ISBN: 9781728458984

Price: $55.59

Author(s): Robin Wall Kimmerer; Monique Gray Smith (Adaptor)

Format: Hard Cover

Publisher: Learner Publishing Group

Publication: 2022

Book Synopsis: Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults is the adaption of Robin Wall Kimmerer's best-selling book Braiding Sweetgrass. From her experiences as an Indigenous scientist, botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer demonstrated how all living things—from strawberries and witch hazel to water lilies and lichen—provide us with gifts and lessons every day in her best-selling book Braiding Sweetgrass. Adapted for young adults by Monique Gray Smith, this new edition reinforces how wider ecological understanding stems from listening to the earth’s oldest teachers: the plants around us. With informative sidebars, reflection questions, and art from illustrator Nicole Neidhardt, Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults brings Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the lessons of plant life to a new generation.

Curriculum Connection: Land-Based Learning

Author Details: This book is adapted by Monique Gray Smith and illustrated by Nicole Neidhardt. 

URL: https://goodminds.com/products/braiding-sweetgrass-for-young-adults-indigenous-wisdom-scientific-knowledge-and-the-teachings-of-plants-hc  

ISBN: 9781443460675

Price: $24.99

Author(s): Thomas King

Format: Paperback

Publisher:  Harper Collins Canada

Publication: 2021

Book Synopsis: Borders is a graphic novel and is the masterfully told story of a boy and his mother whose road trip from Alberta to Salt Lake City is thwarted at the border when they identify their citizenship as Blackfoot. Refusing to identify as either American or Canadian first bars their entry into the US, and then their return into Canada. In the limbo between countries, they find power in their connection to their identity and to each other. This much-anthologized story has been adapted into a gripping graphic novel by award-winning artist Natasha Donovan. A beautifully told tale with broad appeal, Borders resonates deeply with themes of identity, justice, and belonging.

Curriculum Connection: Graphic Novel, Identity

Author Details: Written by Thomas King of Cherokee, German and Greek descent, and illustrated by Natasha Donovan, Métis, whose Métis family are the Delarondes and the Morins from Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan.

URL: https://goodminds.com/products/borders 

ISBN: 9781989122433

Price: $32.99

Author(s): Orange Shirt Society

Format: Hard Cover

Publisher:  Medicine Wheel Education

Publication: 2020

Book Synopsis: Orange Shirt Day tells the story of Orange Shirt Day, a day observed annually on September 30th to honour residential school survivors and their families, and to remember those who did not make it. This book explores the historical impact on Indigenous people in order to create champions who will walk a path of reconciliation through Orange Shirt Day, promoting the message that Every Child Matters. 

Curriculum Connection: Residential School, Orange Shirt Day

Author Details: The Orange Shirt Society is a non-profit society based in Williams Lake BC that grew out of the events in 2013 inspired by Chief Robbins' vision for reconciliation. The Society board is composed of diverse members dedicated to raising awareness of the residential schools and supporting the development of Orange Shirt Day.

URL: https://goodminds.com/products/9781989122433 

ISBN: 9780995152939

Price: $25.00

Author(s): Floyd Favel

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Miyawata Culture Inc.

Publication: 2022

Book Synopsis: Cree translations by Gavin Baptiste and transcription by Gerardo Sánchez Jiménez. Ashes and Embers : Stories of the Delmas Indian Residential School is written by Floyd Favel, art is by Alix Van Der Donckt-Ferrand with a Foreword by Karen Whitecalf and Afterword by Eleanore Sunchild. This book is dedicated to all Delmas Indian Residential School students - "May your stories live forever" (vi). Introduces the Delmas Indian Residential School (Saint Henri Indian Residential School) and over four chapters - The Little Town Otanas, Stories Acimowwinisa, When It Burned Ispehk Kamastekatak, and That Is All Akowihko Pitama. Includes an enrollment list of students from 1901-1945. 2023 Saskatchewan Book Awards Shortlist - Indigenous Peoples’ Publishing Award. 

Curriculum Connection: Residential 

Author Details: Floyd P. Favel Starr, band member of the Poundmaker Cree Nation in Saskatchewan, is a theatre theorist, director, essayist, based in Saskatchewan. He studied theatre in Denmark at the Tukak Teatret, a school for Inuit and Sami People and in Italy with Jerzy Grotowski, a Polish theatre director and one of the more influential theatre figures of the 20th century. He is the curator of the Chief Poundmaker Museum (winner of the 2018 Indigenous Tourism Award). He is the director of the Poundmaker Indigenous Performance Festival, a global Indigenous festival that is multi-cultural in presentation. The premise of the festival is that Indigenous theatre is an artistic genre that is open to all People and not defined by ‘colonial identitiesHe produced the documentary ‘Ashes and Embers’, a film about the Delmas Indian Residential School, directed by Alix Van Der Donckt Ferrand in 2021 which was premiered at the Presence Autochtone International Film Festival in Montreal, and it was screened at the Imaginative Film Festival in Toronto. Alix Van Der Donckt-Ferrand is a multi disciplinary visual artist.

URL: https://goodminds.com/products/ashes-and-embers-stories-of-the-delmas-indian-residential-school 

ISBN: 9780995152939

Price: $13.95

Author(s): Rebecca Thomas

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Nimbus Publishing

Publication: 2019

Book Synopsis: I'm Finding My is a response poem to I Lost My Talk, which is one of Rita Joe's most influential poems and tells this Mi'kmaw Elder's story of losing her Mi’kmaw language while at residential school in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. The vivid and colour illustrations are by Mi'kmaw artist Pauline Young and compliment the poem beautifully again. In, I'm Finding My Talk, the poem takes the reader back to Shubenacadie to begin the journey of finding words, stories, family, friends and loving relationships, moccasins, regalia, and much more as language is re-learnt and re-spoken. A note about Rebecca Thomas is included. Highly recommended as a poem or read with I Lost My Talk by Rita Joe and illustrated by Pauline Young.

Curriculum Connection: Residential School, Poetry, Mi'Maq, Shubenacadie

Author Details: By Rebecca Thomas is a Mi’kmaw author.

URL: https://goodminds.com/products/im-finding-my-talk-fncr-2020 

ISBN: 9780735266100

Price: $21.99

Author(s): David A. Robertson

Format: Hard Cover

Publisher: Puffin

Publication: 2020

Book Synopsis: The Barren Grounds: The Misewa Saga, is the first book in this epic middle grade fantasy series. This traditional Indigenous story is about the sky and constellations. Morgan and Eli, two Indigenous children forced away from their families and communities, are brought together in a foster home in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They each feel disconnected, from their culture and each other, and struggle to fit in at school and at their new home -- until they find a secret place, walled off in an unfinished attic bedroom. A portal opens to another reality, Askí, bringing them onto frozen, barren grounds, where they meet Ochek (Fisher). The only hunter supporting his starving community, Misewa, Ochek welcomes the human children, teaching them traditional ways to survive. But as the need for food becomes desperate, they embark on a dangerous mission. Accompanied by Arik, a sassy Squirrel they catch stealing from the trapline, they try to save Misewa before the icy grip of winter freezes everything, including them. This is an exciting, fast paced story. Recipient of 2020 Governor General’s Literary Awards.

Curriculum Connection: Chapter book, Adventure Series

Author Details: By author David Alexander Robertson, a member of Norway House Cree Nation. 

URL: https://goodminds.com/products/the-misewa-saga-book-1-barren-grounds-pb 

ISBN: 9781927095546

Price: $10.95

Author(s): Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Inhabit Media

Publication: 2014

Book Synopsis: Rachel & Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley have won the 2015 Burt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature. Skraelings is an exciting groundbreaking young adult novel set in the arctic landscape of long ago. Early contact between the Vikings and the Tuniit, a race of ancient Inuit ancestors known for their strength and shyness. Told through the perspective of an adventurous young Inuk man named Kannujaq this story recounts what may have occurred during first contact between the Tuniit, ancestors of the Inuit, and the giants known as Vikings. When Kannujaq's travels brings him into contact with a Tuniit camp, he believes his people's stories about these shy, unsophisticated ancestors. After being welcomed into the Tuniit camp, Kannujaq learns more about their troubles with the mysterious giants who travel in huge boats. Kannujaq learns these warlike strangers are focused on killing the Tuniit. He promises his new friend that together the pair will try to protect the camp. The story is a unique approach to the history of the Inuit told from their perspective. When anthropologists study the ancient peoples of the Arctic, these ancestors of contemporary Inuit are called Dorset. This historical fiction novel introduces young adult readers to possibilities of early contact with the Vikings. Throughout the book, the publisher includes stark black and white illustrations that indicate the menacing nature of the early encounters. The book makes effective use of Inuit terms and names and includes a detailed glossary and pronunciation guide. In this brief novel the authors succeed in keeping today's reader ever aware that Inuit did have history and opinions. The authors close the story by talking directly to readers as if they have been present as we readers engage withe the characters. Inhabit Media indicates Skraelings is volume one of this exciting series. Highly Recommended. Finalist for the 2014 Governor General’s Literary Award. 

Curriculum Connection: Storytelling, Arctic

Author Details: Rachel & Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley

URL: https://goodminds.com/products/9781927095546 

ISBN: 9781772272352

Price: $13.95

Author(s): Aviaq Johnston

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Inhabit Media

Publication: 2019

Book Synopsis: Haunted by the vicious creatures of his recent past, Pitu tries to go back to a normal life at home after the other-worldly travels and near-death encounters of his recent disappearance into the world of the spirits. But Pitu knows that there is more work to be done, and more that he must learn in his new role as a shaman. When word of a starving village nearby reaches Pitu, he must go help its people appease the angry spirits. It soon becomes clear that Pitu must travel to the bottom of the ocean to meet Nuliajuk, the vengeful woman below, one of the most powerful beings in Inuit mythology. There he learns about his role in saving the starving community and that all in his home camp may not be as it seems . . .

Curriculum Connection: Traditional Storytelling, Inuit

Author Details: Written by Iqaluit-based Inuit author Aviaq Johnston.

URL: https://goodminds.com/products/9781772272352 

ISBN: 9780993937187

Price: $19.99

Author(s): Larry Loyie

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Indigenous Education Press

Publication: 2021

Book Synopsis: Wild Waters is Larry Loyie’s, Cree, exploration of the little-known side of the fur trade, the side of Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) and Canadien (French Canadian) paddlers who powered the canoes. After seeing his four times great-grandfather’s name, Tomma, in Chief Trader Archibald McDonald’s 1828 journal, Larry, with partner and co-author Constance Brissenden, began researching and writing about a challenging canoe voyage from Montreal to Hudson Bay, and then on to the Pacific. Larry was determined to combine his creative vision of Tomma’s life with the entries in McDonald’s journal to honour the unacknowledged voices of history. Some of the people in Wild Waters existed; others are based on the authors’ view of the fur trade and its people. Wherever possible, real dialogue was used. Weights and measures are consistent with usage of the era. Wild Waters is a finalist for the 2022 R. Ross Annett Award for Children’s Literature (chapter books) and has been selected for the First Nation Communities Read 2022 Awards Long List (FNCR 2022). 

Curriculum Connection: History, Trading

Author Details: Larry Loyie is a Cree author.

URL: https://goodminds.com/products/wild-waters-inside-a-voyageur-s-world 

ISBN: 9798985893335

Price: $42.00

Author(s): Thomas Peacock,  Marlene Wisuri, Govinda Budrow, Ivy Vainio

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Black Bears and Blueberries Publishing

Publication: 2023

Book Synopsis: This is a new, updated release about racism, written from an Indigenous perspective. Middle school age through adult reader.

Curriculum Connection: Activisim 

Author Details: Written and illustrated by Thomas Peacock, a member of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe; Marlene Wisuri, Sami; Govinda Budrow, White Earth Nation and Anishinaabe; and Ivy Vainio, a direct descendant of a Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe tribal member. 

URL: https://goodminds.com/products/to-be-free