Browse Books for Kids

Belugas are one of the many amazing animals found in Nunavut! Learn all about what belugas look like, where they live, what they eat, how they communicate, and where they migrate. This non-fiction book gives information and facts about belugas alongside beautiful photographs and illustrations.

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 6 to 8.

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. It is a Level 8-11 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 L.

Additional Information
24 pages | 8.00" x 8.00" | Paperback | Colour photographs throughout

Learn all about where grizzly bears live, what they eat, and how they hunt.

This non-fiction book gives information about the grizzly bear, one of the most powerful and resilient animals of the North.

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 6 to 8.

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. It is a Level 8-11 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 M.

Additional Information
24 pages | 8.00" x 8.00" | Paperback | Colour photographs throughout

This book is for everyone. Because we can all be allies.

As an ally, you use your power—no matter how big or small—to support others. You learn, and try, and mess up, and try harder. In this collection of true stories, 17 critically acclaimed and bestselling YA authors get real about being an ally, needing an ally, and showing up for friends and strangers.

From raw stories of racism and invisible disability to powerful moments of passing the mic, these authors share their truths. They invite you to think about your own experiences and choices and how to be a better ally.

There are no easy answers, but this book helps you ask better questions. Self-reflection prompts, resources, journaling ideas, and further reading suggestions help you find out what you can do. Because we’re all in this together. And we all need allies.

A portion of the proceeds from this book goes to supporting charities.

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 12+

A new anthology helps young adult readers become better allies.

Additional Information
240 pages | 6.38" x 9.50" | Hardcover 

The beaver is busy...
This delightful children's picture book tells the story of amik, the beaver, who works on his dam throughout the day while nature and the activities of other animals carry on around him. At the end of a long day, amik returns to his den to be with his family.

Along with its beautiful cut-paper illustrations, Amik offers the chance for children to learn words and phrases in the Ojibwe language, as the text appears in both English and Anishinaabemowin. A fun, colourful and engaging book for children ages three through six.

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 3 to 6.

Dual-language: English and Anishinaabemowin

Additional Information
20 pages | 9.00" x 8.00" | Board  Book

In this book, kids will learn how wolverines raise their babies, where they live, what they eat, and other interesting information, like how they use their distinctive scent and how they became known as the gluttons of the animal kingdom!

Reviews
"Niptanatiak shares the scientific facts about the animal in a very accessible and simple way, so despite its factual nature this book feels like anything but a boring textbook. A key focus of the facts is how the wolverine engages with its surroundings and other animals, making it a great way to introduce young readers to the Indigenous concept of relationality." - Excerpt from IBBY Canada's From Sea to Sea to Sea: Celebrating Indigenous Picture Books - 2023 Edition

Educator & Series Information 
This book is part of the non-fiction Animals Illustrated series, which mixes fun-filled animal facts suitable for the youngest of readers with intricately detailed illustrations to create a unique and beautiful collection of children’s non-fiction books on Arctic animals. Each volume contains firsthand accounts from authors who live in the Arctic, along with interesting facts on the behaviours and biology of each animal.

Themes: Nunavut, Inuit, Indigenous, Arctic Animals, STEM

"A key focus of the facts is how the wolverine engages with its surroundings and other animals, making it a great way to introduce young readers to the Indigenous concept of relationality" - From Sea to Sea to Sea 2023 Edition 

Recommended Ages: 6 to 8.

Available in French: Carcajou

Additional Information 
28 pages | 6.50" x 9.00" | Hardcover

A collection of poetry by one of the greatest Indigenous poets of the Americas about the vanished world of his childhood — that of the Maya K’iche’.

Aquí era el paraíso / Here Was Paradise is a selection of poems written by the great Maya poet Humberto Ak’abal. They evoke his childhood in and around the Maya K’iche’ village of Momostenango, Guatemala, and also describe his own role as a poet of the place.

Ak’abal writes about children, and grandfathers, and mothers, and animals, and ghosts, and thwarted love, and fields, and rains, and poetry, and poverty, and death.

The poetry was written for adults but can also be read and loved by young people, especially in this collection, beautifully illustrated by award-winning Guatemalan-American illustrator Amelia Lau Carling.

Ak’abal is famous worldwide as one of the great contemporary poets in the Spanish language, and one of the greatest Indigenous poets of the Americas. Ak’abal created his poems first in K’iche’, then translated them into Spanish.

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 9+.

Dual-language in English and Spanish.

Key Text Features: foreword, biographical information, poems, translation

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.5.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.5
Explain how a series of chapters, scenes, or stanzas fits together to provide the overall structure of a particular story, drama, or poem.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.7
Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, poem).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.5
Analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the theme, setting, or plot.

Excerpt from the Introduction by Patricia Aldana: "In this book we find poems about children, and grandfathers, and mothers, and animals, and ghosts, and thwarted love, and fields, and rains, and poetry, and poverty, and death. Ak'abal never pretended that life in his world was easy. The history of Guatemala is complex. It has the highest Indigenous population as a percentage of any country in the Americas. And Maya people have suffered terrible discrimination, violence and poverty since the arrival of the Europeans. But Ak'abal's poems convey how all his world's elements also came together to create a deep, rich reality.... Reading these wonderful poems can remind us that it is still possible to fight to protect this beautiful world and the people who live in and on it." 

Additional Information
172 pages | 6.50" x 8.31" | 14 Colour Illustrations | Hardcover | Translated by Hugh Hazelton

"Aadizookaanan or Sacred Stories were passed down for thousands of years, filling the long winter nights with Anishinaabeg oral histories, philosophies, and ceremonies. Bagone-Giizhig is one of the many ancient stories that Anishinaabeg Ancestors have gifted us. The constellations of Wenaboozhoo and Bagone-Giizhig rise in the East during the Winter season. This signifies when it is time to share Aadizookaanan and reminds the Anishinaabeg of where they come from. These cultural Teachings shine bright in the night sky and this is the Anishinaabe way of life." 

Text in English translation and in the original Anishinaabemowin/Ojibwe.

Educator Information
Recommended for grades 4 to 7.

Dual-language: English with the original hand-written Anishinaabemowin version of the story at the back.

Additional Information
61 Pages

In this beautifully illustrated children’s book, readers will experience the world in a new way as they see the seasons through the joyful eyes of Nimkii, a fun, nature-loving dog who will teach them a whole new language: Ojibwemowin, a language spoken by the indigenous tribes in parts of Michigan, Ontario, northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, and Alberta.

Whether hunting for maple trees in the fall, playing in the snow in the winter, enjoying the spring showers, or swimming in the summer, Nimkii seeks out activities that allow her to enjoy her natural surroundings. Fun and inspiring, this bilingual book helps children and adults communicate in new ways while exploring different elements of culture.

Educator Information
Children's Literature

Dual-language: English and Ojibwemowin 

Translated by Margaret Noodin, of the Pine Marten Clan. 

Additional Information
38 pages | 11.00" x 8.50" | Hardcover 

When Nekaloakyok was a young girl, she loved going berry picking with her Granny Nalvana. Based on the memories of the author, this book tells the story of a family trip picking akpiks and other berries at Four Mile Bay, near Kugluktuk, Nunavut. Join Nekaloakyok as she reflects on childhood memories and special moments spent with family.

Educator & Series 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. This book is a level 13 book in the Nunavummi Reading 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 O.

This is a story about tradition and multi-generational relationships based on the author's life growing up in Coppermine (now Kugluktuk). Inuktitut glossary included in endpages.

Recommended for ages 7 to 9.

Curriculum Connections & Keywords: Inuit traditions and ways of life; Indigenous History; Heritage; Memoir; Family 

Additional Information
50 pages | 9.00" x 10.00" | Hardcover 

A picture book from the creators of All Are Welcome to help children navigate BIG FEELINGS!

In their bestselling picture book All Are Welcome, Alexandra Penfold and Suzanne Kaufman celebrate kindness, inclusivity, and diversity. Now with Big Feelings, they help children navigate the emotional challenges they face in their daily lives.

What should we do when things don't go to plan? We may feel mad, frustrated, or overwhelmed, but by talking it through, compromising, and seeing another point of view, we can start fresh, begin anew.

Reviews
“The little cast is expressive and energetic, and the reward for their hard work—a cleaned-up lot, a fabulous tire swing, and a gleeful, communal puddle splash—feels well-deserved.” –Publishers Weekly

“As with its predecessor, its strength is again the diversity on display in its pages.” –Kirkus Reviews

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 4 to 8.

This book is available in French: Tempête d'émotions.

Additional Information
42 pages | 10.38" x 10.25" | Hardcover

Enookie is learning how to sort things. He has four animals he needs to sort by their size. Can you help Enookie sort the animals from biggest to smallest?

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 3 and under.

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.

Dual-language: English and Inuktitut

Keywords / Themes: Math (Concepts: Size and Shape); Inuktitut; Animals 

Additional Information
28 pages | 7.00" x 9.00" | Board Book

Too fat, too thin. Muffin top, flat bum, thunder thighs, spaghetti arms. From an early age, kids learn they are judged for how they look. Both boys and girls are bombarded with messages of what they should look like and are shamed for not measuring up. When kids encounter conflict based on stereotypes of body image, they need the understanding and the tools to deal with the situation and not let it damage their self-esteem. This book provides information, relatable situations and opportunities for kids to explore cultural standards, their own assumptions and those of others.

This accessible illustrated book offers information, quizzes, comics and real-life situations to help kids think critically about body image, how it influences how others see them and how they see themselves. Considered from the viewpoints of the Internalizer, who suffers from body-image issues, the Influencer, who perpetuates negative stereotypes and standards of body image and the Witness, with conflicts around body image, this issue is identified, examined and put into a context kids can use to navigate issues of shaming and self-esteem.

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 9 to 14.

The Deal With It series helps adolescents cope with conflicts in everyday life and promote peaceful homes, schools, and communities.

Additional Information
32 pages | 8.50" x 11.02"

Celebrate diversity, math, and the power of storytelling!

For the Hindu holiday of Raksha Bandhan, Bina is determined to make beaded bracelets for her brothers all by herself. She finds out which colors her brothers like and dislike and sets to work. Working with her every-other-one beading pattern causes Bina to discover something new about patterns--and her brothers.

Reviews
"For the Hindu holiday of Raksha Bandhan, which celebrates the bond between siblings, Bina, who has warm brown skin and dark wavy pigtails, sets out to make her three older brothers—book-loving Vijay, musical Siddharth, and athletic Arjun—bracelets to keep them safe. There’s just one thing she must keep in mind: each brother has one color he favors and one that he doesn’t. After Mommy helps Bina buy green, blue, and orange beads, the girl sets out to make individualized bracelets, relying on the family dog for emotional support. LaRocca’s prose is accessible, with plenty of dialogue, and Prabhat’s digital art charms via vivid, dynamic spreads. This latest installment of Charlesbridge’s Storytelling Math series proves both educational and appealing. Back matter includes an author’s note and an explanation of the patterns involved in Bina’s bracelet making." —Publishers Weekly

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 3 to 6.

The Storytelling Math series celebrates children using math in their daily adventures as they play, build, and discover the world around them. Joyful stories and hands-on activities make it easy for kids and their grown-ups to explore everyday math together. Developed in collaboration with math experts at STEM education nonprofit TERC, under a grant from the Heising-Simons Foundation.

Additional Information
32 pages | 9.50" x 9.50" | Paperback

An exuberant celebration of the Buffalo’s return to the wild.

Since Declan was born, his kokum has shared her love of Buffalo through stories and art. But Declan longs to see real Buffalo. Then one magical night, herds of the majestic creatures stampede down from the sky. That’s when things really get wild!

Azby Whitecalf’s playful illustrations add to the joy and reverence in Deidre Havrelock’s picture book debut. A reprinting of the Buffalo Treaty and an author’s note describe the importance of Buffalo to Indigenous Peoples and efforts to revitalize the species.

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 4 to 7.

Additional Information
36 pages | 11.00" x 9.50" | Hardcover

Warning -- this book contains top-secret information about butterflies! Prepare to be shocked and grossed out by this hilarious and totally true picture book introduction to a fascinating insect.

Butterflies are beautiful and quiet and gentle and sparkly . . . but that's not the whole truth. Butterflies can be GROSS. And one butterfly, in particular, is here to let everyone know! Talking directly to the reader, a monarch butterfly reveals how its kind is so much more than what we think. Did you know some butterflies enjoy feasting on dead animals, rotten fruit, tears and even poop? Some butterflies are loud, like the Cracker butterfly. Some are stinky -- the smell scares predators away. Butterflies can be sneaky, like the ones who pretend to be ants to get free babysitting.

This hilarious and refreshing book with silly and sweet illustrations explores the science of butterflies and shows that these insects are not the stereotypically cutesy critters we often think they are -- they are fascinating, disgusting, complicated and amazing creatures.

Reviews
“A proboscis-in-cheek introduction to butterflies that will appeal to reluctant readers and bug enthusiasts alike.” --STARRED REVIEW, Kirkus Reviews

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 4 to 8.

This book is part of the Nature's Top Secrets series.

Additional Information
36 pages | 9.38" x 9.44"