First Nations

1234 First Nations Explore

There are so many wonderful and interesting facts about First Nations Culture. The 1234 book gives children a chance to count while they learn about Aboriginal Peoples from all over "Turtle Island".

Kim is a Lakota artist, teacher in Vancouver, BC and children's TV show writer.

These watercolour paintings are part of a collection that teaches about First Nation's culture. The paintings were featured in “Wakanheja“ in counting time with Terry Turtle.

Written by Richelle Lovegrove and illustrated by Amber Green, A Big Mistake? is a beautiful children’s book that explores friendship, gifts and generosity.

When Summer’s best friend compliments the necklace her kokum gave her, she remembers her Elder’s teaching and gives the necklace away. But when her kokum comes over for supper, Summer worries that she made a big mistake by giving away such a special gift.

A proud Lakota Sioux grows into manhood acting with careful deliberation, determination, and bravery, he eventually earns the new name of Sitting Bull.

The reader will discover some interesting bits of history and tradition that are not widely known. Many, for example, do not know that Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin (two of the American Founding Fathers) both attribute the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy, one of the world’s oldest democracies, as the inspiration for the American Constitution. Or, that the origin of ‘Red Indian’ is not because of skin colour, but from the ochre (iron oxide) used by the now extinct Beothuk to colour their skin red – red skin.

At the bottom of each letter there is a list of Indiginous peoples that begin with that letter. The idea is that the names can be recited as a sort of poem of remembrance. This book celebrates Aboriginal heritage and culture and is beautifully illustrated by Brendan Heard, a Canadian artist who works in oil paint and digital medium.

The author, Joseph MacLean, is an historian by education, a story teller by avocation and a social entrepreneur by trade. The book was written ten years ago when Joseph was working on a literacy project in Vancouver’s infamous DTES (Downtown Eastside) – the poorest postal code in Canada.

One late fall day, the boy told the old people that he was going fishing. When he returned home, he said that he had caught a whale.

Un matin, juste avant l’arrivée de l’hiver, le garçon dit à ses parents qu’il part à la pêche. Peu de temps après, il revient chez lui, tout heureux d’annoncer qu’il a pêché une baleine.

Educator Information
This book is delivered in a triple-language format of English, French, and Mi'kmaq.

Before the angels stars grew dim 
And wondering hunters heard their hymn 
One mystic flute - one hundred drums 
One message clear, "A King has come!" 
Not one had ever seen the like 
By light of day or moon of night 
Before the angels stars grew dim 
And wondering hunters heard this hymn. . . 

An Aboriginal Carol is the ultimate Aboriginal collaboration: 

• Poetry by Métis poet David Bouchard. 
• Paintings by First Nations artist Moses Beaver.
• Music by Inuit performer Susan Aglukark. 

Best-selling Canadian author David Bouchard reworks Canada's oldest and most well-known carol, The Huron Carol. The art of Moses Beaver, from the fly-in reserve of Summer Beaver, Ontario (Nikinamik), resonates and awakens an awareness that is at once exciting and empowering, a way for all people to understand the birth of Christ from an Aboriginal worldview. The pride of the north, Susan Aglukark, interprets, for the first time, the revered carol. 

Written in English and in Inuktituk, the language of Canada's Inuit people, the book is accompanied by a CD, which includes a reading in both languages and a performance by Susan. Also available in French and Inuktituk. An Aboriginal Carol is certain to become a classic.

Awards

• Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice, 2009

Additional Information
32 pages | 8.50" x 11.00"

A beautiful and visionary book, Ancient Thunder celebrates wild horses and the natural world of the prairies. Using an extraordinary technique, Leo Yerxa, an artist of Ojibway ancestry, makes paper look like leather, so that his illustrations seem to be painted on leather shirts. The art is accompanied by a rich song of praise for the wild horses that came to play such an important role in the lives of the First Peoples. 

Years in the making, the book is truly a work of art — one that reflects Yerxa's sense of nature and the place of the First Peoples within it.

Awards

• In 2008, Ancient Thunder was the award recipient for First Nation Communities Read.
• Winner of the Governor General's Award

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 4 and up (Grades k and up)

Curriculum Connections: Language Arts, Visual Arts

Additional Information
40 pages | 8.30" x 10.80"

Animals of the Salish Sea is a wonderful new book for home and school. This book shares Coast Salish traditional teachings of 26 animals. Also included is the specific aspects of each animal who live in this unique marine environment.

Explore the Salish Sea through the First Nations and Native art of Coast Salish artists (including: Terry Horne, Doug LaFortune, Francis Horne Sr., Maynard Johnny Jr., Marissa Nahanee, Latash Nahanee, Simone Diamond, Erica Joseph, Darrell Thorne, Doug Horne, Chad Leon, Joe Sxwaset-Wilson) and Musqueam, Coast Salish author Melaney Gleeson-Lyall.

"The Coast Salish people have been the guardians of the Salish Sea for thousands of years.  The Salish Sea provides us food and sustenance for living, ceremonies, and journeys of life.  We use the Salish Sea as our highway to travel and visit all of our relations.  Our cedar plank longhouses lined the shores inviting all of our visitors to our lands." - Doug LaFortune, Coast Salish 

Educator Information
This beautiful and colourful book offers teachings about the animals of the Salish Sea! 

Additional Information
Hardcover

This whimsical story celebrates the revitalization of Cree dialects and traditional methods of storytelling.

During an unfortunate mishap, young Awâsis loses Kôhkum’s freshly baked world-famous bannock. Not knowing what to do, Awâsis seeks out a variety of other-than-human relatives willing to help. What adventures are in store for Awâsis?

Additional Information
28 pages | 9.00" x 9.00"

This is the official book of the 2011 All Native Basketball Tournament. These games have been held in Prince Rupert, British Columbia for over 50 years. Since its inception, the Tournament has become an important cultural gathering.

B is For Basketball was created in collaboration with the students and teachers of School District No. 50 on Haida Gwaii. It is a tribute, and it is a labour of love.

Finally, this is also an alphabet book that includes a Foreword by Governor General Award-Winning Artist Robert Davidson, and is filled with captivating illustrations, which is sure to be enjoyed by all!

B is For Basketball was recently featured on the CBC's North By Northwest! Congrats to the Students and Teachers of School District #50 (Haida Gwaii), and to Judy!

Educator Information
B is For Basketball was created in collaboration with the students and teachers of School District No. 50 on Haida Gwaii. It is a tribute, and it is a labour of love. 

Additional Information
Foreward by Robert Davidson (Haida)

Donovan is hungry for a special kind of breakfast . . . Makwa!

It’s breakfast time and Donovan knows exactly what he wants this morning! Not eggs, not pancakes, not cereal. No, what he wants is BEAR, just like his grandfather used to eat for breakfast!

So Donovan sets off to bag a bear of his own, going on an adventurous hunt through the woods, where he stalks and is stalked by an ant, a squirrel, and a dog — but they are not bears, so he shoos them away!

When Donovan finally meets a real, big and growling bear, he quickly learns that sometimes breakfast tastes best when it doesn’t have any teeth!

Educator Information
This dual-language edition includes both the original English text and an Algonquin translation.

This story was inspired by Donovan, a first-grader in in La Loche, a community in northern Saskatchewan that Robert Munsch visited in January, 1990. When Robert asked what the kids liked to eat, Donovan said that he liked to eat BEAR! Illustrator Jay Odjick is a member of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation and the creator of the Algonquin Word of the Day series.

Also available in French and English.

Additional Information
32 pages | 8.00" x 10.00"

Based in Duck Bay, Manitoba, in the 1940s, an Elder shares his experience of packing up to go out to collect blueberries, a traditional gathering that took place every summer. He describes the journey and landscape with humor and such vivid imagery that readers will see themselves there with him, boarding the trail of wagons from surrounding communities and heading east toward the blueberry patch. The Elder's stories offer a journey back in time and are complemented by images of fields of plump blueberries, tall green grass, bannock baking over an open fire, clear freshwater streams and the tents the people slept in.

Educator Information
Written in English and Anishinaabemowin. Includes a page of after-reading activities for kids at the back of the book that both test reading comprehension and encourage further inquiry and exploration.

Recommended for ages 6-8.

Themes: Manitoba, Berries, Food Sovereignty, Indigenous, Traditions, Food, Culture.

Includes a recipe for bannock.

Translated by Norman Chartrand.

Additional Information
32 pages | 8.00" x 8.00"

This Dene-English story book was produced by the students and teachers of Ducharme Elementary School in La Loche, Saskatchewan, with assistance from local advisors and elders. Together, they wrote the story, translated it, and worked on the pictures. 

Their goal was to highlight some aspects of Dene culture that were vital in the past and are still important today. They wanted to show the continuity of a genuine and successful way of life, and emphasize culturally-significant events and attitudes. 

To produce the book, over 400 hundred students provided ideas for the storyline and art samples for the illustrations. Two hundred letters went out to the community families, asking for ideas and information with regard to story content. A dozen elders were consulted to provide accurate and culturally-correct information. A teacher committee of six worked on the project for two years. 

Byron Through the Seasons is a story told by Grandfather Jonas and imagined by his grandson, Byron. The balloon diagram in each picture represents the symbolic journey taken by Byron as he listens to stories of what Dene life is like during the four seasons of the year.

Favored selection by the Canadian Children's Book Centre, Byron Through the Seasons: A Dene-English Story Book recalls early aspects of Dene lifestyle, from tanning and medicine to camping and food preservation.

Educator Information
B.C. Science Supplementary Resource: Gr.1- Earth and Space Science

Recommended ages: 4-8.

Written in English and the Dene language (Chipewyan).

Additional Information
32 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"

Joe and Cody are young Cree brothers who follow the caribou all year long, tucked into their dog sled with their Mama and Papa. To entice the wandering herds, Joe plays the Kitoochigan, his accordion, and Cody dances, whirling like a young caribou. They are so busy playing and dancing, they don't hear the rumble of the caribou. Bursting from the forest, ten thousand animals fill the meadow like a lake. Joe is engulfed; he can barely see Cody a few yards away, perched like a doll on the caribou moss. Their parents seem to have disappeared.

And yet what should be a moment of terror turns into something mystical and magical, as the boys open their arms and their hearts to embrace the caribou spirit.

A tale that is perfectly simple and satisfying, yet infused with layers of wonder that will open both children's and adults' minds to the intriguing possibilities of independence, separation and the strength of the spirit, Caribou Song is the first in a three-book series about Joe and Cody.

Reviews
"Caribou Song is a story of family, tradition, spirit, and livelihood. Music weaves the elements together, making them soar just as Highway's words and Rombough's art beautifully and evocatively express a way of life that has slipped (or is slipping) away. Rombough's illustrations in Caribou Song are strongly influenced by the Woodland (or Anishinaabe) School, with its emphasis on dark outlines, vivid colours, and visionary imagery. Founding member Norval Morrisseau's iconic style lives on in Rombough's work, but where they diverge is in the almost effervescent quality of Rombough's paintings. Bubbling with circular imagery and spots of amethyst, sapphire and topaz, framed in black and laid over flat washes of colour, each scene is like a pane of stained glass; a mix of storytelling and spirituality that is simply magnificent." — 32pages.ca

"Tomson Highway's mastery creates an exciting, action-packed plot. Elements of suspense simultaneously entertain beauty, magic, and whimsy. Highway artfully crafts his scenes with the vivid river imagery capturing the full drama of the caribou's presence - the sound of their hooves beating on the earth like the pounding of drums. Caribou Song is an experience for the senses. — CM Magazine

Educator & Series Information
Written in English with Cree translations.

This is the first book in the Songs of the North Wind series.

Additional Information
32 pages | 9.00" x 10.50"

Follow the adventures of Chuck as he gets lost on his first trip to the big city. Chuck encounters stray dogs and alley cats, kids on skateboards and rollerblades, and tall office towers. After realizing he is lost, Chuck relies on what he has learned to find his way back to his kookum's (grandmother's) condo.

Chuck in the City is Jordan Wheeler's second book for children. The award-winning Cree author and scriptwriter previously introduced young readers to Chuck in Just a Walk. Wheeler writes in a rhyming style that will capture and hold a child's attention.

Series Information
This is the second book in the Chuck series.

Additional Information
32 pages | 8.00" x 8.00"