prosper on the Lower Brule Lakota Reservation in South Dakota.

This is a work of historical fiction. All incidents, events, dialogue, names, and characters except for some well-known historical figures are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Where real-life historical figures appear, the situations, incidents, and dialogues concerning those persons are fictional and are not intended to depict actual events. In all other respects, any likeness to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

This book is part of the PathFinders series of Hi-Lo (high interest, low readability) novels, which offers the following features:

• Indigenous teen protagonists
• Age-appropriate plots
• Contemporary and historical fiction
• Indigenous authors

The PathFinders series is from an American publisher. Therefore, Indigenous terminology in the PathFinders books is not the same as Canadian Indigenous terminology. This prompts a useful teaching moment for educators in discussing appropriate terminology use in Canada.

Additional Information
160 pages | 4.50" x 7.00" | Paperback

A remarkable and profound collection of reflections by one of North America’s most important Indigenous leaders.

My name is Wa’xaid, given to me by my people. ‘Wa’ is ‘the river’, ‘Xaid’ is ‘good’ – good river. Sometimes the river is not good. I am a Xenaksiala, I am from the Killer Whale Clan. I would like to walk with you in Xenaksiala lands. Where I will take you is the place of my birth. They call it the Kitlope. It is called Xesdu’wäxw (Huschduwaschdu) for ‘blue, milky, glacial water’. Our destination is what I would like to talk about, and a boat – I call it my magic canoe. It is a magical canoe because there is room for everyone who wants to come into it to paddle together. The currents against it are very strong but I believe we can reach that destination and this is the reason for our survival. —Cecil Paul

Who better to tell the narrative of our times about the restoration of land and culture than Wa’xaid (the good river), or Cecil Paul, a Xenaksiala elder who pursued both in his ancestral home, the Kitlope — now the largest protected unlogged temperate rainforest left on the planet. Paul’s cultural teachings are more relevant today than ever in the face of environmental threats, climate change and social unrest, while his personal stories of loss from residential schools, industrialization and theft of cultural property (the world-renowned Gps’golox pole) put a human face to the survivors of this particular brand of genocide.

Told in Cecil Paul’s singular, vernacular voice, Stories from the Magic Canoe spans a lifetime of experience, suffering and survival. This beautifully produced volume is in Cecil’s own words, as told to Briony Penn and other friends, and has been meticulously transcribed. Along with Penn’s biography of Cecil Paul, Following the Good River, Stories from the Magic Canoe provides a valuable documented history of a generation that continues to deal with the impacts of brutal colonization and environmental change at the hands of politicians, industrialists and those who willingly ignore the power of ancestral lands and traditional knowledge.

Reviews
“The Magic Canoe brings peace to one’s soul. It is a warm wind moving our hearts. Wa’xaid takes us on a journey that regenerates and empowers us. T’ismista, the stone hunter, looks down on the Magic Canoe and reminds us to listen to storytellers like Cecil Paul. This is a story for the family of man; we are all in the canoe together and our stories need to be shared with each other.” – Roy Henry Vickers

Educator Information
Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2019-2020 resource list, as well as the 2020-2021 resource list, for grades 9 to 12 for English Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science.

Additional Information
224 pages | 5.00" x 7.00" | Paperback

After his snowmobile breaks down halfway across the sea ice on a trip back from a fishing camp, Serapio Ittusardjuat recounts the traditional skills and knowledge he leaned on to stay alive.

This harrowing first-person account of four nights spent on the open sea ice—with few supplies and no water—shows young readers the determination and strength necessary to survive in the harsh Arctic climate, even when the worst occurs.

Awards

• 2022 Forest of Reading—Silver Birch Express Award

Reviews
"[T]he graphic novel How I Survived is a true story of Arctic survival written by Serapio Ittusardjuat, an Inuk stone carver and former mechanic.... This beautifully designed, highly engaging graphic novel should engross both reluctant readers and those seeking adventure." - Quill & Quire

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 12+

The original hardcover version was included in the Indigenous Books for Schools 2020/2021 resource list as being useful for grades 6 to 9 for English Language Arts and Social Studies.

Additional Information
48 pages | 7.25" x 9.75"

In this final book of the hi-lo Sydney's Journey series, Sydney has at last come to terms with the anguish of being a bully and being bullied herself. But when her boyfriend reveals that he is looking forward to going away to college, another issue arises: Sydney finds herself dealing with deep separation anxiety. She believes he is deserting her--just like her father did. Sydney retreats into herself and pushes her boyfriend and others away. When her best friend points out that her response is not healthy, Sydney decides to attend a Native women's sharing circle with her mother. Here Sydney realizes that the quiet storm troubling her heart can finally be healed.

Reviews
"A well-grounded reluctant reader title exploring the power of relationships." - Kirkus Reviews

Educator & Series Information
The publisher recommends this book for ages 12 to 18.

This book is part of the PathFinders Collection of Indigenous Hi-Lo- novels. Interest level is pre-teen on up. 

The PathFinders series of Hi-Lo (high interest, low readability) novels offers the following features:

• Indigenous teen protagonists
• Age-appropriate plots
• 2.5 – 4.5 Reading Level
• Contemporary and historical fiction
• Indigenous authors

The PathFinders series is from an American publisher. Therefore, Indigenous terminology in the PathFinders books is not the same as Canadian Indigenous terminology. This prompts a useful teaching moment for educators in discussing appropriate terminology use in Canada.

This book is Book 3 in the Sydney's Journey series.

Additional Information
110 pages | 4.70" x 7.20" | Paperback

A Little Plains Cree Book for Children contains useful noun categories, phrases, and some basic rules for the Plains Cree language. Following the themes of the Saskatchewan Curriculum Guide for Kindergarten to Grade 12 on Aboriginal Languages, the content focuses on terms familiar to the First Nations Cree people of Saskatchewan. This book should also be supplemented by total physical response (TPR) methods, in addition to teaching materials such as songs, games, and flash cards. Our hope is to encourage a basic understanding of the language so that learners are able to converse with Plains Cree speakers. The best path to fluency in the Plains Cree language is immersion, but learning one word at a time is a good place to start!

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 5+

A teaching guide can be found here: nēhiyawēwin awāsi-masinahikanis: A Little Plains Cree Book for Children—Teaching Guide

Find a colouring book here: A Little Plains Cree Colouring Book: Plains Cree People

Additional Information
96 pages | 8.50" x 11.00" | Paperback

Yesterday's Rain is the second book in the Sydney's Journey Series. Sydney is still working through her guilt over being a bully at her previous school on the White Earth Reservation. When she accidently takes a punch in the face that was aimed at her gay friend, everyone expects her to fight back, but her response is totally unexpected. Bullies can change, as Sydney proves at her new school. Can Sydney help her best friend heal an old friendship by demonstrating forgiveness?

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for grades 7 to 9.

Fry Reading Level: 4

This book is part of the PathFinders Collection of Indigenous Hi-Lo- novels. Interest level is pre-teen on up. 

The PathFinders series of Hi-Lo (high interest, low readability) novels offers the following features:

• Indigenous teen protagonists
• Age-appropriate plots
• 2.5 – 4.5 Reading Level
• Contemporary and historical fiction
• Indigenous authors

The PathFinders series is from an American publisher. Therefore, Indigenous terminology in the PathFinders books is not the same as Canadian Indigenous terminology. This prompts a useful teaching moment for educators in discussing appropriate terminology use in Canada.

This book is Book 2 in the Sydney's Journey series.

Additional Information
118 pages | 4.50" x 6.75" | Paperback

An unflinching reimagining of Legacy: Trauma, Story, and Indigenous Healing for young adults.

Written specifically for young adults, reluctant readers, and literacy learners, Killing the Wittigo explains the traumatic effects of colonization on Indigenous people and communities and how trauma alters an individual’s brain, body, and behavior. It explores how learned patterns of behavior — the ways people adapt to trauma to survive — are passed down within family systems, thereby affecting the functioning of entire communities. The book foregrounds Indigenous resilience through song lyrics and as-told-to stories by young people who have started their own journeys of decolonization, healing, and change. It also details the transformative work being done in urban and on-reserve communities through community-led projects and Indigenous-run institutions and community agencies. These stories offer concrete examples of the ways in which Indigenous peoples and communities are capable of healing in small and big ways — and they challenge readers to consider what the dominant society must do to create systemic change. Full of bold graphics and illustration, Killing the Wittigo is a much-needed resource for Indigenous kids and the people who love them and work with them.

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 12 to 17.

The adult version of this book can be found here: Legacy: Trauma, Story, and Indigenous Healing

Additional Information
160 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | Paperback

This hi-lo teen novel is filled with excitement. Alfred Swallow meets a wild roan stallion that is not an ordinary horse, but a medicine hat roan stallion that is believed to have special powers. The bond between Alfred and the stallion reaches far into a world of hopes and dreams. It's 1929 and times are hard for Alfred's Lakota family on the Dakota prairie. Alfred knows his grandfather could use a new tractor, so with the help of his friends and the roan stallion, he makes plans to win the prize money at the annual White River Relay Race. But time is short, as the race is just weeks away. Unaware of the dangers that lie ahead, Alfred prepares to train the horse. Even though the odds are against Alfred and his team, something in the grandstand catches his eye on the day of the race, and that changes everything. Can Alfred's determination and prayers carry them through to win?

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for teens.

This is Book 2 in the The Legend of Big Heart Series. The Legend of Big Heart Series takes place during the early twentieth century amid the forced assimilation of Native tribes into mainstream America. The series features the exciting adventures of young Alfred Swallow as he matures into a man and helps his family survive and prosper on the Lower Brule Lakota Reservation in South Dakota.

This is a work of historical fiction. All incidents, events, dialogue, names, and characters except for some well-known historical figures are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Where real-life historical figures appear, the situations, incidents, and dialogues concerning those persons are fictional and are not intended to depict actual events. In all other respects, any likeness to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

This book is part of the PathFinders series of Hi-Lo (high interest, low readability) novels, which offers the following features:

• Indigenous teen protagonists
• Age-appropriate plots
• Contemporary and historical fiction
• Indigenous authors

The PathFinders series is from an American publisher. Therefore, Indigenous terminology in the PathFinders books is not the same as Canadian Indigenous terminology. This prompts a useful teaching moment for educators in discussing appropriate terminology use in Canada.

Additional Information
128 pages | 4.50" x 7.00" | Paperback

Serpents and Other Spiritual Beings is the second book in a series by renowned Ojibwe storyteller Bomgiizhik Isaac Murdoch, following on The Trail of Nenaboozhoo and Other Creation Stories (2019). Serpents and Other Spiritual Beings is a collection of traditional Ojibwe/Anishinaabe stories transliterated directly from Murdoch's oral storytelling. Part history, legend, and mythology, these are stories of tradition, magic and transformation, morality and object lessons, involving powerful spirit-beings in serpent form. The stories appear in both English and Anishinaabemowin, with translations by Patricia BigGeorge. Murdoch's traditional-style Ojibwe artwork provides beautiful illustrations throughout.

Reviews
"'When the Thunderbirds and Serpents fight, they feed off each other, you know great medicine gets cast across the land. We get our life from that.' So writes storyteller Isaac Murdoch as he shares his Elders' stories about tunnels beneath the earth, rich laws, philosophies, teachings, power from up there, down there, and all around us, until we too hear the thunders as they bring us into the world of wahkotowin, all our relations. How privileged and blessed we are to be able to read the Ahtyokaywina of our people."--Maria Campbell, author of Halfbreed

"Gather around, for here are oral stories transcribed so they retain the flavour of a narrative spoken aloud, and translated into Anishinaabemowin; perfect for language-learners. I love the way these stories infuse the spirit world into an every-day context, these are not dusty old legends, but a living way of seeing the world around us in the here and now."--Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler, author of Ghost Lake

Educator & Series Information
Dual-Language: English and Anishinaabemowin.

Anishinaabemowin translation by Patricia BigGeorge, who is an Anishinaabemowin speaker and translator.

This book is Vol. 2 in the Ojibwe History Series.

Additional Information
100 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | 20 illustrations | Paperback 

In this final installation of the Overhead Series, Lucy Hemphill once again transports the reader with intimate revelations on identity by exploring both her personal and ancestral relationship to the forest and the quiet sentinels that root together everything. Hemphill’s prose is extraordinary in its combination of self-awareness yet unselfconscious honesty and skillful restraint, creating a sense of connection under the tangle of foliage and limb that ever-reach skyward. Masterfully illustrated by artist Michael Joyal, his evocative dendrological drawings contribute to the overall sensory and transcendent experience.

Reviews
"Lucy Hemphill has done a marvellous thing. Her book is a passkey that opens a door into the forest of her childhood. Her voice is gentle but direct, the author tells us the story of trees, their gift and our loss if we are not careful. Enhanced with Michael Joyal’s rich illustrations, Hemphill uses her Indigenous language to teach us that trees are our ancestors, living spirits, and as such we are to honour them." – Mary Barnes

Educator & Series Information
This book is part of the Overhead Series.

Additional Information
96 pages | 8.50" x 5.50" | 20 illustrations | Fiction

In 1929, a corrupt land agent used fire and frightening tactics to grab the farm of a Lakota family in Lower Brule, South Dakota.

In 1929 Alfred is eleven years old and has many responsibilities not expected of a young boy. He and his Lakota family are being forced to leave behind their tribal values and traditions and assimilate into mainstream American culture and society. His Lalá (grandfather), has instilled in his grandson many Lakota traditions which Alfred respects, but at times struggles to understand the message they convey. From falling into a den of rattlesnakes, fending off a pack of wolves, to skirmishes with a ruthless land agent and his cronies, this is a page-turner of historical fiction.

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for grades 9 to 12. 

This book has a Fry Reading Level of 6.

This is Book 1 in the The Legend of Big Heart Series. The Legend of Big Heart Series takes place during the early twentieth century amid the forced assimilation of Native tribes into mainstream America. The series features the exciting adventures of young Alfred Swallow as he matures into a man and helps his family survive and prosper on the Lower Brule Lakota Reservation in South Dakota.

This is a work of historical fiction. All incidents, events, dialogue, names, and characters except for some well-known historical figures are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Where real-life historical figures appear, the situations, incidents, and dialogues concerning those persons are fictional and are not intended to depict actual events. In all other respects, any likeness to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

This book is part of the PathFinders series of Hi-Lo (high interest, low readability) novels, which offers the following features:

• Indigenous teen protagonists
• Age-appropriate plots
• Contemporary and historical fiction
• Indigenous authors

The PathFinders series is from an American publisher. Therefore, Indigenous terminology in the PathFinders books is not the same as Canadian Indigenous terminology. This prompts a useful teaching moment for educators in discussing appropriate terminology use in Canada.

Additional Information
118 pages | 4.50" x 6.90" | Paperback

A teenage survival expert finds all of his skills tested as he's pursued through the Canadian wilderness by men determined to silence him. On his way to teach at Camp Seven Generations, a Native outdoor school, Nick witnesses a murder and then is thrown off a train. Remembering and using the teachings of his Abenaki elders will prove to be the difference between life and death for him. Although his pursuers have modern technology to help them, Nick has something even more useful. In addition to the skills he's learned, he has an ally in the natural world around him. Found, like the famous story "The Most Dangerous Game,"is a tale that focuses on being hunted until a way can be found to become the hunter.

Reviews
Review from ALA Booklist: "This high/low adventure is the epitome of an adrenaline rush. It is a terrific survival story packed with fascinating facts (how to cover tracks and hide all evidence of a campsite, what to do if you find yourself in a cave with a bear) and wonderful nods to the Abenaki language and Native American cultural tenants of thanking animals and leaving no trace." — Becca Worthington

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 12+

Fry Reading Level: 4

This book is part of the PathFinders series. The PathFinders series of Hi-Lo (high interest, low readability) novels offers the following features:

• Indigenous teen protagonists
• Age-appropriate plots
• 2.5 – 4.5 Reading Level
• Contemporary and historical fiction
• Indigenous authors

The PathFinders series is from an American publisher. Therefore, Indigenous terminology in the PathFinders books is not the same as Canadian Indigenous terminology. This prompts a useful teaching moment for educators in discussing appropriate terminology use in Canada.

Additional Information
96 pages | 4.50" x 7.00" | Paperback

After a school year of dealing with personal issues, Autumn Dawn is happy that summer is finally here. Autumn plans on visiting her aunt Jessie in Minneapolis before heading back home for the class she needs to attend in order to pass to the next grade.

On the first day of class, Autumn finds herself face-to-face with Sydney, the bully who thinks it is fun to pick on her. What could be worse than that? They are paired together and will be tutoring each other!

Between dealing with Sydney and trying not to notice the new guy in school, who has definitely noticed her, Autumn struggles to accept and embrace the fresh challenges she faces as she learns to believe in herself.

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 12+.

Fry Reading Level: 4 

This book is part of the PathFinders series. The PathFinders series of Hi-Lo (high interest, low readability) novels offers the following features:

• Indigenous teen protagonists
• Age-appropriate plots
• 2.5 – 4.5 Reading Level
• Contemporary and historical fiction
• Indigenous authors

The PathFinders series is from an American publisher. Therefore, Indigenous terminology in the PathFinders books is not the same as Canadian Indigenous terminology. This prompts a useful teaching moment for educators in discussing appropriate terminology use in Canada.

This book is part of the Autumn Dawn Series, a subseries of the PathFinders series.

Additional Information
120 pages | 4.50" x 7.00" | Paperback

Autumn Dawn has learned to deal with her dyslexia and her life is starting to look better, but a horrible accident threatens to change everything. When her mother and brother are crossing a street, they are accidentally hit by a car. Autumn's little brother is okay, but her mother ends up in intensive care. Autumn's father, who had walked away from his family awhile ago, leaving them to fend for themselves, is now back in their lives and trying to make amends. When Autumn's mom is released from the hospital, she still needs help, so Autumn's dad moves back home.

Can Autumn ever forgive her father for leaving his family in the first place, or will she continue to be angry and resentful? Is it possible to trust any male, including her devoted boyfriend?

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 12+.

Fry Reading Level: 4.5

This book is part of the PathFinders Collection of Indigenous Hi-Lo- novels. Interest level is pre-teen on up. 

The PathFinders series of Hi-Lo (high interest, low readability) novels offers the following features:

• Indigenous teen protagonists
• Age-appropriate plots
• 2.5 – 4.5 Reading Level
• Contemporary and historical fiction
• Indigenous authors

The PathFinders series is from an American publisher. Therefore, Indigenous terminology in the PathFinders books is not the same as Canadian Indigenous terminology. This prompts a useful teaching moment for educators in discussing appropriate terminology use in Canada.

This book is also part of the Autumn Dawn Series, a subseries of the PathFinders.

Additional Information
120 pages | 4.50" x 7.00" | Paperback

Davidee has always loved hockey. Lately, though, all he wants to do is play video games. He dreams of playing in the NHL, but how does a kid from Naujaat make the big league?

When Davidee tries out for the Arctic Winter Games and unexpectedly makes the team, he can’t believe his luck. But Davidee is only the backup goalie, and Team Nunavut can’t seem to find their footing. Can Davidee find a way to get the team playing together before the gold medal game?

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 11 to 13.

This is a Hi-Lo book that features an engaging story at an accessible reading level for middle school and high school students.

Fountas & Pinnell Text Level Gradient: R

This book shows the value of working hard, not giving up, and being a good friend and teammate.

Additional Information
72 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"

​Updated and expanded 2nd edition of the national best seller!

First Nations 101 provides a broad overview of the day-to-day lives of Indigenous people, traditional Indigenous communities, colonial interventions used in an attempt to assimilate Indigenous people into mainstream society, the impacts those interventions had on Indigenous families and communities, and how Indigenous people are working towards holistic health and wellness today.

This 2nd edition has over 75 chapters, including new ones on rematriation, water for life, governance ‘options’, Indigenous feminisms, decolonization, (mis)appropriation, Indigenous Knowledge, and how to become a great ally.

Educator Information
Author Lynda Gray’s accessible writing style makes First Nations 101 the perfect primer for all to read. She notes that although governments may encourage and fund reconciliation activities, true reconciliation can only happen through the ongoing commitment and consistent actions of individuals, groups, organizations, governments, and businesses.

$1 from each book sold will be donated to the Ts’msyen Revolution Fund which Lynda Gray and her children, Dr. Robin Gray and artist Phil Gray, started in 2022. The Fund will help support Ts’msyen language and culture revitalization in laxyuubm Ts’msyen (Ts’msyen territory).

Lynda Gray is member of the Ts’msyen Nation from Lax Kw’alaams on the Northwest Coast of B.C. The book’s cover art was created by her son Phil Gray and features a 'neełx (killerwhale) to represent the author and her children’s clan (Gisbutwada).

The 2nd edition has over 75 chapters, with 16 new ones including rematriation, what is reconciliation, traditional economies, water for life, Indigenous feminisms, (mis)appropriation, economic development, Indigenous Knowledge, how to become a great ally, and more.

Additional Information
336 Pages | Updated and expanded 2nd edition

Sydney never thought she would be the new girl at school, but when she moves to Minneapolis, everything changes. At her old school on the reservation, almost all the kids were Native, and she was a tough bully. Now, at her new school, which has only a few Native kids, she wonders if she will fit in.

Sydney is a teenage girl who has always gone to a school with other Native students on her reservation. She has friends who support her when she bullies a fellow student, but life takes an unexpected turn when her mother moves the family to Minneapolis so she can take a new job. Her mother is excited about the move, but Sydney feels just the opposite. She does not want to become an urban Indian, and she especially does not want to leave her friends.

On the first day of school, Sydney tries to fit in, but it doesn’t take her long to realize that her Native looks make her stand out like a sore thumb. After Sydney accidentally bumps into a classmate in the hall, she becomes the target of bullying. Although she was used to being a bully, the tables are now turned.

When her life becomes almost unbearable, Sydney is approached by a boy in the lunchroom, who asks if he can join her. Not knowing what to think, she agrees, and the chance encounter initiates a close friendship. Her new friend, Finn, who is gay, is also a target of bullying. Sydney’s experience with being bullied, and seeing her friend bullied as well, makes her feel bad about herself and regret who she used to be. She realizes she must make amends with the girl she had bullied at her old school before she can feel better about herself and begin the journey to self-forgiveness.

Reviews
“Sigafus (Ojibwa) has written a brief and accessible novel that will engage readers and help them understand that we all make mistakes…. A compassionate story for reluctant readers.”— Kirkus Reviews

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for grades 7 to 9.

Fry Reading Level: 4

This book is part of the PathFinders Collection of Indigenous Hi-Lo- novels. Interest level is pre-teen on up. 

The PathFinders series of Hi-Lo (high interest, low readability) novels offers the following features:

• Indigenous teen protagonists
• Age-appropriate plots
• 2.5 – 4.5 Reading Level
• Contemporary and historical fiction
• Indigenous authors

The PathFinders series is from an American publisher. Therefore, Indigenous terminology in the PathFinders books is not the same as Canadian Indigenous terminology. This prompts a useful teaching moment for educators in discussing appropriate terminology use in Canada.

This book is Book 1 in the Sydney's Journey series.

The story examines the effects of bullying on teens, which continues to be a huge social problem.

Additional Information
118 pages | 4.50" x 7.00" | Paperback

In the literary tradition of The Outsiders comes a coming-of-age novel about teen boys and Indigenous gangs.

Sixteen-year-old Josh is no stranger to gang life. His dad, the leader of the Warriors, a gang on their reserve, is in jail, and Josh’s older brother has taken charge.

Josh’s mom has made it clear the Warriors and their violence aren’t welcome in her home — Josh’s dad and brother included. She wants Josh to focus on graduating high school. Josh is unsure whether gang life is for him — that is until gang violence arrives on his doorstep.

Turning to the Warriors, Josh, now known as “Creeboy,” starts down the path to becoming a full gang member — cutting himself off from his friends, family and community outside the gang.

It’s harder than ever for Creeboy to envision a different future for himself. Will anything change his mind?

Educator Information
Interest ages 13 to 18.

Written for reluctant readers.

Fry Reading Level: 2.0
Lexile measure: HL590L

Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools resource collection for grades 9 to 12 for English Language Arts.

Content Warning: References death and violence. 

Additional Information
128 pages | 5.51" x 8.50" | Paperback

An important language resource that helps intermediate nêhiyawêtan learners begin to understand more advanced grammar of the language.

Let’s keep on speaking Cree:
In our language is our life;

Let’s keep on speaking Cree:
In our language is our identity.

Building on mâci-nêhiyawêwin / Beginning Cree, Solomon Ratt’s first influential Cree language resource, âhkami-nêhiyawêtân / Let’s Keep Speaking Cree helps intermediate nêhiyawêtan learners begin to understand more advanced grammar of the language. The textbook is more than a language textbook though: it includes a series of the author’s original stories written in Cree, complete with comprehension questions, making it ideal for self-study as well as classroom use.

Educator & Series Information
This book builds on mâci-nêhiyawêwin / Beginning Cree.

Latest Cree language workbook by highly respected author and educator Solomon Ratt, intended for intermediate readers/speakers/
learners

First title in the Continuing Language series, which will build upon our introductory Indigenous language learner texts

Includes sections on going to the doctor, Cree culture and values, protocols, faith, humility, teachings, and more.

Additional Information
304 pages | 8.50" x 11.00" | Spiral Bound

Châhkâpâs: A Naskapi Legend shares the story of Châhkâpâs, a heroic figure in First Nations storytelling, who performs feats of strength and skill in spite of his diminutive size.

The book shares this traditional legend as originally recorded in the Naskapi community in northern Quebec in 1967 when it was narrated by John Peastitute, a Naskapi Elder and accomplished storyteller. Transcribed in the Naskapi language and syllabic orthography, the book offers a literary resource for the Naskapi language community, and the English translation enables those unfamiliar with the language, or the story, to discover this important legend.

The book also contains extensive analysis of stories about Châhkâpâs, notes about the provenance of the recordings, a biography of the storyteller, and a history of the Naskapi people. Lavish illustrations from Elizabeth Jancewicz—an artist raised in the Naskapi community—provide a sensitive and accurate graphical account of the legend, which has also been approved by Naskapi speakers themselves.

Educator & Series Information
This book is part of the First Nation Language Readers series. With a mix of traditional and new stories, each First Nations Language Reader introduces an Indigenous language and demonstrates how each language is used today. 

By John Peastitute
Edited by Marguerite MacKenzie
Translated by Julie Brittain and Silas Nabinicaboo 
Illustrated by Elizabeth Jancewicz 
Contributions by Bill Jancewicz

Additional Information
264 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback

Stories are medicine. During a time of heightened isolation, bestselling author Richard Van Camp shares what he knows about the power of storytelling—and offers some of his own favourite stories from Elders, friends, and family.

Gathering around a campfire, or the dinner table, we humans have always told stories. Through them, we define our identities and shape our understanding of the world.

Master storyteller and bestselling author Richard Van Camp writes of the power of storytelling and its potential to transform speakers and audiences alike.

In Gather, Van Camp shares what elements make a compelling story and offers insights into basic storytelling techniques, such as how to read a room and how to capture the attention of listeners. And he delves further into the impact storytelling can have, helping readers understand how to create community and how to banish loneliness through their tales. A member of the Tlicho Dene First Nation, Van Camp also includes stories from Elders whose wisdom influenced him.

During a time of uncertainty and disconnection, stories reach across vast distances to offer connection. Gather is a joyful reminder of this for storytellers: all of us.

Reviews
“Stories and storytellers are an important part of what makes us human. Van Camp’s stories, whether they feature light comedy, family discord and reconciliation or his vivid images of the legendary Wheetago monsters, revived by global warming and horrifically hungry for human flesh, are gifts to the reader.” —Vancouver Sun
 
“Van Camp is…a brilliant weaver of tales.” —Quill & Quire

Additional Information
162 pages | 5.00" x 8.50"

Name Your Mountain continues the exciting No Name Series as the high school basketball team matures and faces new challenges. When the all American Indian team in Trust Your Name enters a national-level tournament, the team travels to big cities and has new experiences, but all is not well. Choctaw Bobby Byington and his new friend, Creek shooting guard Eddie, are torn between struggles on the court and painful episodes back home. With the door of adulthood looming, Coach Robison urges his players to choose the path they want to climb and to "never hesitate--never give up--in your struggle to reach the top."

Reviews
“Refreshingly, the book normalizes male characters’ close friendships and displays of emotion, tying into Tim Tingle’s (Choctaw) mountain metaphor: We encounter challenges every day, but they do not need to be climbed alone. The text uses basketball to emphasize the importance of teamwork both on and off the court. An engaging sports-infused mystery for reluctant readers.”— Kirkus Reviews

“Name Your Mountain continues the story of a Choctaw teenager and his tight-knit basketball team; they help each other through tough games and tougher issues, including parents with alcohol problems and vengeful criminals. Full of action and easy to read, this novel reveals the power of friendships and of careful observations.”— Foreword Reviews

Educator & Series Information
This is the fifth book in the No Name series, which is part of the PathFinders series. The PathFinders series of Hi-Lo (high interest, low readability) novels offers the following features: 

• Indigenous teen protagonists
• Age appropriate plots
• 2.5 – 4.5 Reading Level
• Contemporary and historical fiction
• Indigenous authors

The PathFinders series is from an American publisher. Therefore, Indigenous terminology in the PathFinders books is not the same as Canadian Indigenous terminology. This prompts a useful teaching moment for educators in discussing appropriate terminology use in Canada.  The recommended ages for books in the PathFinders series are 12-16.

Additional Information
168 pages | 4.50" x 7.00"

A narrative of resistance and resilience spanning seven decades in the life of a tireless advocate for Indigenous language preservation.

Life histories are a form of contemporary social history and convey important messages about identity, cosmology, social behaviour and one’s place in the world. This first-person oral history—the first of its kind ever published by the Royal BC Museum—documents a period of profound social change through the lens of Sti’tum’atul’wut—also known as Mrs. Ruby Peter—a Cowichan elder who made it her life’s work to share and safeguard the ancient language of her people: Hul’q’umi’num’.

Over seven decades, Sti’tum’atul’wut mentored hundreds of students and teachers and helped thousands of people to develop a basic knowledge of the Hul’q’umi’num’ language. She contributed to dictionaries and grammars, and helped assemble a valuable corpus of stories, sound and video files—with more than 10,000 pages of texts from Hul’q’umi’num’ speakers—that has been described as “a treasure of linguistic and cultural knowledge.” Without her passion, commitment and expertise, this rich legacy of material would not exist for future generations.

In 1997 Vancouver Island University anthropologist Helene Demers recorded Sti’tum’atul’wut’s life stories over nine sessions. The result is rich with family and cultural history—a compelling narrative of resistance and resilience that promises to help shape progressive social policy for generations to follow.

Additional Information
240 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"

Beaver shares his teachings on how he shapes the land.

kʷu‿c̕əx̌ʷəntim təl stunx isck’ʷuls / Lessons From Beaver’s Work teaches children through storytelling to hold reverence for all life forms. The book depicts a conflict between Tapit, a rancher, and stunx (beaver), as they both try to meet their water needs. The touching humanity of stunx (Beaver) softens Tapit’s outlook, as he reminds Tapit that he is not the only one that depends on water.

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 10 to 13.

Author Harron Hall has written several children's books that incorporate her Indigenous heritage and her deep commitment to protecting the land and water, including The Water Sings to Suli?, Water Changeling and We Go with Muskrat to Those Living Underwater.

This fictional story teaches the importance of watersheds and protecting our water systems.

Includes words in n'syilxwcn, the language spoken by the Sylix/Okanagan peoples.

This book is part of the Follow the Water series.

Additional Information
26 pages | 8.00" x 8.00"

Mācī-Anihšināpēmowin / Beginning Saulteaux is an introductory look at one of the most widely spoken of all North American Indigenous languages, regionally known as Saulteaux, Ojibway, Ottawa (Odawa), Chippewa, and Algonquian. In an easy-to-use and easy-to-read series of lessons, both designed for self-study or for use in the classroom, Beginning Saulteaux will guide beginners through the language’s grammatical structures and spelling systems, as well as everyday terms and phrases. The book grounds the language in both traditional and contemporary contexts, and sheds light on the Saulteaux world view. For example, there is no word for good-bye in the language, so upon parting people will usually say Kika-wāpamin mīnawā, meaning “I’ll see you again.”

Educator & Series Information
The third in our Indigenous Languages for Beginners series, Beginning Saulteaux is an invaluable resource produced in consultation with Elders, Language Keepers, and community members, and continues our commitment to revitalizing Indigenous languages.

Additional Information
304 pages | 8.50" x 11.00" | Spiral Bound

Jennifer McCaffrey has been working hard on her art for years and is thrilled when she is accepted to a prestigious art school. The school is everything she always thought it would be, mostly. There is one group of kids who seem to resent her and say she only got in because of her skin color. Jen, who loves to create new pieces of artwork that incorporate her Indigenous heritage, finds herself a target when the group tells her to stop being “so Indian”. The night before the big art show at school, Jen’s beading art project is defaced. Jen has to find a way not to let the haters win.

Reviews
“Offers a mirror to the sometimes painful emotions and everyday experiences of Indigenous teens of mixed heritage. A rare and welcome reluctant reader title featuring an Indigenous protagonist.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Through the novel’s accessible language and short chapters, readers of all levels and backgrounds will be able to relate to and learn from Jen’s overcoming racial prejudice and intolerance. Readers will also gain a sense of empathy as they come to understand the struggles faced by Indigenous youth in contemporary society. Highly Recommended.” — CM: Canadian Review of Materials

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 12+

Fry Reading Level: 3.4

Themes: racism, prejudice, standing up to bullies, cultural pride, Indigenous art

Dreaming in Color is a companion novel to the bestselling He Who Dreams (the main character is John's sister).

New, enhanced features (dyslexia-friendly font, cream paper, larger trim size) to increase reading accessibility for dyslexic and other striving readers.

Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2020/2021 resource list for grades 6 to 9 for English Language Arts.

This is an Orca Soundings book. Orca Soundings are short, high-interest novels written specifically for teens. These edgy stories with compelling characters and gripping storylines are ones they will want to read.

Additional Information
144 pages | 5.00" x 7.50"

When Nellie Winters was 11 years old, she was sent to attend the Nain Boarding School, a residential school 400 kilometres from her home. In this memoir, she recalls life before residential school, her experiences at the school, and what it was like to come home.

Accompanied by the author’s original illustrations, this moving, often funny memoir sheds light on the experiences of Inuit residential school survivors in Labrador.

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 11-14.

This book is recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2020/2021 resource list for grades 5 to 7 for English Language Arts and Social Studies.

This book is part of the Qinuisaarniq (“resiliency”) program.  This is a program created to educate Nunavummiut about the history and impacts of residential schools, policies of assimilation, and other colonial acts that have affected the Canadian Arctic.

Each resource has been carefully written and reviewed to include level-appropriate opportunities for students to learn about colonial acts and policies that have affected Inuit. These acts and policies created long-lasting impacts on Inuit individuals and communities, which are still being felt today.

The resources in this program include personal interviews, testimony, and writing; non-fiction informational resources; and information about traditional Inuit practices.

Additional Information
26 pages | 9.00" x 7.00" | Transcribed and edited by Erica Oberndorfer

Spawn is a braided collection of brief, untitled poems, a coming-of-age lyric set in the Mashteuiatsh Reserve on the shores of Lake Piekuakami (Saint-Jean) in Quebec. Undeniably political, Marie-Andrée Gill's poems ask: How can one reclaim a narrative that has been confiscated and distorted by colonizers?

The poet's young avatar reaches new levels on Nintendo, stays up too late online, wakes to her period on class photo day, and carves her lovers' names into every surface imaginable. Encompassing twenty-first-century imperialism, coercive assimilation, and 90s-kid culture, the collection is threaded with the speaker's desires, her searching: for fresh water to "take the edge off," for a "habitable word," for sex. For her "true north"—her voice and her identity.

Like the life cycle of the ouananiche that frames this collection, the speaker's journey is cyclical; immersed in teenage moments of confusion and life on the reserve, she retraces her scars to let in what light she can, and perhaps in the end discover what to "make of herself".

Reviews
"Spawn is an epic journey that follows the ouananiche in their steadfast ability to hold: rigid, shimmering, hardened to the frigid waters of winter, in all of its capacities of and for whiteness. Here, poems summon a spawn of wonderworking dreams: 'a woman risen up from all these winter worlds, heaped with ice [and] ready to start again'." —Joshua Whitehead, author of Jonny Appleseed

"Spawn is unforgettable poetry of the highest order." —Kaveh Akbar, author of Calling a Wolf a Wolf

"Gill's poems are like small treasures clutched in buried tree roots, preserving 'the chalky veins' of ancestral memory pulsing just below our modern hustle." —Kiki Petrosino, author of White Blood

Educator Information
Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2020/2021 resource list for grade 12 for English Language Arts and Social Justice.

Caution: Some foul language, sexual and violent content.

Additional Information
96 pages | 5.25" x 7.75" | Translated by Kristen Renee Miller

At the age of seventeen, an Anishinabe boy who was raised in the south joined a James Bay Cree family in a one-room hunting cabin in the isolated wilderness of northern Quebec. In the five months that followed, he learned a way of life on the land with which few are familiar, where the daily focus is on the necessities of life, and where both skill and finesse are required for self-sufficiency.

In The Shoe Boy, that boy – Duncan McCue – takes us on an evocative journey that explores the hopeful confusion of the teenage years, entwined with the challenges and culture shock of coming from a mixed-race family and moving to the unfamiliar North. As he reflects on his search for his own personal identity, he illustrates the relationship Indigenous peoples have with their lands, and the challenges urban Indigenous people face when they seek to reconnect to traditional lifestyles.

The result is a contemplative, honest, and unexpected coming-of-age memoir set in the context of the Cree struggle to protect their way of life, after massive hydro-electric projects forever altered the landscape they know as Eeyou Istchee.

This memoir will be of interest to readers of all ages who want to know more about the interplay of traditional and contemporary Indigenous lifestyles, the challenges of identity for First Nations youth, and the relationship Indigenous peoples have with their land.

Reviews
"Frank, funny and evocative, The Shoe Boy deftly entwines the challenges of identity for First Nations youth, the sexual frustration and hopeful confusion of the teenage years, and the realities of living in an enduring state of culture shock." — CBC Books

"The Shoe Boy is a valuable read and will enrich anyone who tunes in to CBC Radio One on Sunday afternoons, as McCue establishes his voice in the conversation of Canada.— Thomas Billingsley, Globe and Mail

Educator Information
Related Topics: Biography, Memoirs, and Letters; Canadian Studies; Indigenous Studies.

Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2020/2021 resource list for grades 9 to 12 for English Language Arts and Social Studies.

Caution: mature language, references to sex, alcohol, and suicide.

Additional Information
88 pages | 5.00" x 8.00"

Everyone knows everyone's business in the small fishing community of Kitsum. So when young Brenda Joe fears she might be pregnant, she also worries that rumours will spread quickly. Things look up when Brenda's favourite aunt, Monica returns to Kitsum for Christmas, although she is preoccupied with her own relationship problems. It's become clear to her that the white man she's been living with in Vancouver sees her as his "Indian Princess," his own exotic arm candy, and she's had enough. When she learns about Brenda's secret relationship with a local man, Monica is appalled and goes to set him straight. But is there more to this attractive loner and his hard-partying relations than meets the eye? Come spring, amid their secrets and betrayals, each family member will be tempted down to the water to collect herring eggs from artfully placed hemlock branches. The question is, will they be able to face one another?

Educator Information
Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2019-2020 resource list for grades 9 to 12 for English Language Arts.

This work contains topics of substance abuse, sexuality, adultery, and child neglect that are not the focus of the story but still a part of it.

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288 pages | 5.25" x 8.00"

Authenticity Note: Karen Charleson is a member of the House of Kinquashtakumlth and the Hesquiaht First Nation through marriage.  We have applied the Authentic Indigenous Text label for this reason; however, readers will need to determine if this work is authentic for their purposes.

The two one-act plays in Talker’s Town and The Girl Who Swam Forever are set in a small northern B.C. mill town in the 1960s. They portray identical characters and action from entirely different gender and cultural perspectives. In many ways, the two separate works are inter-related coming-of-age stories, with transformation as a key theme.

The central action in both plays involves an Aboriginal girl, Roberta Bob, who escapes from a residential school and hides out by the river. In Nelson Gray’s Talker’s Town, the story is conveyed by a teenage non-Indigenous boy whose friend has had a relationship with the girl and whose attempts to hush up the affair lead to disastrous consequences.

In Marie Clements’s The Girl Who Swam Forever, the action unfolds from the perspective of the girl, who – to claim her past and secure her future – must undergo a shape-shifting transformation and meet her grandmother’s ancestral spirit in the form of a hundred-year-old sturgeon.

Employing a single setting and working with the same set of characters, the playwrights have created two radically different fictional worlds, one Aboriginal and one non-Aboriginal. Published together, the plays form a fascinating diptych that reveals rifts between Indigenous and colonial/settler histories and provides a vehicle for cultural exchange. As a starting point for trans-cultural dialogue, this set of plays will be of interest to educators, theatre directors, and the general reader interested in the current discourse arising from Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Idle No More, and the Indigenous Rights Movement happening throughout North America. Read as a set, these two plays also invite conversations about negotiating creative boundaries, particularly with respect to eco-centric politics and cultural appropriation.

Talker’s Town: cast of 5 men and 1 woman.

The Girl Who Swam Forever: cast of 2 women and 2 men.

Educator Information
Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2019-2020 resource list for grades 11 and 12 for Drama and English Language Arts.

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160 pages | 5.50" x 8.50"

This is the story of a Metis soldier fighting for Canada on the Western Front of Europe during World War I. Vancouver 1914: a young Indigenous man named Jonathon Woodrow, desperate to prove himself as a warrior, enlists to fight in the Canadian army. Relying on his experience in hunting and wilderness survival, Private Woodrow quickly becomes one of the most feared trench raiders in the 1st Canadian Division. But as the war stretches on, with no end to the fighting in sight, Woodrow begins to realize that he will never go home again.

A 2017 finalist for the Playwright Guild of Canada’s prestigious Carol Bolt Award for Playwrights, Redpatch focuses on how First Nations soldiers and communities contributed to Canada’s involvement in the First World War.

Educator Information
Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2019-2020 resource list for grades 10 to 12 for Drama, English Language Arts, and Social Studies.

Contains some use of strong language.

This work is a play including an eight-page graphic novel written by Sean Harris Oliver.

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96 pages | 5.50" x 8.50"

Darren, newly on parole from prison, has been ordered by the court to live with his father on the rez. Wally and Darren have always had a contentious relationship: Wally is a problem drinker, and Darren's got a short fuse. But Wally tells his son that he's changed, has stopped drinking and started going to ceremony, and he urges Darren to do the same. As old family secrets start to be revealed, the father and son grapple with complex issues.

Popcorn Elder examines the problem of "plastic shamans" who offer spirituality at a price. It looks at a community working to face its demons and heal past trauma. And at the heart of the play is the story of a father and son, filled with anger, guilt, and pain, seeking connection and reconciliation.

Through flashbacks, a combination of Cree and English, and an unforgettable cast of characters, Popcorn Elder tells the story of one family's journey toward hope.

Educator Information
Contains sexual abuse references and explicit language.

Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2019-2020 resource list for grades 10 to 12 for Acting, Drama, English Language Arts, and Social Studies.

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72 pages | 5.50" x 8.50"

Indianland is a rich and varied poetry collection. The poems are written from a female and Indigenous point of view and incorporate Anishinaabemowin throughout. Time is cyclical, moving from present-day back to first contact and forward again. Themes of sexuality, birth, memory, and longing are explored, images of blood, plants (milkweed, yarrow, cattails), and petroglyphs reoccur, and touchstone issues in Indigenous politics are addressed (Elijah Harper, Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women, forced sterilizations, Oka). 

Educator Information
Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2019-2020 resource list as being useful for grades 11 and 12 for these subjects: English Language Arts, Media Studies, and Social Studies.

This work includes sexual content, references to rape, and mature content.

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80 pages | 5.50" x 8.50"

In Care is about a mother's quest to get her children out of foster care. Janice Fisher has not had an easy life. She worked the streets as a teenager, was addicted to cocaine, and had her first daughter taken from her when she was just 15. But she's since turned her life around, and is a good mother to three happy girls -- until a false accusation gets them apprehended by foster care. Now, Janice is trapped in the system like a butterfly in a spider's web: the more she struggles to get out, the more stuck she gets. In Care is both an indictment of the racism that's inherent in our system and a tribute to the strength people as disadvantaged as Janice must have in order to survive.

Educator Information
Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2019-2020 resource list as being useful for grades 10 to 12 for these subjects: Acting, Drama, English Language Arts, and Social Studies.

This work includes mature subject matter with references to drug use and prostitution.

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96 pages | 5.50" x 8.50"

Take a journey into the heart of Haida culture as it is lived and experienced by an extraordinary woman of the Tsath Lanas Eagle Clan. Pansy Collison, a Haida woman born and raised in Old Massett on Haida Gwaii, tells stories of her clan and community, as well as personal narratives about her history and family. Haida Eagle Treasures embodies a strong Haida woman’s voice, offering a rare glimpse inside Haida culture. Each story and memory is a treasure that captures part of the beauty of the Haida worldview and way of life.

Now retired, Pansy taught for 23 years at elementary, secondary, and college levels. From these experiences, she describes some of the challenges and contradictions of living between two worlds. Pansy’s teaching skills, artistic talents, and political affiliations keep her involved in politics and education on Haida Gwaii.

Thirteen original illustrations by Pansy’s brother, Paul White, a gifted artist, teacher, pole carver and designer, provide the guideposts within Haida Eagle Treasures.

Educator Information
Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2019-2020 resource list as being useful for grades 8-12 for English Language Arts and Social Studies.

Caution: use of the term "Native" throughout.

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244 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"  | 2nd Edition

“This night in Oppenheimer Park Dan asked me to shit-kick this chick in the face as she owed money and I said no because I didn’t know who she was and I wasn’t about to play with fire so he sat on the bench then stood up and did a flying kick twice to her chin and she convulsed and passed out he said he didn’t want to spill blood because she had HIV…”—“Tales”

Dissecting herself and the life she once knew living in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside as a bonafide drug addict, Blanchard writes plainly about violence, drug use and sex work in Fresh Pack of Smokes, offering insight into an often overlooked or misunderstood world.

Reviews
 “Reading Cassandra Blanchard’s debut poetry collection Fresh Pack of Smokes feels like, to borrow a phrase from her work, someone “poured a bucket of blood” on your head. Such visceral images flood the pages of Blanchard’s autobiographical stories, pulling readers in with humanizing force.” - Emma Cooper, The Tyee

Educator Information
Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2019-2020 resource list as being useful for grade 12 students for the following subjects: English Language Arts, Social Justice.  

Contains foul and sexual language, graphic content, violence, interpersonal abuse, and drug use, which may be disturbing to some readers.

Additional Information
96 pages | 5.50" x 8.00"