With the help of a magical friend, a young girl searches for her missing father in this poignant story set during Japanese internment in World War II.
Canada
Materials from Canada
Mnoomin Maan’gowing / The Gift Of Mnoomin
A child marvels at the intricate web of life surrounding a single mnoomin seed. Through imaginative exploration, the child envisions the interconnected roles played by various creatures, from the fleeting mayfly to the majestic eagle and sturdy moose. Each creature contributes to the seed’s journey, culminating in the possibility of its sprouting.
Written in Anishinaabemowin and English, this beautifully illustrated picture book showcases the cultural and ecological importance of the mnoomin seed.
Into the Bright Open: A Secret Garden Remix (Remixed Classics, 8)
In this queer re-imaging of “The Secret Garden,” 15-year-old orphan Mary sets off to live in the Georgian Bay wilds where she discovers family secrets both wonderful and horrifying.
This book is part of the Worlds of Words Global Reading List for 2023/24.
The Song That Called Them Home
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.
Maybe A Whale
After Grandpa dies, a girl and her mother take the trip he had planned for her, kayaking along the Pacific west coast to look for the whales that he loved.
Robot, Unicorn, Queen
Shannon Bramer’s follow-up to her much loved poetry book Climbing Shadows is a collection of poems that explore a range of childhood experiences. Many poems reveal what it feels like to be a child―to pretend and dream and play with abandon, as well as to hurt and regret and feel sorrowful. The poems are varied in form, and while some are simple and direct, others invite children to see the potential for play and discovery in words and language.
Skating Wild On An Inland Sea
Two children wake up to hear the lake singing, then the wind begins wailing or is it a wolf? They bundle up and venture out into the cold, carrying their skates. On the snow covered shore, they spot tracks made by fox, deer, hare, mink, otter and the wolf! In the bay, the ice is thick and smooth. They lace up their skates, step onto the ice, stroking and gliding, and the great lake sings again.
Happy Birthday To Me
How does it feel to turn a year older? A child runs through a spectrum of emotions on the best day of the year, their birthday!
It’s Time For Berries!
Two sisters have waited all spring and summer to pick berries with their ningiuq, their grandmother. They’ve gone fishing, dug for clams, and by the time late summer arrives, it’s finally time for berries! Ninguiq and the girls head out to pick berries, rain or shine nothing will stop Ningiuq! Through driving rain and early autumn snow the girls and Ningiuq pick as many sweet berries as their buckets can hold. The hard work is all worth it to enjoy the delicious treats Ninguiq creates with her berries.
The Woman And Her Bear Cub
When a mother and daughter find a polar bear cub alone on the sea ice, the daughter cannot bear to leave it behind. Finding no mother bear in sight, the two adopt the cub and raise it as the girl’s brother.