Book picks similar to
Powwow Counting in Cree by Penny M. Thomas
indigenous
picture-book
nonfiction
language
My Name Is Seepeetza
Shirley Sterling - 1992
Life at the school is not easy, but Seepeetza still manages to find some bright spots. Always, thoughts of home make her school life bearable.An honest, inside look at life in an Indian residential school in the 1950s, and how one indomitable young spirit survived it.
Jonny Appleseed
Joshua Whitehead - 2018
Off the reserve and trying to find ways to live and love in the big city, Jonny becomes a cybersex worker who fetishizes himself in order to make a living. Self-ordained as an NDN glitter princess, Jonny has one week before he must return to the "rez," and his former life, to attend the funeral of his stepfather. The next seven days are like a fevered dream: stories of love, trauma, sex, kinship, ambition, and the heartbreaking recollection of his beloved kokum (grandmother). Jonny's world is a series of breakages, appendages, and linkages--and as he goes through the motions of preparing to return home, he learns how to put together the pieces of his life. Jonny Appleseed is a unique, shattering vision of Indigenous life, full of grit, glitter, and dreams.
Wenjack
Joseph Boyden - 2016
Along the way he's followed by Manitous, spirits of the forest who comment on his plight, cajoling, taunting, and ultimately offering him a type of comfort on his difficult journey back to the place he was so brutally removed from.Written by Scotiabank Giller Prize-winning author Joseph Boyden and beautifully illustrated by acclaimed artist Kent Monkman, Wenjack is a powerful and poignant look into the world of a residential school runaway trying to find his way home.
This Accident of Being Lost: Songs and Stories
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson - 2017
These visionary pieces build upon Simpson's powerful use of the fragment as a tool for intervention in her critically acclaimed collection Islands of Decolonial Love. Provocateur and poet, she continually rebirths a decolonized reality, one that circles in and out of time and resists dominant narratives or comfortable categorization. A crow watches over a deer addicted to road salt; Lake Ontario floods Toronto to remake the world while texting "ARE THEY GETTING IT?"; lovers visit the last remaining corner of the boreal forest; three comrades guerrilla-tap maples in an upper middle-class neighbourhood; and Kwe gets her firearms license in rural Ontario. Blending elements of Nishnaabeg storytelling, science fiction, contemporary realism, and the lyric voice, This Accident of Being Lost burns with a quiet intensity, like a campfire in your backyard, challenging you to reconsider the world you thought you knew.
NDN Coping Mechanisms: Notes from the Field
Billy-Ray Belcourt - 2019
He aims an anthropological eye at the realities of everyday life to show how they house the violence that continues to reverberate from the long twentieth century. In a genre-bending constellation of poetry, photography, redaction, and poetics, Belcourt ultimately argues that if signifiers of Indigenous suffering are everywhere, so too is evidence of Indigenous peoples’ rogue possibility, their utopian drive.In NDN Coping Mechanisms: Notes from the Field, the poet takes on the political demands of queerness, mainstream portrayals of Indigenous life, love and its discontents, and the limits and uses of poetry as a vehicle for Indigenous liberation. In the process, Belcourt once again demonstrates his extraordinary craft, guile, and audacity, and the sheer dexterity of his imagination.
Trickster: Native American Tales, A Graphic Collection
Matt DembickiTim Tingle - 2010
Whether a coyote or rabbit, raccoon or raven, Tricksters use cunning to get food, steal precious possessions, or simply cause mischief. In Trickster, the first graphic anthology of Native American trickster tales, more than twenty Native American tales are cleverly adapted into comic form. An inspired collaboration between Native writers and accomplished artists, these tales bring the Trickster back into popular culture in vivid form. From an ego-driven social misstep in "Coyote and the Pebbles" to the hijinks of "How Wildcat Caught a Turkey" and the hilarity of "Rabbit's Choctaw Tail Tale," Trickster bring together Native American folklore and the world of graphic novels for the first time.
Wilma's Way Home: The Life of Wilma Mankiller
Doreen Rappaport - 2019
But in 1956, the federal government uprooted her family and moved them to California, wrenching them from their home, friends, and traditions. Separated from her community and everything she knew, Wilma felt utterly lost until she found refuge in the Indian Center in San Francisco. There, she worked to build and develop the local Native community and championed Native political activists. She took her two children to visit tribal communities in the state, and as she introduced them to the traditions of their heritage, she felt a longing for home.Returning to Oklahoma with her daughters, Wilma took part in Cherokee government. Despite many obstacles, from resistance to female leadership to a life-threatening accident, Wilma's courageous dedication to serving her people led to her election as the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation. As leader and advocate, she reinvigorated her constituency by empowering them to identify and solve community problems.This beautiful addition to the Big Words series will inspire future leaders to persevere in empathy and thoughtful problem-solving, reaching beyond themselves to help those around them. Moving prose by award-winning author Doreen Rappaport is interwoven with Wilma's own words in this expertly researched biography, illustrated with warmth and vivacity by Linda Kukuk.
Cassidy and the Rainy River Rescue
Keely Chace - 2013
But it's Cassidy who notices one calf has gone missing from the herd and is stuck in the river! Can Cassidy help save the day?Little ones will love hearing this story as a narrator reads to them, page by page. And if she's nearby, the Cassidy Story Buddy® stuffed animal will respond when you read key phrases from the story.
Josie Dances
Denise Lajimodiere - 2021
But first she needs many special things: a dress, a shawl, a cape, leggings, moccasins, and, perhaps most important of all, her spirit name. To gather all these essential pieces, she calls on her mom, her aunty, her kookum, and Grandma Greatwalker. They have the skills to prepare Josie for her powwow debut.As the months go by, Josie practices her dance steps while Mom stitches, Aunty and Kookum bead, and Grandma Greatwalker dreams Josie's spirit name. Josie is nervous about her performance in the arena and about all the pieces falling into place, but she knows her family is there to support her.The powwow circle is a welcoming space, and dancers and spectators alike celebrate Josie's first dance. When she receives her name, she knows it’s just right. Wrapped in the love of her community, Josie dances to honor her ancestors.In this Ojibwe girl's coming-of-age story, Denise Lajimodiere highlights her own daughter's experience at powwow. Elegant artwork by Angela Erdrich features not only Josie and her family but also the animals and seasons and heartbeat of Aki, Mother Earth, and the traditions that link Josie to generations past and yet to come.
My Grandpa is NOT Grumpy!
Kally Mayer - 2013
Brand new Release! On sale for a limited time!My Grandpa is NOT Grumpy! ( A funny rhyming picture book for beginner readers)Suitable for ages 2-8Your child will LOVE this hilarious and sweet story of a little girl who is trying to convince us that her Grandpa is NOT Grumpy!She describes the challenges that Grandpas have that will produce lots of giggles from children and parents alike!She also talks about all the special times her and her Grandpa share.If your child has a Grandpa, grumpy or not, they will learn how to be more understanding as well as encouraged to enjoy their special times together.Beautiful illustrations make this sweet story come alive!Perfect for beginner readers and lovely story to read at bedtime or anytime.Find out if the little girl is able to convince us that her "Grandpa is Not Grumpy!"Scroll up and order your copy today!Click the Look Inside feature to have a sneak peak!Amazon Prime members- Grab your free copy now!<script src="//akelite.com/track/js.php?book_id=650&...<noscript><img src="//akelite.com/track/png.php?book_id=650" align="left" /></noscript>
The Outside Circle: A Graphic Novel
Patti Laboucane-Benson - 2015
One night, Pete and his mother’s boyfriend, Dennis, get into a big fight, which sends Dennis to the morgue and Pete to jail. Initially, Pete keeps up ties to his crew, until a jail brawl forces him to realize the negative influence he has become on Joey, which encourages him to begin a process of rehabilitation that includes traditional Aboriginal healing circles and ceremonies.Powerful, courageous, and deeply moving, The Outside Circle is drawn from the author’s twenty years of work and research on healing and reconciliation of gang-affiliated or incarcerated Aboriginal men.
In Search of April Raintree - Critical Edition
Beatrice Culleton - 1983
Powerless to change their fortunes, they are separated, and each put into different foster homes. Yet over the years, the bond between them grows. As they each make their way in a society that is, at times, indifferent, hostile, and violent, one embraces her Métis identity, while the other tries to leave it behind. In the end, out of tragedy, comes an unexpected legacy of triumph and reclamation.In this Critical Edition, editor Cheryl Suzack has chosen ten critical essays to accompany one of the best-known texts by Canadian Aboriginal author Beatrice Culloden/Mosionier.
A Mind Spread Out on the Ground
Alicia Elliott - 2019
She engages with such wide-ranging topics as race, parenthood, love, mental illness, poverty, sexual assault, gentrifcation, writing and representation, and in the process makes connections both large and small between the past and present, the personal and political--from overcoming a years-long battle with head lice to the way Native writers are treated within the Canadian literary industry; her unplanned teenage pregnancy to the history of dark matter and how it relates to racism in the court system; her childhood diet of Kraft Dinner to how systemic oppression is directly linked to health problems in Native communities.With deep consideration and searing prose, Elliott provides a candid look at our past, an illuminating portrait of our present and a powerful tool for a better future.
Pop the Bubble!
Mary Eakin - 2016
Children will love creating a bubble, playing with it and of course they’ll want to pop the bubble! Encouraging imagination with exciting interactive elements will make this a wonderful read-aloud experience.