ISBN: 9781772275650

Price: $22.95

Author(s): Harper, Maika

Format: Hardcover

Publisher:  Inhabit Media

Publication: 2025

Book Synopsis: The First Peoples is both mythical and magical, an ancient tale brought to life for new generations. Based on an ancient Inuit traditional story, this beautifully illustrated picture book tells of the appearance of the first humans on earth, and how from them all the peoples of the earth emerged. From a mound of simple dirt, through magic and intention, the world we know today slowly takes shape across the page.

Curriculum Connection: Storytelling, Traditional Inuit, Peoples

Author Details: Inuit author and actress Maika Harper.

URL: https://goodminds.com/products/the-first-peoples-pre-order-for-june-3-25

ISBN: 9780823449484

Price: $21.99

Author(s): Arihhonni David

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: Holiday House

Publication: 2023

Book Synopsis: Bear has fast legs. Turtle has a fast mind. Who will win the race? When a quick-footed bear and a quick-witted turtle race across a frozen lake, Turtle has a secret plan to win! This book has been officially leveled by using the Fountas & Pinnell Text Level GradientTM leveling system.

Curriculum Connection: Patience

Author Details: Arihhonni David is an illustrator and storyteller from Akwesasne Ontario and a Member of the Haudenosaunee Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) people.

URL: https://goodminds.com/products/who-will-win

ISBN: 9781984816030

Price: $24.99

Author(s): Traci Sorell

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: Kokila

Publication: 2024

Book Synopsis: Today is a day of excitement—it’s time to move! As a young Cherokee girl says goodbye to the swing, the house, and the city she's called home her whole life, she readies herself for the upcoming road trip. While her mother drives, the girl draws the changing landscape outside her window. She looks forward to the end of the journey, where she'll eat the feast her family has prepared, play in the creek with her cousins, and settle into the new rhythm of home. With warm, expressive artwork and spare, lyrical prose, the story of a young girl’s move toward rather than away from home unfolds. 

Curriculum Connection: Stories, Moving home

Author Details: Traci Sorell is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation. Michaela Goade is an enrolled member of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.

URL: https://goodminds.com/products/being-home

ISBN: 9781772275230

Price: $17.95

Author(s): Monica Ittusardjuat

Format: Hardcover

Publisher:  Inhabit Media

Publication: 2024

Book Synopsis: This is the 11th book in this series. Perfect for nature-loving young readers who want to expand their knowledge of Arctic animals beyond polar bears and walruses! Animals Illustrated 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 about Arctic animals. Each volume contains first-hand accounts from authors who live in the Arctic, along with interesting facts on the behaviours and biology of each animal. In this book, kids will learn what ravens eat, where they live, how they raise their babies, and other interesting facts, like the fact that ravens have one of the biggest brains of any bird and that they can use tools! Full-colour illustrations throughout.

Curriculum Connection: Arctic, Animals

Author Details: Monica Ittusardjuat is an Inuit Language Educator and author. Illustrated by Kagan McLeod.

URL: https://goodminds.com/products/animals-illustrated-raven

ISBN: 9780063116665

Price: $24.99

Author(s): Martha Troian

Format: Hardcover

Publisher:  HarperCollins

Publication: 2024

Book Synopsis: This lyrical and joyful picture book celebrates new experiences and community traditions when a young boy learns to dance at his first powwow. Bineshii is looking forward to his first powwow. He wakes up and travels with his mother to the community event. He eats bannock and drinks strawberry juice as he watches the dancers perform. And ever so slowly, Bineshii works his way from the edge of the circle watching the dancers to inside the circle itself, dancing and celebrating with everyone else. Award-winning journalist Martha Troian’s child-centered text and Hawlii Pichette’s action-packed illustrations build excitement on the page as Bineshii’s curiosity and confidence grows. It’s Powwow Time! explores the rewards of being open to new experiences while also serving as a beautiful and informative introduction to a First Nations powwow.

Curriculum Connection: Traditions, Powwoww

Author Details: Martha Troian, a proud member of Lac Seul First Nation; and illustrated by Hawlii Pichette, a Mushkego Cree.

URL: https://goodminds.com/products/it-s-powwow-time

ISBN: 9781773219189

Price: $23.99

Author(s): Rebecca Thomas

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: Annick Press

Publication: 2024

Book Synopsis: Grampy’s chair sits in the middle of his living room and always keeps an eye on My Love. The Chair is the perfect spot for My Love to learn to read, to play games with her friends, and The Chair is always extra soft when My Love is sick. As My Love grows up, The Chair sees Grampy grow older, and My Love must care for him. One day Grampy is gone, and The Chair is moved to a space with only a few things it recognizes (and a few spiders too). Will it see My Love again? In this poignant story inspired by her own grandfather and his chair, Rebecca Thomas invites readers of all ages to explore love, grief, and the important moments in life that take place in our favorite spots. With lively illustrations from Coco A. Lynge and featuring a heartfelt author’s note, Grampy's Chair takes the readers through loss, and how we can be found again by the ones we love. 

Curriculum Connection: Family, love, memories, loss, grief

Author Details: Rebecca Thomas is a Mi’kmaw woman registered with Lennox Island First Nation. She is the daughter of a residential school survivor and is an unrelenting advocate for her community. She is an award-winning poet and children’s author, and a former Halifax Poet Laureate. She lives in K’jipuktuk, Mi’kma’ki. Illustrated by Coco Apunnguaq Lynge is a Greenlandic-Danish Inuit artist.

URL: https://goodminds.com/products/grampys-chair

ISBN: 9781738250004

Price: $15.00

Author(s): Melanie Squire

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Front Porch Publishing

Publication: 2022

Book Synopsis: Join Rooty and all of his friends as they learn how to play rugby in Six Nations of the Grand River. Coach Meagan teaches them all about rugby and even shows them how to play other games using a rugby ball. Will Rooty’s team be the winners?

Curriculum Connection: Sport, rugby

Author Details: Melanie Squire, Kanien'kehá:ka/Turtle Clan, Six Nations of the Grand River, and illustrated by Kim Delormier, a Kanien'kehá:ka, Mohawk, artist.

URL: https://goodminds.com/products/rooty-plays-rugby

ISBN: 9780063221284

Price: $24.99

Author(s): Nicholas Hummingbird and Julia Wasson

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: HarperCollins 

Publication: 2024

Book Synopsis: What do we learn from plants when we listen to them speaking? Indigenous plantsman Nicholas Hummingbird calls on the legacy of his great-grandparents to remember how one drop of rain, one seed, one plant can renew a cycle of hope and connection—for him and for each of us.

Curriculum Connection: Land-Based Learning, All Our Relations

Author Details: Written by Nicholas Hummingbird, a native plant expert and plant activist. When Nicholas was a child, his Cahuilla and Apache great-grandparents taught him to listen to plants and how to steward their lands wisely and with respect. Today he keeps their memories and stories alive through his work restoring habitat and bringing nature back to concrete urban spaces. Also written by Julia Wasson is an educator and curriculum designer. Illustrated by Madelyn Goodnight, a member of the Chickasaw Nation.

URL: https://goodminds.com/products/can-you-hear-the-plants-speak

ISBN: 9780593651452

Price: $29.99

Author(s): Ashley Fairbanks

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers 

Publication: 2024

Book Synopsis: This land is your land now, but who did it belong to before? This engaging primer about native lands invites kids to trace history and explore their communities. Before my family lived in this house, a different family did, and before them, another family, and another before them. And before that, the family that lived here lived not in a house, but a wigwam. Who lived where you are before you got there? This Land teaches readers that American land, from our backyards to our schools to Disney World, are the traditional homelands of many Indigenous nations. This Land will spark curiosity and encourage readers to explore the history of the places they live and the people who have lived there throughout time and today. 

Curriculum Connection: Land-Based Learning, Who Are We

Author Details: A shley Fairbanks is an Anishinaabe artist, writer, organizer, and digital strategist. Bridget George is an Anishinaabe author-illustrator and mom. She was raised on the shores of Lake Huron in the traditional territory of her people in Kettle and Stony Point First Nation.

URL: https://goodminds.com/products/this-land-is-a-lullaby-hc

ISBN: 9781772034844

Price: $19.95

Author(s): Healey, Haley & Tsahaukuse, George Quocksister

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: Heritage House

Publication: 2024

Book Synopsis: Elizabeth Quocksister (1925–81) had many roles in her life. She was a cultural teacher, a community leader, a dancer, a nurse, a photographer, a residential school survivor, and a mother of ten. Born on the Da’naxda’xw Nation on Knight Inlet on the central coast of British Columbia, Elizabeth spoke fluent Kwak’wala and proudly celebrated her Kwakwaka’wakw culture at a time when the Canadian government actively discouraged Indigenous traditions and the speaking of Indigenous languages. She cared for community members in need and saved many children from the horrors of residential school. She chronicled the daily lives, important events, and changing times of her community through photography—preserving her people’s history and culture for future generations. This inspiring picture book is a beautiful tribute to a proud Indigenous woman whose name deserves to be well-known throughout her community and beyond.

Curriculum Connection: Indigenous Heros, Kwak’wala

Author Details: Haley Healey and Tsahaukuse, George Quocksister Jr., Hereditary Chief of the Laichkwiltach Nation.

URL: https://goodminds.com/products/elizabeth-quocksister-keeper-of-history