Courage Moonflower Sometimes the best way to approach and engage with a serious topic is through stories. Genre fiction does this particularly well. For instance, consider A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness, or The Ghost
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
Graphic Novel Popular Graphic Novels with 2SLGBTQ+ Characters In the past few months, my students have become entranced with the Heartstopper series. They have binged the Netflix series, read through the webcomic online, and devoured the copy of Volume One that
Indigenous Indigenous Storytelling Literature Circle In the past, when teaching my students about Indigenous perspectives, I have often taken an approach that focuses on human rights. We spend time learning about colonialism in Canada and focus on texts
Courage I Am Not Starfire There are a lot of reasons to love I Am Not Starfire, written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Yoshi Yoshitani. The art is fantastic, the characters are sharp, and it is both
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
Antiracism Front Desk Front Desk, by Kelly Yang, tells the story of ten year old Mia, a Chinese immigrant who helps her parents manage a motel. Mia's life in America is often challenging. She supports her
Antiracism Prairie Lotus Prairie Lotus, written by Linda Sue Park, tells the story of Hanna, a girl who is half-Chinese and living on the American frontier in 1880. Hanna and her father settle in LaForge, hoping
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
Graphic Novel The Magic Fish The Magic Fish, written by Trung Le Nguyen, is a beautiful graphic novel about Tiến and his mother, a Vietnamese refugee. Tiến wants to come out to his parents as gay, but he
feminism The Cardboard Kingdom The Cardboard Kingdom is a graphic novel by Chad Sell about the power of imagination and being yourself. The book is a collection of short stories that follows children of the cardboard kingdom,
Antiracism New Kid and Not Talking About Race This year, I was able to teach my identity literature circle for the first time. Having put together the text sets before going on parental leave, I was excited to finally dive into
Human Rights When Stars Are Scattered When Stars Are Scattered, by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed, recounts Omar Mohamed's childhood in Dadaab, a refugee camp in Kenya. Separated from his mother, Omar and his nonverbal younger brother live in
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
LGBTQ Rick Rick, by Alex Gino, is the sequel to the award winning middle grade novel George. In Rick, characters from the first book have moved onto middle school, which brings new questions about identity,
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
LGBTQ The Derby Daredevils I love when I can read a middle grade book and learn something entirely new. This is particulary true when it involves female protagonists who rise to a challenge. The Derby Daredevils: Kenzie
Middle Grade Books Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You is a remix of Ibram X. Kendi's book Stamped from the Beginning. Jason Reynolds, an acclaimed author for young people, remixes the content to create a vital text
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
feminism Maybe He Just Likes You Maybe He Just Likes You, by Barbara Dee, is an important middle grade book that all students should read. It tells the story of Mila, a girl who deals with harassment by a
Environment The Failings of Climate Change Fiction Young adult and middle grade fiction are useful tools for teaching about tough issues. Problems like the refugee crisis or poverty are difficult and stories are important to help us better understand these
feminism Crush I am not a big fan of romantic comedies. I find the characters in these types of books or films often engage in manipulative behaviour. The resulting relationships rarely strike me as particularly
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
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
Human Rights Other Words for Home Stories are important tools for promoting empathy and understanding of others. It is harder to divide the world into "Them" versus "Us," to dehumanize the other, when we understand