Browse Books for Adults

Discover the tool that millions of people worldwide are using for guidance, inspiration, and help in finding answers to life's questions. now, revised and expanded to include eight additional cards, this unique and powerful divination system draws upon ancient wisdom and tradition to teach the healing medicine of animals. Medicine Cards has found its way into the hearts and hands of many, guiding the way to healing the body, emotions, mind, and spirit, and providing insight into and understanding of one's unique purpose in life.

A great resource to use with intermediate and secondary students! -Terri Mack

Reviews
“Since the publication of the Navaho novel, Seven Arrows, over twenty years ago, I haven't seen anything so adventurous or beautifully executed as Medicine Cards...this handsome and inviting package has much to teach us all.” —Patricia Holt, San Francisco Chronicle

“A potent yet refreshingly simple divination tool that can help up reconnect to the sources of life's natural guidance...extraordinarily well crafted. This work is plentiful, overflowing with the richness of the Native American way of life.” —Yoga Journal

Additional Information
256 pages | 5.77" x 8.84" | 62 black-and-white illustrations, cards include full color illustrations 

Named in the University of Toronto Bookstore Review as one of the top100 Canadian books of all time

There is much more than one good story in this bestselling (over 10,000 copies sold) collection of short fiction. In fact, there are more than a few of the best examples of native storytelling ever published. Thomas King, author of the acclaimed Medicine River and Green Grass, Running Water, and Truth and Bright Water, has proven he has a magical gift, a fresh voice and a special brand of wit and comic imagination.

One Good Story, That One is steeped in native oral tradition, led off by a sly creation tale, introducing the traditional native trickster coyote. Weaving the realities of native history and contemporary life through the story, King recounts a parodic version of the Garden of Eden story, slyly pulling our leg and our funnybone.

A collection that is rich with strong characters, alive with crisp dialogue and shot through with the universal truths we are all searching for, One Good Story, That One is one great read.

Additional Information
160 pages | 5.31" x 8.00"

The powerful, major book, acclaimed across Canada, from the great-great-granddaughter of Chief Big Bear and Rudy Wiebe, twice winner of the Governor General''s Award for Fiction. A story of justice and social injustices, of murder and morality, and of finding spiritual strength in events that might break us, told with redeeming compassion and poetic eloquence. Stolen Life is a raw, honest, and beautifully written account of the troubled society we live in, and a deeply moving affirmation of spiritual healing.

The Baby Blues is Drew Hayden Taylor’s highly wrought farce of patrimony in a stifling, politically correct, post-colonial milieu of “fancy dancers” of every stripe on the powwow trail. In juxtaposing three generations of careless wandering hedonists, progenitors of a string of offspring from their six-night stands, with their erstwhile naïve women partners who are always left holding the bag, the “big questions” of heritage, family, cultural context and personal identity are ruthlessly stripped of their conventional meanings and become so much useless, embarrassing roadkill on the highway of life.

Cast of 3 women and 3 men.

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

The Tahltan people of northern BC share family favourites with adapted, modernized and traditional First Nations recipes. Included are traditional game recipes and information on preparing moose, deer and bear.

See Tahltan Cookbook Volumes 2 also listed.

Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth is the emotional story of a woman’s struggle to acknowledge her birth family. Grace, a Native girl adopted by a White family, is asked by her birth sister to return to the Reserve for their mother’s funeral. Afraid of opening old wounds, Grace must find a place where the culture of her past can feed the truth of her present. Cast  of 2 women and 2 men.

Reviews
“…this play is a very tender, engaging look at two strangers learning to be sisters…witty one-liners and snappy dialogue has crafted likeable, real characters…brings a satisfying sense of closure to the struggles of Barb and Janice/Grace. It is a welcome ending, one that reflects hope for the future – not only for these two sisters , but also for all the others who have yet to find their way home.” - Cheryl Isaacs, Aboriginal Voices.

Awards

• James Buller Award for Playwright of the Year, 1997
• Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play, Small Theatre Division, 1996.

Educator Information
Grades 11-12 BC English First Peoples resource for the units Yes, there is Funny Stuff - Humour in First Peoples Literature and What Creates Family?

Additional Information
112 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"

In-depth analysis of the 130-year history of the Aboriginal title issue in British Columbia, including the Gitksan and Wet'suwet'en case.

Anthropologists have traditionally studied Europe’s “others” and the marginalized and excluded within Europe’s and North America’s boundaries. This book turns the anthropologist’s spyglass in the opposite direction: on the law, the institution that quintessentially embodies and reproduces Western power.

The Pleasure of the Crown offers a comprehensive look at how Canadian, particularly British Columbian, society “reveals itself” through its courtroom performances in Aboriginal title litigation. Rather than asking what cultural beliefs and practices First Nations draw on to support their appeals for legal recognition of Aboriginal title, Culhane asks what assumptions, beliefs, and cultural values the Crown relies on to assert and defend their claims to hold legitimate sovereignty and jurisdiction over lands and resources in B.C. What empirical evidence does the Crown present to bolster its arguments? What can thus be learned by anthropologists and the public at large about the historical and contemporary culture of the powerful?

Focusing in particular on the Gitksan and Wet’suwet’en case, the book traces the trial of Delgamuukw. v. Regina from its first hearing during 1987 and 1991 to its successful appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, which issued a landmark ruling on the case on December 11, 1997.

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

This important and timely book is a balance of the most gruesome elements of assimilation: church-run schools, the child welfare system, survivors of sexual abuse, and Foetal Alcohol Syndrome counter-balanced against heroic stories of children who survived, fought back, and found their way home.

Harrrowing stories are presented wherever possible in the first person, by Fournier, a journalist, and Cree, a B.C native spokesperson and activist, and a stolen child himself. The final message is optimistic, suggesting that redress and reconciliation could enrich the entire country by creating healthy aboriginal communities.

The Kingfisher Camp River Detectives Teacher's Guide provides excellent support materials to meet the national Life Science learning outcomes for the development of skills and the acquisition of knowledge. The guide facilitates the integrative teaching of Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies.

This guide includes:

• activities integrating themes across the curriculum (Language Arts, Social Studies, Math, and Art)
• hands-on activities
• reproducible blackline masters
• suggested assessment strategies and tools
• references and annotated resource list of related titles
• links to appropriate WWW sites

This is the first generously illustrated biography of the Mohawk poet-performer E. Pauline Johnson-Tekahionwake. The author has created an exciting volume of anecdotes, letters and poetry, and illustrated it with period photographs and new illustrations by the Six Nations artist, Raymond R. Skye.

While the story of Pauline Johnson has been told before, it has never been given the intimacy that this book provides. Tracing her ancestry, moving on to explore her extraordinary stage career, and finally shedding light on Pauline Johnson's last years in Vancouver, Sheila M.F. Johnston has breathed new life into the compelling story of one of Canada's brightest literary and stage stars.

This book contains over forty poems that are not part of Pauline Johnson's classic collection of poems, Flint and Feather. The "uncollected" poems have been culled from archives, libraries and out-of-print books. They shed light on the development of the poet, and enlighten and enrich her life story.

Buckskin & Broadcloth is truly a celebration of the life of a Canadian hero – one whose legacy to Canadian literature and Canadian theatre is unparalleled.

Nancy Turner describes more than 150 plants traditionally harvested and eaten by First Peoples east of the Coast Mountains in British Columbia and northern Washington. Each description includes information on where to find the plant and a discussion on traditional methods of harvesting and preparation.

Educator Information
B.C. Science Supplementary Resouce Gr.7- Life Science

Additional Information
224 pages | 5.50" x 8.50"

Leading Native American scholar and author of the best-selling books God Is Red and Custer Died for Your Sins, Vine Deloria, Jr., addresses the conflict between mainstream scientific theory about the world and the ancestral worldview of Native Americans. Claiming that science has created a largely fictional scenario for American Indians in prehistoric North America, Deloria offers an alternative view of the continent's history as seen through the eyes and memories of Native Americans.

“There are ancient secrets and lessons hidden in nature. If you seek for guidance, you will discover truth.” —Bobby Lake-Thom

Much of the ancient knowledge that has been passed down from Native American medicine men, or shamans is in danger of being lost. Bobby Lake-Thom, a Native American healer known as Medicine Grizzly Bear, has sought to preserve this powerful heritage by sharing his wisdom and experience learning from the world around us. The result is Spirits of the Earth, an extraordinary compilation of legends and rituals about nature’s ever-present signs. From the birds that soar above us to the insincts beneath our feet, Bobby Lake-Thom shows how the creatures of the earth can aid us in healing and self-knowledge.

What does it mean if a hawk appears in a dream? What are the symbolic interpretations of a deer, a skunk, a raccoon? Lake-Thom, who has studied with the elders of many tribes, explains the significance of animal figures as manifestations of good or evil, and shows how we can develop our own powers of awareness and intuition. The first book of its kind, this practical and enlightening resource includes dozens of fashinating animal myths and legends, as well as exercises and activities that draw upon animal powers for guidance, healing, wisdom, and the expansion of spiritual influences in our lifes. You’ll discover here:

- How animals, birds, and insects act as signs and omens
- The significance of vision quests
- How to make and use a medicine wheel
- The role of spirit symbols—and how they affect the unconscious
- Excercises for creative dreaming
- The power of the earth-healing ceremony
- How to increase your spiritual strength and create sacred spaces
- And more

The Cedar Club Forest Detectives Teacher's Guide provides excellent support materials to meet the learning standards for the development of skills and the acquisition of knowledge. The guides facilitate the integrative teaching of Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies.

This guide includes:

• activities integrating themes across the curriculum (Language Arts, Social Studies, Math, and Art)
• hands-on activities
• reproducible blackline masters
• suggested assessment strategies and tools
• references and annotated resource list of related titles
• links to appropriate WWW sites

Dene Elder George Blondin creates a spiritual guidebook that weaves together oral stories with the recounting of how the northern Canadian Dene came to depend on the European fur traders. The result is a magical journey for readers of any heritage.

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