Browse Books for Kids

Three young cousins explore the woods in search of medicines that heal and purify, also gathering advice from wise beings who offer life lessons cherished through generations.

“I’m running low on medicines,” says Grandma Mindy. At once, Lily, Ogimaa, and Ellie are ready to help. Together they will travel Mashkiki Road—the road where the medicines grow—in search of sage and cedar for Grandma.

Not too far into the woods, they encounter Makwa (Bear), who introduces them to the Seven Grandfather Teachings. Makwa advises them to have the courage to do what is right. Farther along the path they meet Sa’be (Bigfoot), who represents honesty, and Mashkode-Bizhiikii (Buffalo), who encourages respect. When the cousins reach a grove of sage plants, they know what to do. They put out tobacco, give thanks, and gather just the amount Grandma needs—no more, no less.

As they continue on Mashkiki Road, they meet Ma’iingan (Wolf), Amik (Beaver), and Mikinaak (Turtle), who each offer their own lessons. At the cedar grove, the children put out tobacco, give thanks, and gather what they need. As they head home at last, Migizi (Eagle) glides by to assure them he has been watching over their journey. Migizi offers the seventh Grandfather Teaching: love.

Back at Grandma’s, Lily, Ogimaa, and Ellie have much treasure to share: cedar and sage from Mashkiki Road, and also tales of the wisdom they gained along the way.

Reviews
"Native teachings are at the center of this beautiful children's picture book by two members of the Red Lake Ojibwe.... Their partnership is a winner. Barrett’s lyrical text is perfectly complemented by Thunder’s contemporary illustrations."- St. Paul Pioneer Press

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 3 to 7.

Includes a Glossary of Ojibwe words used in the story.

Additional Information
32 pages | 10.00" x 10.00" | Hardcover

Formerly titled On My Walk, this activity book, Me and My Community, has been revised and updated to include new activities, new colouring pages, and more writing prompts.

Additional Information
24 Pages | ISBN: 9781771740586

Traditional teachings about the moon cycles and their relation to the natural history of Mi’kma’ki on Canada’s East Coast.

For thousands of years, the Mi’kmaq have been closely observing the natural world and the cycles of the moon and the stars to track the passage of time. Each full moon in an annual cycle was named by the Mi’kmaq to relate to a seasonal event, such as tomcod spawning, birds laying eggs or berry ripening.

For the past decade, Mi’kmaw Elders and Knowledge Keepers have shared stories of the traditional night sky calendar with authors Cathy LeBlanc and David Chapman. In this book, Cathy relays these stories in her role as Auntie to her young relation Holly.

Each moon’s story is richly illustrated with an evocative colour painting created for this book by the noted Mi’kmaw artist Loretta Gould.

Alongside this presentation of the Mi’kmaw time-keeping traditions, this book offers a brief history of the modern Western calendar, and some basic astronomy facts about the moon’s phases and why the seasons change.

This two-eyed seeing approach takes young readers on a journey through one full year in Mi’kma’ki.

Educator Information
Juvenile fiction.

Includes some Mi'kmaw words.

A board book version is available here: Mi’kmaw Moons: A First Lunar Calendar.

Additional Information
56 pages | 11.02" x 9.01" | Paperback

Mia and the monsters are looking for colours! Can you help them? In this interactive board book, children can join Mia and her monster friends as they look for different colours on the tundra.

Educator & Series Information
This is an Arvaaq Book. Books in this series are intended for infants and very young children and are designed to help children develop physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and language skills.

Recommended Ages: 3 - 5

Dual-Language: English and Inuktitut

Additional Information
16 pages | 8.50" x 8.50" | Boardbook

From the popular series that launched with Tree: A Peek-Through Picture Book comes a book with peek-through holes that show the moon's different phases with each turn of the page.

Over deserts and forests, Arctic tundra and tropical beaches, the moon shines down on creatures around the world. Children will love discovering how it changes from day to day as the lunar cycle is shown through clever peek-through holes, each revealing the moon in a different size and shape.

It's the perfect light nonfiction book for young stargazers—and an ideal bedtime book, ending with a giant moon hovering over a sleepy town hunkered down for bed.

Educator Information
For ages 3 and under.

Concepts: Seasons, Science, Nature, Astronomy.

Additional Information
26 pages | 6.13" x 7.56" | Board book

Morning Song is a Cree girl who lives on a reserve. She does not like to eat vegetables because she thinks they are not important and do not taste good. One day, she goes on a walk and stumbles upon a magic garden where vegetables can talk. Morning Song meets carrots, cabbage, cucumbers, potatoes, pumpkins and other vegetables which explain her why each of them is an important part of a healthy diet. The book teaches children about the importance of eating healthy and living a happy and active lifestyle.

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 4 to 8.

Additional Information
26 pages | 8.00" x 8.00" | Paperback

An educational and heartfelt retelling of the story of the Mi'kmaq and their traditional lands, Mi'kma'ki, for young readers, focused on the generational traumas of the Indian Residential School System.

"The story of the Mi'kmaw people is one that very few truly know, Ladybug. Even fewer understand what happened at the residential schools. It is a hard story to tell, but you must know the truth. Sit and I will tell you the story."

When seven-year-old Muinji'j comes home from school one day, her Nana and Papa can tell right away that she's upset. Her teacher has been speaking about the residential schools. Unlike most of her fellow students, Muinji'j has always known about the residential schools. But what she doesn't understand is why the schools existed and why children would have died there.

Nana and Papa take Muinji'j aside and tell her the whole story, from the beginning. They help her understand all of the decisions that were made for the Mi'kmaq, not with the Mi'kmaq, and how those decisions hurt her people. They tell her the story of her people before their traditional ways were made illegal, before they were separated and sent to reservations, before their words, their beliefs, and eventually, their children, were taken from them.

A poignant, honest, and necessary book featuring brilliant artwork from Mi'kmaw artist Zeta Paul and words inspired by Muinji'j MacEachern's true story, Muinji'j Asks Why will inspire conversation, understanding, and allyship for readers of all ages.

Educator Information
Juvenile Nonfiction 

Additional Information
40 pages | Paperback

A woman fondly reflects on her childhood with her Nuakuluapik.

She remembers all the things they used to do together and how kind her Nuakuluapik always was. This heartfelt story illuminates the strength of intergenerational relationships and the ways we hold onto loved ones even after they are gone.

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 5 to 7.

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. This book is a Level 9 book in the series.

Nunavummi Reading Series books have also been officially levelled using the Fountas & Pinnell Text Level Gradient™ Levelling System. This book's F&P Level is I.

Additional Information
20 pages | 9.00" x 9.00" | Paperback

A girl lovingly tends to her garden through the seasons.

In the depths of winter, one young girl is already dreaming of planting her very own vegetable garden. In January, she sketches out the rows of lettuce, the trellis for the peas, and a large plot for the tomatoes while she waits for warmer weather. March is time for sowing, and April gives way to the first leaves of her seedlings.

As the seasons change from spring to summer, she (with the help of her moms) spreads compost and turns up the soil to finally plant her veggies into the earth. As the months go by, she lovingly weeds, waters, and cares for her garden until it’s time to harvest a bounty big enough to share with all their friends! My Delicious Garden celebrates the joy of growing food from seed and is a cozy exploration of the connections between nature, food, and community.

Reviews
"The unique monthly focus is an interesting and helpful take on gardening; readers will learn about different types of vegetables and flowers equally. Whether there is a garden at school or not, this is a charming addition to the shelves and could be adapted to a very early science lesson for preschoolers, too." — School Library Journal

"All children will be inspired to grow their own gardens, and those children who live in urban environments will understand and appreciate the work, time, and patience, not to mention the joy and sense of accomplishment, it takes to maintain a garden." — School Library Connection

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 4 to 8. 

Keywords and Themes: Gardening, Science, Nature, Cooking, Food, Outdoor Activities, Outdoor Learning

Additional Information
24 pages | 9.00" x 9.00" | Hardcover 

Little Ocean has a friend. She has four legs and a tail! In this picture book, Ocean and her friend show us what friendship is all about.

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for preschool-aged children.

This book is part of the The Adventure Series of Learning With Ocean.

Additional Information
16 Pages 

"Oof! My hood is not big enough!" said Mother Fox. Who will help her?

Mother Fox loves all her babies so much. But when she tries to carry all eight of her babies on her back, her hood's not big enough! What will she do? See how her family offers to help as Mother Fox learns she does not need to carry all her babies alone.

Snuggle up and enjoy a sweet story about motherhood and family in this sweet bilingual picture book.

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 3 - 5.

This is an Arvaaq Book. Books in this series are intended for infants and very young children and are designed to help children develop physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and language skills.

Includes activities for parents and teachers in a Let's Talk section.

Additional Information
24 pages | 11.00" x 14.00" | Hardcover

Maniq loves her ittu (short for ittupajaaq, an Inuktitut word for grandfather). He’s brave—enough to wrestle the grumpiest polar bear, if he ever needed to! He’s tall—enough to see over the tallest mountain tops. He’s generous—enough to walk through a blizzard to make sure others have delicious food to eat. And above all, he loves his grandkids, every single one of them—and there must be close to one hundred, by Maniq’s count at least!

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 3 to 5.

Additional Information
28 pages | 9.50" x 8.50" | Hardcover 

A debut picture book that explores the importance of pronouncing names properly and celebrates cultural identity.

Saajin loves his name—he loves it so much that he sees it spelled out in the world around him in his snacks, in the sky and sometimes he even sings it aloud. On his first day of school, Saajin is excited to meet his new classmates, but things take a turn when the teacher mispronounces his name as Say-jin and he is not sure how—or if he should—correct her. After trying to live with the different version of his name for a while and some thoughtful conversations with his family about the meaning behind it, Saajin realizes the importance of reclaiming his name and embracing his identity. This empowering story, accompanied by energetic and vibrant art by Samrath Kaur, will resonate with any reader who has ever felt misunderstood.

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 4 to 7.

Additional Information
36 pages | 8.00" x 10.00" | Hardcover 

An honest look at life in an Indian residential school in the 1950s, and how one indomitable young spirit survived it — 30th anniversary edition.

Seepeetza loves living on Joyaska Ranch with her family. But when she is six years old, she is driven to the town of Kalamak, in the interior of British Columbia. Seepeetza will spend the next several years of her life at an Indian residential school. The nuns call her Martha and cut her hair. Worst of all, she is forbidden to “talk Indian,” even with her sisters and cousins.

Still, Seepeetza looks for bright spots — the cookie she receives at Halloween, the dance practices. Most of all, there are her memories of holidays back at the ranch — camping trips, horseback riding, picking berries and cleaning fish with her mother, aunt and grandmother. Always, thoughts of home make school life bearable.

Based on her own experiences at the Kamloops Indian Residential School, this powerful novel by Nlaka’pamux author Shirley Sterling is a moving account of one of the most blatant expressions of racism in the history of Canada.

Includes a new afterword by acclaimed Cree author Tomson Highway of the Barren Lands First Nation in northern Manitoba.

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 9 to 12.

Key Text Features: afterword, dialogue, journal entries, maps.

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.2
Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.1
Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.6
Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.

Includes a new afterword by acclaimed Cree author Tomson Highway of the Barren Lands First Nation in northern Manitoba.

Additional Information
128 pages | 5.10" x 7.50"

Little Ocean has a special blanket made just for her. In this picture book, Ocean shows us how her Star Blanket is special to her.

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for preschool-aged children.

Little Ocean shows us how Star Blankets are important to her Cultures.

This book is part of the The Adventure Series of Learning With Ocean.

Additional Information
24 Pages