Here are some recommendations from our editors to round out Indigenous History Month! These titles are written by, and about, Indigenous folks here on Turtle Island, but we encourage you to read Indigenous beyond so-called Canada as well!
Setting a Welcoming Table: Mitji – Let’s Eat! Mi’kmaq Recipes from Sikniktuk by Margaret Augustine, Dr. Lauren Beck, and Patricia Bourque
Reviewed by Bryn Robinson, 2024
“To understand this background is to truly understand the choices of ingredient or the methods still used — and how it doesn’t take much beyond a few ingredients and a sense of community to make a comforting, beautiful meal.”
The Kodiaks: Home Ice Advantage by David A. Robertson
Reviewed by Mala Rai, 2024
“For those of us who passed through ancient school curriculums designed without the consult and participation of First Nations communities, leaning into Indigenous literature of all genres, including children’s fiction, is one way to actively listen.”
Home is the Lands and Rivers: A Girl Called Echo by Katherena Vermette
Reviewed by Christina Barber, 2024
“This is not only a classroom resource; it is a well-written and produced series of graphic novels that will engage and inform youth of all backgrounds.”
Moon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice
Reviewed by Alison Manley, 2023
“I was glued to this one; Rice is a great storyteller, and his writing shines again here.”
In Search of April Raintree by Beatrice Mosionier (40th Anniversary Edition)
Reviewed by Anne Smith-Nochasak, 2023
“This is great literature because it rips right into the soul and forces us to confront the darkest realities of colonization. We are pulled down into the darkest moments of April’s despair, and yet — we are uplifted. “
Green Fuse Burning by Tiffany Morris
Reviewed by Lindsay Gloade-Raining Bird, 2023
“Morris crafts a truly unnerving novella here, the perfect amount of weird with elements of horror pulled from environmental warnings that feel very possible and immediate … She’s a writer to watch, for sure.”
Kâ–pî–isi—kiskisiYân / ᑳ ᐲ ᐃᓯ ᑭᐢᑭᓯᔮᐣ The Way I Remember by Solomon Ratt
Reviewed by Anne Smith-Nochasak, 2023
“The book is presented first in Woods Cree syllabics, and then in Cree using the Roman Orthography, with an English translation. That English translation was the part I read, but for the sake of my two mentors, I occasionally explored the Cree sections, seeking out remembered phrases. What an opportunity for language preservation and language learning this is!”
Decolonizing Sport by Janice Forsyth and Others
Reviewed by Lisa Timpf, 2023
“Decolonizing Sport provides a window for those looking to broaden their knowledge about settler colonialism and its impact on the reality, and the perception, of Indigenous sport participation.”
Freddie the Flyer by Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail, Fred Carmichael, Audrea Loreen-Wulf
Reviewed by Christina Barber, 2023
“With a career spanning nearly seventy years, Carmichael’s devotion to the land and its people is clear.”
Laughing With the Trickster by Tomson Highway
Reviewed by Anne Smith-Nochasak, 2022
“We do need this book and this worldview for this time in history. It is a book of wisdom and healing and, ultimately, a book of joy.”
My Indian Summer: A Novel by By Joseph Kakwinokanasum
Reviewed by Heidi Greco, 2022
“The first time I heard Joseph Kakwinokanasum read, I knew I was hearing the voice of a born storyteller … A story of resilience, and one that’s bound to linger in mind.”
My Name is Seepeetza 30th Anniversary Edition by Shirley Sterling
Reviewed by Carrie Stanton, 2022
“My Name is Seepeetza is as valid a book today as it was when it was first published, and it is well worth in-depth study.”
Iskotew Iskwew Poetry of a Northern Rez Girl by Francine Merasty
Reviewed by Michelle Butler Hallett, 2021
“Merasty’s poems, igniting empathy, show us the fibres and sympathetic threads – lifelines – of reconciliation. “
Creeland by Dallas Hunt
Reviewed by Pearl Pirie, 2021
“A work that comes out of frustration and anger but also buoyancy and determination.”
Five Little Indians by Michelle Good
Reviewed by Michelle Porter, 2020
“This book is a must-read for everyone in Canada so that we all can begin to understand and respond to the intergenerational impacts the residential school system has had not just on the students and their children but on the entire country.”
