Canadian How to Change Everything How to Change Everything: The Young Human's Guide to Protecting the Planet and Each Other, by Naomi Klein with Rebecca Stefoff, is essential reading for young people who want to better understand the
Canadian The Witness Blanket: Truth, Art and Reconciliation To prepare for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, this year I chose to explore The Witness Blanket: Truth, Art and Reconciliation, by Carey Newman and Kirstie Hudson. This non-fiction text talks
Canadian Black Water, On the Trapline, and Kīwew One amazing thing about the writer David A. Robertson is his ability to write compelling literature for any age group. Some of his most recent work demonstrates his versatility as he focuses on
Graphic Novel A Girl Called Echo: Road Allowance Era A Girl Called Echo: Road Allowance Era, written by Katherena Vermette and illustrated by Scott B. Henderson, is the fourth and final volume in the Girl Called Echo series. The series focuses on
Canadian Surviving the City: From the Roots Up Surviving the City Vol. 2: From the Roots Up, written by Tasha Spillett and illustrated by Natasha Donovan, is a graphic novel that explores the intersections of Indigenous culture and gender identity. It
Environment Music for Tigers Music for Tigers, by Michelle Kadarusman, tells the story of Louisa, a Canadian middle schooler who is sent to the Tasmanian rainforest to stay at her family's remote camp. There she learns about
Indigenous Indigenous Writes Indigneous Writes by Chelsea Vowel is a guide to First Nations, Métis and Inuit issues in Canada. The book provides a dialogue about the relationship between Indigenous Peoples and settlers in Canada. Chelsea
Indigenous A Girl Called Echo - Volume 3 For teachers looking to bring Canadian history to life, with particular emphasis on Métis history, be sure to check out volume three of A Girl Called Echo, written by Katherena Vermette and illustrated
Young Adult Books The 7 Generations Series The 7 Generations Series, a graphic novel series written by David Alexander Robertson and illustrated by Scott B. Henderson, recounts the life of seven generations of an Indigenous family, stories that span from
Middle Grade Books The Ghost Collector The Ghost Collector, by Allison Mills, is a middle grade book about loss, grief, and letting go. The main character Shelly and her grandmother have the power to collect ghosts and set them
Canadian No Fixed Address Maybe you have seen the signs before. A child in your class does not bring a lunch to school. They rarely seem to wear clean clothes. They often seem tired and have difficulty
Environment Don't Panic: Big Solutions to the Climate Crisis Today's blog post is about the climate crisis and I'd like to preface everything by saying Don't Panic. It is easy to get overwhelmed, but solutions do exist that can help us address
Indigenous Two Novellas on Reconciliation A number of children's books examine what happened at residential schools and their immediate impact. Rarer are books that focus more specifically on the journey towards reconciliation. For this reason, I was pleased
Indigenous This Place: 150 Years Retold This Place: 150 Years Retold is an ambitious project that aims to retell Canadian history by centering Indigenous perspectives and experiences. With over a dozen Indigenous authors and artists, the graphic novel anthology
Indigenous Surviving the City Surviving the City, written by Tasha Spillett and illustrated by Natasha Donovan, tells the story of two girls dealing with the dangers of growing up Indigenous in Winnipeg. When main character Dez's grandmother
Education White Fragility and the Canadian Classroom Four months ago, I finished reading White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, by Robin DiAngelo. Appreciating this excellent book, I opened a tab to create a
Indigenous Path to Reconciliation A few weeks ago I attended the Manitoba Adolescent Literacy Summit and listened to author David Alexander Robertson's keynote entitled the Path to Reconciliation. It was a highlight of the conference, as his
Education Open Letter to the Manitoba Education Review Commission Dear Commissioners of the Manitoba Education Review, This week, I attended the first Education Review Workshop at the Caboto Centre in Winnipeg. I began the workshop feeling energized. I was in a room
Education What Kind of Citizen? A key purpose of education is to prepare students to be good citizens. Few people would argue with this statement, but what does it mean to be a good citizen? What kind of
Human Rights Daniel's Story I began reading Daniel's Story, by Carol Matas, in preparation for the Manitoba Adolescent Literacy Summit in April. Carol Matas will be offering a session about teaching the Holocaust, and I wanted to
Indigenous A Girl Called Echo When I pick up a book set in my own province, it feels like I have found something special. Seeing my home in print on the page gives me a feeling of connection
Indigenous The Reckoner Series I first started this blog to examine books that offer diverse voices to the world and allow students to see their own experiences, struggles, and successes reflected back at them. The diverse voices
Mental Health OCD in Middle Years Books A pet peeve of mine is when people call themselves a little OCD. Typically they mean they like things to be tidy or organized a certain way. However, obsessive compulsive disorder can often
Courage Devil's Pass: Heroic Journey Lit Circle Book 2 In our Heroic Journey literature circle, another book that students enjoy is Devil's Pass, by Sigmund Brouwer. It tells the story of Webb, a teen who is struggling with an abusive stepfather. After
Human Rights Sadia Book Review My hometown of Winnipeg is an increasingly diverse place, and every day in the classroom this fact is becoming more and more evident. Students come from many parts of the world, practice different