Language

Children (and adults, too) have become aware of the ecological importance of bees. Wasps are ecologically important, too. They pollinate plants and provide pest control by eating insects and feeding them to their young.

Paper wasps construct open-celled paper nests. A mated female wasp -- the queen -- starts the nest by chewing wood fibers into a pulp to build paper layers. As soon as she has built enough of the nest, she lays some eggs which grow into young female wasps. They lay more eggs, mostly males, and these become workers whose job is to build the nest for the growing colony. It can end up being quite large. Come winter, the old queen and the workers die and the young females hibernate. In spring, they will be new queens that will build their own nest for a new wasp colony.

This elegantly illustrated book explains stage by stage in easy text how a wasp nest is built. It follows by days and weeks and shows how the queen's industrious workers create a sturdy, weatherproof home. Readers see the inside of the growing nest where the eggs turn into larvae and emerge 20 days later as juveniles. As the nest gets bigger and the story progresses, the book's pages become bigger too. Cross sections show the amazing construction of the nest and how the wasps live and work.

The interior pages in A Wasp Build a Nest are shingled, starting as a partial page and getting larger as the story progresses.

Reviews
"Readers are invited to experience the construction of a wasp's nest. Each shingled page reveals an inside look at the step-by-step progress of building the nest from start to finish--both the nest and the pages grow together. Readers will learn about wasp anatomy, reproduction, life cycle, and nest structure... This book is a great option for readers who are comfortable learning new vocabulary, as it provides so much information about wasps and their behavior." — Samantha D'Acunto, New York Botanical Garden Blog, May 2018

"This colorful book presents a close-up view of a new wasp nest in a hollow tree... Though visually the book is tightly focused on the nest and its growing complexity, within that context, both the text and the illustrations convey a good deal of information about the life cycle of wasps, their stages of development, and the different roles played by the queen, the males, and the female workers. Each double-page spread displays the growing nest along with pictures of detail such as the pupal development. The cutaway views of the nest, the cones, and the cells are particularly effective. Each sturdy, glossy page is about one centimeter wider than the preceding one, giving the book's interior an attractive, layered look. A well-focused, informative book on wasps and their nests." — Carolyn Phelan, Booklist, October 2016

"Wasps are often a source of fear and discomfort for children, but this title does a compelling job of showing wasps in a more favorable light. The book opens with a queen wasp awakening from hibernation and follows her through the creation of a colony to her eventual death in the fall. The information is presented scientifically but is also accessible for young readers, with any potentially unfamiliar words well explained. The illustrations are detailed and support the text. The view of the inside of a wasp's nest is likely new to most, and students will find it helpful to see the structures in question. The pages are shingled, starting as a quarter-page and gradually expanding in size until they fill the full dimensions of the book, which works well to mimic the growing colony depicted in the illustrations. The material emphasizes the growth of the wasps and the colony rather than what wasps do outside of the hive; however, this narrow focus keeps the text from becoming confusing for younger readers. A pleasing introduction to wasps and their life cycle, suitable for young entomology fans. Consider for most libraries." — Ellen Norton, School Library Journal, November 2016

Additional Information
24 pages | 8.50" x 9.50"

Dragonfly Kites is the third book in Tomson Highway's magical Songs of the North Wind trilogy. Like Fox on the Ice and Caribou Song, it has a bilingual text, written in English and Cree. And once again Tomson Highway brilliantly evokes the very essence of childhood as he weaves a deceptively simple story about the power of the imagination.

Joe and Cody, two young Cree brothers, along with their parents and their little dog Ootsie, are spending the summer by one of the hundreds of lakes in northern Manitoba. Summer means a chance to explore the world and make friends with an array of creatures, But what Joe and Cody like doing best of all is flying dragonfly kites. They catch dragonflies and gently tie a length of thread around the middle of each dragonfly before letting it go. Off soar the dragonflies into the summer sky and off race the brothers and Ootsie too, chasing after their dragonfly kites through trees and meadows and down to the beach before watching them disappear into the night sky. But in their dreams, Joe and Cody soar through the skies with their kites until it's time to wake up.

Reviews
"Unlike most fiction, Dragonfly Kites does not follow a standard plot line. Like the dragonfly kites that the boys follow, the plot simply glides along until the boys wake up from their dream. This is appropriate due to the significance the illustrations play in this picture book, as well as the age of the intended audience. Readers are not overwhelmed by the storyline and are free to appreciate the accompanying illustrations. The illustrations in Dragonfly Kites act as an extension of the story. The pictures in the book are colourful, beautiful, and have an austere, stark quality. This is consistent with other works produced by award-winning illustrator Julie Flett. This style suits the story as, aside from the nature that surrounds around them, Joe and Cody are depicted as being by themselves. While they live with the parents, their adventures occur when their parents are fishing without them. The full-page illustrations demonstrate the vast space that surrounds the boys." — CM Magazine

"At once a celebration of heritage, the wilderness, and imagination, this book is a breath of fresh northern air." — Kirkus Reviews

Educator & Series Information
This is the third book in the Songs of the North Wind series, a dual-language (English and Cree) series about two young Cree boys.

This book is available in French/Cree: Les libellules cerfs-volant/Pimithaagansa 

Additional Information
32 pages | 9.26" x 10.70"

Dual language edition of powerful children's book about residential school experience reflects Indigenous language revitalization.

The dual language edition, in Nishnaabemwin (Ojibwe) Nbisiing dialect and English, of the award-winning I Am Not a Number. When eight-year-old Irene is removed from her First Nations family to live in a residential school she is confused, frightened, and terribly homesick. She tries to remember who she is and where she came from, despite the efforts of the nuns who are in charge at the school and who tell her that she is not to use her own name but instead use the number they have assigned to her. When she goes home for summer holidays, Irene's parents decide never to send her and her brothers away again. But where will they hide? And what will happen when her parents disobey the law? Based on the life of co-author Jenny Kay Dupuis’ grandmother, I Am Not a Number is a hugely necessary book that brings a terrible part of Canada’s history to light in a way that children can learn from and relate to.

Reviews
"Residential and boarding school stories are hard to read, but they're vitally important... books like I Am Not a Number should be taught in schools in Canada, and the U.S., too."— Debbie Reese, American Indians in Children's Literature

"It’s important to teach children about true Canadian history, but it’s not easy to talk about it in a way that children will understand. I Am Not a Number is perfect to get the conversation about residential schools started with your children. It opens the door for them to ask questions about the subject and the story is relatable in a way they can follow."— Residential School Magazine

Educator Information
Recommended Ages: 7-11
Guided Reading: V

Dual-language: Nishnaabemwin (Ojibwe) Nbisiing dialect and English.

Subjects: Character Education (Empathy, Prejudice & Tolerance); History & Social Studies (Canadian History, First Nations & Indigenous Peoples); Government & Citizenship; Reflecting Diversity

This resource is also available in English: I Am Not a Number.

This resource is also available in French: Je ne suis pas un numero.

Additional Information
44 pages | 8.50" x 11.00" | Translated by Muriel Sawyer and Geraldine McLeod with contributions by Tory Fisher

Lots of fun things happen when you spend the night at Grandma's house!

This illustrated book introduces readers to simple action verbs.

Educator Information
This book is part of the Nunavummi Reading Series, a Nunavut-developed series that supports literacy learning while teaching readers about the people, traditions, and environment of the Canadian Arctic. Going to Grandma's is a Level 4 book in the series.

Nunavummi Reading Series books have also been officially levelled using the Fountas & Pinnell Text Level Gradient™ Levelling System. Going to Grandma's has an F&P Level of A.

Recommended for ages 3-5.

Additional Information
12 pages | 8.00" x 6.00"

Designed as an introduction for Cree language learners, Beginning Cree acts as a self-study aid--a much-needed resource in today's world where most students cannot speak Cree fluently. Basic grammar units and everyday vocabulary items guide the student through the building blocks of the language, and expansion drills and exercises reinforce lessons and prepare the student for further study. With over 100 delightful illustrations, Beginning Cree grounds the language in traditional and contemporary contexts.

Educator & Series Information
This book is recommended for ages 12+.

Table of Contents
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Nouns
Chapter Three: Prepositions and Pronouns
Chapter Four: Animate Intransitive Verbs
Chapter Five: Inanimate Intransitive Verbs
Chapter Six: Possessives: Kinship Terms
Chapter Seven: Transitive Inanimate Verbs
Chapter Eight: Transitive Animate Verbs
Verb Charts
Conjugation Patterns
Vocabulary List
Bibliography
Notes

The Canadian Indigenous Books for School list recommends this resource for Grades 1-12 for these subject areas: Indigenous Language Studies, Language Studies.

Part of the Indigenous Languages for Beginners series.

The book is specifically geared towards learners of the Plains Cree "Y" dialect, also known as the "Y" dialect.

Additional Information
165 pages | 8.50" x 11.00" | black and white illustrations | spiral bound

Join Raven and Frog as they both count to ten in their own way. Raven teaches one to ten in rhyme and with a focus on number recognition. Frog teaches one to ten with visual supports of number representation.

Educator & Series Information
This book is part of the Raven Series, a set of six books written for the emergent reader and learner. Each book focuses on a specific learning intention that builds on strengthening learning with the support of an adult.

A Little Note about Counting:
Learning to count is a foundational skill and our world is full of numbers. Young learners will learn early on in life that they can have one candy, not ten. In order to support the learning we can teach first what the numbers 1 to 10 look like while counting/naming them. After many practises counting/naming, we can then teach the amount of each number. For example, we can show the learners; I can hold one cracker in my left hand and two crackers in my right hand. Last, we can show number representation in a pattern, like the number patterns on dice. Of course, this is only the beginning of discovering that our world is full of math but this is such a great start for any young learner.

This resource is available in French: Corbeau et Grenouille comptent
Note: French book dimensions differ.

Additional Information
16 pages | Dimensions: 10" x 14" | ISBN: 9781771741538

What are some things you can try when you want to feel happy?

This book introduces readers to simple action verbs and the comparative word "more."

Educator Information
This book is part of the Nunavummi Reading Series, a Nunavut-developed series that supports literacy learning while teaching readers about the people, traditions, and environment of the Canadian Arctic. Things That Make Me Happy is a Level 5 book in the series.

Nunavummi Reading Series books have also been officially levelled using the Fountas & Pinnell Text Level Gradient™ Levelling System. Things That Make Me Happy's F&P Level is B.

Recommended for ages 3-5.

Additional Information
8 pages | 6.00" x 8.00"

À travers le Créateur, le bison s’est offert en cadeau au peuple cri des Plaines pour lui procurer nourriture et assurer sa survie. Autrefois, le plus imposant mammifère terrestre d’Amérique du Nord parcourait les vastes plaines au nombre de 30 à 50 millions. Il a fourni abri, nourriture, vêtements, outils, équipement de chasse, objets cérémoniels et plusieurs autres nécessités aux habitants des Plaines.

Mais vers 1889, il ne restait plus qu’un millier de bisons et la vie des Cris des Plaines a changé. Encore de nos jours, on voue un grand respect au bison en souvenir de la vie harmonieuse qui a déjà existé.

Cette histoire relate la façon dont le bison s’est donné sans compter.

Educator Information
This resource is also available in English and Plains Cree y-dialect: Honouring the Buffalo: A Plains Cree Legend

Additional Information
50 pages | 11.00" x 8.50"

"A long time ago, Our People came from the Northern Woodlands to the Great Plains looking for food," Grandfather said. "They saw that the Buffalo lived in harmony with Mother Earth the same as Our People did."

Through the Creator, the buffalo gave themselves as a gift for the sustenance and survival of the Plains Cree people. The largest land animal in North America once thundered across the Great Plains in numbers of 30 to 50 million. They provided shelter, food, clothing, tools, hunting gear, ceremonial objects and many other necessities for those who lived on the Plains.

But by 1889, just over a thousand buffalo remained, and the lives of the Plains Cree people changed. The buffalo is honoured to this day, a reminder of life in harmony with nature as it was once lived. This is the story of how the buffalo came to share themselves so freely.

Educator Information
The text is in English and y-dialect Plains Cree.  Y-dialect Plains Cree translation by Randy Morin, Jean Okimasis, and Arok Wolvengrey.

This resource is also available in French: Hommage au bison.

Additional Information
48 pages | 11.00" x 8.50"

A Cherokee boy plants an apple seed, and as soon as a seedling appears he can see the apple tree it is meant to be. But the little apple tree isn't so sure. Young and impatient, it begins to doubt its calling, especially after apples fail to appear that first fall. How can the boy convince the tree to give the seasons the time to work their magic?

Story in English with Cherokee translation.

Pris entre deux mondes, le puma a du mal à trouver un lieu où il est à sa place. En tant que chat fantôme, le puma vit comme il le devrait : dans la forêt, mais sans ses amis. 

Misinsit miawe'k tapu'kl wskitqamu'kl, Ajik alme'si wejitoq ta'n tett tleyawit. Skite'kmujewey Mia'wj mimajit ta'n tel nenk 'kisoqe'k pasik mu eymu'kk witapk. 

Educator Information
This resource is also available in English and Mi’kmaw: How The Ghost Came to be Called the Ghost Cat / Ta'n Petalu Telui'tut Skite'kmujew Mia'jw.

Additional Information
42 pages | 14.00" x 11.00"
 

Manny's Memories, by Author Ken Caron with his daughter Angela Caron, introduces us to the Métis community of Round Prairie, Saskatchewan through the eyes of a young boy growing up in the 1940s. Manny shares his boyhood memories of the once vibrant community not too far from Saskatoon's city limits. Though rural life at the time called for hard work, self-sufficiency, and generosity, there was always time to have fun and to enjoy being a young Métis boy. Artist Donna Lee Dumont's visual expression of Manny's Memories helps us see the world as Ken, called "Manny" in his youth, remembers it. Norman Fleury's accompanying Michif translation and narration returns to the language which Manny often hears as a boy. Manny's Memories leaves us with a rare and satisfying glimpse of life not so long ago.

Educator Information
Grade Level: Primary
Format: Book/CD, English/Michif-Cree

Additional Information
36 pages | 10.94" x 8.46"

Leah Marie Dorion’s My First Métis Lobstick takes young readers back to Canada’s fur trade era by focusing on a Métis family’s preparations for a lobstick celebration and feast in the boreal forest. Through the eyes of a young boy, we see how important lobstick making and ceremony was to the Métis community. From the Great Lakes to the present-day Northwest Territories, lobstick poles—important cultural and geographical markers, which merged Cree, Ojibway, and French-Canadian traditions—dotted the landscape of our great northern boreal forest. This little-known aspect of Métis history vividly comes to life through Leah Marie Dorion’s crisp prose and stunning gallery-quality artwork.

Educator Information
This is a dual-language picture book delivered in English and Michif.  It includes a CD.

Additional Information 
72 pages | 10.98" x 8.54" | Michif translation by Normal Fleury

In this beautiful ABC book, C is for Crab; D is for Douglas fir; and E is for Eagle. Based on Pacific Northwest artist Hannah Viano’s regionally themed paper-cut art, this lovely children’s book sheds a new light on the ABCs that will appeal to young and old alike. Fans of Nikki McClure and Kate Endle will appreciate the beautiful handmade appeal of this book.

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 2 to 5

Additional Information
32 pages | 6.74" x 9.25"

In this basic counting book from 1 to 10, this bilingual board book introduces Plains Cree (y-dialect) and Swampy Cree (n-dialect) written in Roman orthography. Artist and author has a simple graphic style using bold and clear text to introduce counting with appropriate cultural images from contemporary Cree society. An excellent introduction to counting to ten in Cree and English using authentic Cree imagery.

Educator Information
Bilingual: Cree and English

Additional Information
Board book