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Spotlight on: 2024/25 Selected Titles
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Seagull Island = kiyāsko-miniscikos
by Myles Charles (Author) and Miriam Körner (Illustrator)
“waniskā. wāpan,” mosōm says. “Wake up. It’s morning, little one. You, me, and kohkom are going for a boat ride for the day.” And that is exactly what they do in this quiet book that celebrates traditional life in modern times. Held warmly in his kohkom’s arms, little Luke watches ducks, pelicans and cormorants on the way to Seagull Island, where the family collects eggs for their shore lunch and to share later with Auntie at home. Seagull Island: kiyāsko-miniscikos is inspired by Elder Myles Hector Charles’s memories of gathering eggs with his grandson Luke in northern Saskatchewan. Written in English with Woodland Cree words and phrases, the story and illustrations show the deep connection between families and the land.
The Creators:
Born at Fox Point, mistahi-sākahikanihk, Myles Hector Charles is a Woodland Cree Elder and artist who paints what he loves about life in the North.
Miriam Körner is a writer, illustrator and arts educator. Miriam enjoys spending time with her sled dogs along the old trapline trails, talking to Elders about the times when they still had dogs, and writing for children and young adults about her northern adventures. Originally from Germany, she now lives at Potato Lake, Saskatchewan, just down the road from Bernice.
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Autumn Peltier, Water Warrior
by Carole Lindstrom (Author) and Bridget George (Illustrator)
The seventh generation is creating
A sea of change.
It was a soft voice, at first.
Like a ripple.
But with practice it grew louder.
Indigenous women have always worked tirelessly to protect our water—keeping it pure and clean for the generations to come. Yet there was a time when their voices and teachings were nearly drowned out, leaving entire communities and environments in danger and without clean water.
But then came Grandma Josephine and her great-niece, Autumn Peltier.
Featuring a foreword from water advocate and Indigenous Rights Activist Autumn Peltier herself, this stunning picture book from New York Times-bestselling author Carole Lindstrom and illustrator Bridget George gives voice to the water and asks young readers to join the tidal wave of change.
The Creators:
Carole Lindstrom is Anishinabe/Métis and is tribally enrolled with the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe. She was born and raised in Nebraska and currently makes her home in Maryland.
Bridget George is an Anishinaabe author-illustrator, graphic designer and mother to a lovely baby boy named Noah. She was raised on the Kettle and Stony Point First Nation in Ontario and she currently lives in London, ON. This is her first book.
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Arctic Amazon: Networks of Global Indigeneity
by Gerald McMaster
Arctic/Amazon: Networks of Global Indigeneity offers a conversation between Indigenous Peoples of two regions in this time of political and environmental upheaval. Both regions are environmentally sensitive areas that have become hot spots in the debates circling around climate change and have long been contact zones between Indigenous Peoples and outsiders — zones of meeting and clashing, of contradictions and entanglement.
The Creator:
Gerald McMaster is curator of Canadian Art at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. He is a Plains Cree from Red Pheasant, Saskatchewan, and first studied Fine Art at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. McMaster attained his MA in Anthropology from Carleton University, and a PhD from the University of Amsterdam's School for Cultural Analysis.
For the past thirty years, he has worked as a visual artist, curator, and scholar to increase the knowledge and appreciation of First Nation, Métis, and Inuit art, nationally and internationally. In 1979, at the First Nations University in Regina, he developed the first Bachelor of Art (Native Art) program.
He also created the first national Indian and Inuit art gallery at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, Ottawa where he was curator from 1981 to 2000.
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Âmî Osâwâpikones / Dear Dandelion
by S. J. Okemow
A debut picture book that celebrates self-love, care, and resilience with one of the most widespread plants--the dandelion. Both a love letter to the dandelion and a call to love ourselves in a difficult world, Âmî Osâwâpikones reminds us that we are not defined as others see us. Following our young protagonist and the dandelions through the seasons, we are reminded that we are resilient, we are healers, we are funny, and we are loved.
The Creator:
SJ Okemow is a Nehiyaw and Eastern European multidisciplinary artist. This is her debut picture book. She lives in Toronto.
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A Grandmother Begins the Story
by Michelle Porter
Five generations of Métis women argue, dance, struggle, laugh, love, and tell the stories that will sing their family, and perhaps the land itself, into healing.
The Creator:
Michelle Porter is a Red River Métis poet, journalist, and editor. She holds degrees in journalism, folklore, and geography (PhD). She’s won awards for her work in poetry and journalism, and has been published in literary journals, newspapers, and magazines across the country. She lives in St. John’s.
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The Song That Called Them Home
by David Robertson (Author) and Maya McKibbin (Illustrator)
One summer day, Lauren and her little brother, James, go on a trip to the land with their Moshom (grandfather). After they've arrived, the children decide to fish for dinner while Moshom naps. They are in their canoe in the middle of the lake when the water around them begins to swirl and crash. They are thrown overboard and when Lauren surfaces she sees her brother being pulled away by the Memekwesewak — creatures who live in and around water and like to interfere with humans. Lauren must follow the Memekwesewak through a portal and along a watery path to find and bring back James. But when she finally comes upon her brother, she too feels the lure of the Memekwesewak’s song. Something even stronger must pull them back home.
The Creators:
David A. Robertson (he/him/his) is an award-winning writer. His books include When We Were Alone (winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award), Will I See? (winner of the Manuela Dias Book Design and Illustration Award), Betty, The Helen Betty Osborne Story (listed In The Margins), and the YA novel Strangers (winner of The Michael Van Rooy Award for Genre Fiction). David educates as well as entertains through his writings about Indigenous Peoples in Canada, reflecting their cultures, histories, communities, as well as illuminating many contemporary issues. David is a member of Norway House Cree Nation. He lives in Winnipeg.
Maya McKibbin is a Two-Spirited Ojibwe, Yoeme, and Irish filmmaker, illustrator, and storyteller. Using her education in computer graphics and interactive media, her work is rooted in the natural world and our relations to it.
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The Spirit of Denendeh: As I Enfold You in Petals
by Richard Van Camp (Author), Scott B. Henderson (Artist), and Donovan Yaciuk (Artist)
Newly sober, Curtis searches for healing in the ancient cultural practices of his Tłıcho Dene grandfather. But will the Little People answer his call?
Curtis has returned to Fort Smith, six weeks sober. He doesn’t have any sober friends, his mom’s still drinking, and his best friend (and secret crush) Lacey probably is too. Still, he’s determined to abstain from alcohol and help his people. Along the way, he might just be able to help himself.
A stunning, fast-paced graphic novel, As I Enfold You in Petals will keep readers riveted until the last page. Materials in the back of the book provide information and cultural context about the Inuit tattoos represented in the graphic novel.
The Creator:
Richard Van Camp, the eldest of four boys, is a member of the Dogrib nation from Canada's Northwest Territories. He graduated from the University of Victoria and the En'owkin International School of Writing.
Scott Henderson (he/him/his) is author/illustrator of the sci-fi/fantasy comic, The Chronicles of Era and has illustrated select titles in the Canadian Air Force’s For Valour series and Tales From Big Spirit series, the graphic novel series 7 Generations and A Girl Called Echo, select stories in This Place: 150 Years Retold, Fire Starters, an AIYLA Honour Book, and Eisner-award nominee, A Blanket of Butterflies. In 2016, he was the recipient of the C4 Central Canada Comic Con Storyteller Award.
Since 1998, Donovan Yaciuk has done colouring work on books published by Marvel, DC, Dark Horse comics, and HighWater Press including A Girl Called Echo series and This Place: 150 Years Retold. Donovan holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) from the University of Manitoba and began his career as a part of the legendary, now-defunct Digital Chameleon colouring studio. He lives in Winnipeg, MB Canada, with his wife and daughter.
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Adult/YA and Children's Selected 2024/2025 Titles
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And Then She Fell
by Alicia Elliott
When strange things start happening, Alice, a young Indigenous woman living in a posh Toronto neighborhood, starts losing bits of time and hearing voices she can't explain and discovers the picture-perfect life she's always hoped for may have horrifying consequences—and may be linked to the Haudenosaunee creation story.
The Creator:
Alicia Elliot is a Mohawk writer and editor living in Brantford, Ontario. She has written for The Globe and Mail, CBC, Hazlitt and many other publications. She's had numerous essays nominated for National Magazine Awards, winning Gold in 2017 and an honorable mention in 2020. Her short fiction was selected for The Best American Short Stories 2018 (by Roxane Gay), Best Canadian Stories 2018, and The Journey Prize Stories 30. Alicia was chosen by Tanya Talaga as the 2018 recipient of the RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award. Her first book, A Mind Spread Out On The Ground, was a national bestseller in Canada. It was also nominated for the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction and won the Forest of Reading Evergreen Award.
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Freddie the Flyer
by Fred Carmichael (Author), Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail (Author), and Audrea Loreen-Wulf (Artist)
When Freddie was young, he saw a plane up close for the first time when it dropped off supplies at his family's remote bush camp. He was instantly hooked. Freddie has flown for nearly seventy years, doing everything from supply runs to search and rescue to transporting dog teams to far-flung areas.
The Creators:
Frederick “Freddie” Carmichael split his childhood between the trapline and the town of Aklavik, Northwest Territories (NWT). He worked hard to become the first Indigenous commercial pilot in the Arctic, founded multiple aviation companies and has served the people of the Mackenzie Delta in the air and as a leader and Elder. Fred is a Member of the Order of Canada and Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame, and he holds an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Saskatchewan. Fred still flies his Cessna 170 from his home in Inuvik, NWT, where he lives with his wife, Miki, and their dog, Shadow.
Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail is a historian and a former Historian Laureate for the city of Edmonton, as well as a former president of the Canadian Aviation Historical Society. She has written For the Love of Flying: The Story of the Laurentian Air Services and Polar Winds: A Century of Flying the North, and edited In This Together: Fifteen Stories of Truth and Reconciliation. Her first book for children is Alis the Aviator. She lives in Edmonton, Alberta.
Artist Audrea Loreen-Wulf was born in the Tuktoyaktuk area and lived there as a young child. She now lives in Salmon Arm, BC. She expresses her deep love for the North through her paintings.
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