Indigenous writing for kids!

"Helen Betty Osborne, known as Betty to her closest friends and family, dreamed of becoming a teacher. She left home to attend residential school and later moved to The Pas, Manitoba, to attend high school. On November 13, 1971, Betty was abducted and brutally murdered by four young men. Initially met with silence and indifference, her tragic murder resonates loudly today. Betty represents one of almost 1,200 Indigenous women in Canada who have been murdered or gone missing. This is her story. (Ages 14 +)" - Publisher

"May, a young teenage girl, traverses the city streets, finding keepsakes in different places along her journey. When May and her kookum make these keepsakes into a necklace, it opens a world of danger and fantasy. While May fights against a terrible reality, she learns that there is strength in the spirit of those that have passed. But will that strength be able to save her? A story of tragedy and beauty, Will I See illuminates the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women. (Aimed at older kids.)" - Publisher

"Tasha Spillett's graphic novel debut, Surviving the City, is a story about womanhood, friendship, colonialism, and the anguish of a missing loved one. Miikwan and Dez are best friends. Miikwan is Anishinaabe; Dez is Inninew. Together, the teens navigate the challenges of growing up in an urban landscape - they're so close, they even completed their Berry Fast together. However, when Dez's grandmother becomes too sick, Dez is told she can't stay with her anymore. With the threat of a group home looming, Dez can't bring herself to go home and disappears. Miikwan is devastated, and the wound of her missing mother resurfaces. Will Dez's community find her before it's too late? Will Miikwan be able to cope if they don't? (Ages 12 +)" - Publisher

"An important title with first-rate storytelling and beautiful use of color and design. Pair with David A. Robertson's Will I See? for timely accounts of the systemic violence impacting Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people and their families and communities." School Library Journal

"Dez and Miikwan's stories continue in this sequel to Surviving the City. Dez's grandmother has passed away. Grieving, and with nowhere else to go, she's living in a group home. On top of everything else, Dez is navigating a new relationship and coming into her identity as a Two-Spirit person. Miikwan is crushing on the school's new kid Riel, but doesn't really understand what Dez is going through. Will she learn how to be a supportive ally to her best friend? Elder Linda is doing her best to be supportive, but she doesn't know how to respond when the gendered protocols she's grown up with that are being thrown into question. Will Dez be comfortable expressing her full identity? And will her community relearn the teachings and overcome prejudice to celebrate her for who she is? (Ages 12 +)" - Publisher

"Moving and heartfelt, readers definitely will want to know what happens next." - Globe & Mail

"In 1964, two brothers are taken from the warm and loving care of their grandparents, and spirited away to a residential school, miles from home. James, assigned to manual work on the grounds, sees less and less of his younger brother, Thomas. James soon discovers the anguish that Thomas is living under, which leads to unspeakable tragedy. The pain and guilt that dogs James continues to affect his troubled son, Edwin. But a new understanding is dawning between them ... (Ages 15 and up)" - Publisher

"Both Ends/Begins and The Pact are emotionally powerful works, and Scott Henderson's black and white visuals add to the impact of Robertson's narratives, particularly in the depiction of the residential school experience. Furthermore, the generational impact of its aftermath - the loss of culture and language, inter-generational family dysfunction, and coping with emotional pain through self-destructive behaviours - are clearly evident in both the telling and the illustration of the stories." - Canadian Review of Materials

"A school assignment to interview a residential school survivor leaders Daniel to Betsy, his friend's grandmother, who tells him her story. Abandoned as a young child, Betsy was soon adopted into a loving family. A few short years later, at the age of 8, everything changed. Betsy was taken away to a residential school. There she was forced to endure abuse and indignity, but she remembers her fathers words - words that gave her the resilience, strength, and determination to survive. (Ages 15 and up)" - Publisher

"As an account of the residential school experience, Sugar Falls presents a sad and difficult story. Scott Henderson's black and white drawings underscore the bleakness of residential school life, and Betty's story reiterates the inter-generational impact of that experience on First Nations families. Unlike David Robertson's "7 Generations" series, in which storylines shift between past and present, this narrative is straightforward, direct and accessible to high school readers of various reading abilities. However, there is much in the book's content that is disturbing - particularly the depictions of corporal punishment and description of sexual abuse - making this a book unsuitable for audiences under the age of 15." - Canadian Review of Materials

"Explore the past 150 years through the eyes of Indigenous creators in this groundbreaking graphic novel anthology. Beautifully illustrated, these stories are an emotional and enlightening journey through Indigenous wonderworks, psychic battles, and time travel. See how Indigenous peoples have survived a post-apocalyptic world since Contact." - Publisher

"Red River Resistance sees Echo Desjardins adjusting to her new home, making new friends, and learning about Metis history. One ordinary afternoon in class, Echo finds herself transported through time to the banks of the Red River in the summer of 1869. All is not well in the territory, as Canadian surveyors have arrived, and Metis families, who have lived there for generations, are losing access to their land. As the Resistance takes hold, Echo fears for her friends and the future of her people in the Red River Valley." - Publisher

"Echo Desjardins, a 13-year-old Métis girl adjusting to a new home and school, is struggling with loneliness while separated from her mother. Then an ordinary day in Mr. Bee's history class turns extraordinary, and Echo's life will never be the same. During Mr. Bee's lecture, Echo finds herself transported to another time and place--a bison hunt on the Saskatchewan prairie--and back again to the present. In the following weeks, Echo slips back and forth in time. She visits a Métis camp, travels the old fur-trade routes, and experiences the perilous and bygone era of the Pemmican Wars." - Publisher

"The third graphic novel in the A Girl Called Echo series, Northwest Resistance follows Echo Desjardins and her travels through time. Going back to 1884, Echo finds herself in the thick of a new Métis resistance led by leader Louis Riel, who has returned from exile to resist encroaching forces from the East and to ensure his people's rights are honoured. For Echo, the experience is empowering, focusing her own identity and giving her the strength to confront the challenges in her life." - Publisher

"In Road Allowance Era, Echo's story picks up again when she travels back in time to 1885. The Manitoba Act's promise of land for the Métis has gone unfulfilled, and many Métis flee to the Northwest. As part of the fallout from the Northwest Resistance, their advocate and champion Louis Riel is executed. As new legislation corrodes Métis land rights, and unscrupulous land speculators and swindlers take advantage, many Métis settle on road allowances and railway land, often on the fringes of urban centres. For Echo, the plight of her family is apparent. Burnt out of their home in Ste. Madeleine, they make their way to Rooster Town on the southwest edges of Winnipeg. In this final installment of her story, Echo is reminded of the strength and resilience of her people, forged through the loss and pain of the past, as she faces a triumphant future." - Publisher