Indigenous

Amo’s Sapotawan (The Six Seasons Of The Asiniskaw Ithiniwak, 2) (Volume 2)

Rocky Cree people understand that all children are born with four gifts or talents. When a child is old enough, they decide which gift, or mīthikowisiwin, they will seek to master. With her sapotawan ceremony fast approaching, Amō must choose her mīthikowisiwin. Her sister, Pīsim, became a midwife; others gather medicines or harvest fish. But none of those feel quite right.

Amō has always loved making things. Her uncle can show her how to make nipisiwata, willow baskets. Her grandmother can teach her how to make kwakwāywata, birchbark containers and plates. Her auntie has offered to begin Amō’s apprenticeship in making askihkwak, pottery.

What will Amō’s mīthikowisiwin be? Which skill should she choose? And how will she know what is right for her?

Inuunira

In this harrowing survival story, Brian Koonoo takes off on a hunting trip in Canada’s Arctic. After his snowmobile breaks down, his GPS loses signal, and his camping fuel runs low, he is left alone to survive for seven days. Inuunira is an Inuktitut term that means “how I’m alive,” and this account shows exactly how Brian managed to stay alive. He experiences close encounters with planes, blizzards, and hunger, all while much of his gear is lost. Walking 60 kilometres in search of safety, he uses the knowledge his father and Elders taught him—modern and traditional means of navigation, finding water, making shelters, and keeping his spirits up—to continue on.

Forever Cousins

Amanda and Kara are cousins and best friends in an intertribal Native American family; but Kara’s family leaves the city and moves back to the Rez, making both girls sad–but the summer reunion reminds them that they will always be cousins.

Yossel’s Journey

Yossel, along with his family, flees anti-Jewish Russian pogroms in the late nineteenth century and settles in the American Southwest where he forges a friendship with Thomas, a Native American Navajo boy.

Kapaemahu

Four individuals of dual male and female spirit bring their healing arts from Tahiti to Hawaii, where they are beloved for their gentle ways and miraculous cures and where they imbue four giant boulders with their powers.

This book is the WOW Recommends for May 2024.

Keepunumuk: Weeâchumun’s Thanksgiving Story

Wampanoag children listen as their grandmother tells them the story about how Weeâchumun (the wise Corn) asked local Native Americans to show the newcomers how to grow food to yield a good harvest–Keepunumuk–in 1621. The Thanksgiving story that most Americans know celebrates the Pilgrims. But without members of the Wampanoag tribe who already lived on the land where the Pilgrims settled, the Pilgrims would never have made it through their first winter. And without Weeâchumun (corn), the Native people wouldn’t have helped.

We Are Water Protectors

When a black snake threatens to destroy the Earth and poison her people’s water, one young water protector takes a stand to defend Earth’s most sacred resource.

This book is discussed in WOW Review: Volume 14, Issue 2, WOW Currents: Water In Indigenous Children’s Literature, and WOW Currents: Environmental Sciences.

Itzel And The Ocelot

A gorgeous picture book inspired by a traditional Central American Indigenous story about a snake with the power to bring the rain, told in lyrical language and evocative art, and subtly conveying an environmental theme.
Itzel listens as her nana tells the story of when the giant snake would be awakened from its sleep: “And first with a whisper that would rustle the leaves, and then with a deep thunderous cry, the giant snake would bring the arrival of the rainy season.” But now, since many no longer believe in the snake, her nana says, “It has returned to the place where the water is born.” Now, Itzel and her nana are desperate for rain to water their bone-dry crops. So Itzel decides she must find and awaken the snake herself. She sets out in the night alone, but soon she is joined by an ocelot, and a bevy of other jungle creatures in need of the rain. And Itzel worries, is she leading them on a fruitless journey?

Putuguq And Kublu

In each new adventure, Putuguq and Kublu learn about an element of Inuit mythology from their Elders, sometimes using what they learn to get the best of each other!
Putuguq and Kublu are at their grandparents’ house for lunch―caribou stew, Putuguq’s favourite! Putuguq’s worn out (and stinky!) kamiik remind his grandparents of the story of the amautalik and the orphan, a traditional story about a little orphan who outsmarts a child-stealing ogress. Grandmother’s storytelling over lunch starts Putuguq’s imagination running wild….

After lunch, Putuguq and Kublu decide to act out the story their grandmother has just told. But, for Putuguq, this is no ordinary play. He is determined to prove his fearlessness to an unsuspecting Kublu… with a little help from his stinky socks!

Ga’s / The Train (English And Micmac Edition)

Ashley meets her great-uncle by the old train tracks near their community in Nova Scotia. Ashley sees his sadness, and Uncle tells her of the day years ago when he and the other children from their community were told to board the train before being taken to residential school where their lives were changed forever. They weren’t allowed to speak Mi’gmaq and were punished if they did. There was no one to give them love and hugs and comfort. Uncle also tells Ashley how happy she and her sister make him. They are what give him hope. Ashley promises to wait with her uncle by the train tracks, in remembrance of what was lost.