Non-Fiction Books

Non-fiction texts that help us envision a better world

Canadian

Books for Red Dress Day

May 5th is Red Dress Day, a day that brings awareness to the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People. In Canada, Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people are more likely to be the victims of violence due to racism and the ongoing effects of colonialism.

Media Literacy

Killer Underwear Invasion!

Killer Underwear Invasion: How to Spot Fake News, Disinformation & Conspiracy Theories, by Elise Gravel, offers engaging lessons on media literacy for elementary school students and beyond. Using Elise Gravel's signature illustrations and humour, the book explains fake news, the consequences of disinformation, why people believe fake news

Environment

Indigenous Ingenuity

Indigenous Ingenuity: A Celebration of Traditional North American Knowledge, by Deidre Havrelock and Edward Kay, is a nonfiction book that focuses on the technological knowledge and achievements of Indigenous people from Turtle Island with a focus on precontact societies. The book is divided into various topics, such as transportation, medicine,

LGBTQ

Homebody

Homebody is a graphic novel memoir about Theo Parish's life as a nonbinary person. This coming of age book shows how they navigated their own identity and came out as a transgender and nonbinary. They called this process "coming home to myself wherever that may be"

Media Literacy

Accountable: Supporting students in an online world

Debating whether or not to ban cell phone sidesteps a much more important discussion focused on how schools, communities and government can act to help young people engage respectfully and purposefully in their digital spaces.

Courage

Rolling Warrior

I have been trying to introduce more books that focus on people with disabilities into my classroom library, since there is a large gap there. Rolling Warrior: The Incredible Sometimes Awkward True Story of a Rebel Girl on Wheels Who Helped Spark a Revolution [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/

Graphic Novel

Books about Japanese Incarceration in WW2

Recently I have been trying to update the novels in my human rights literature circle, focusing on themes relating to power and privilege. These days there are a wider selection of human rights themed books to choose from, ones where the author's own experiences or history help inform

LGBTQ

Queer History in Middle Grade Books

Earlier this month, a presentation was made to a school board in Manitoba requesting the need to set up a committee to evaluate books in school libraries, particularly focusing on books about transgender youth. Happily, the community came out in force against this idea and the motion was voted down.

Canadian

How to Change Everything

How to Change Everything: The Young Human's Guide to Protecting the Planet and Each Other [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54304052-how-to-change-everything], by Naomi Klein with Rebecca Stefoff, is essential reading for young people who want to better understand the climate crisis. It covers where we are in

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 [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61070507-the-witness-blanket?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=36eGyJDCp5&rank=2] , by Carey Newman and Kirstie Hudson. This

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 his relationship with his father and connecting with his Cree identity in Black Water [https://www.goodreads.

Education

The Skin We're In/Policing Black Lives

Counter-stories are important. Counter-storytelling is defined by Solórzano and Yosso as "a method of telling the stories of those people whose experiences are not often told (i.e. those on the margins of society) and a tool for exposing, analyzing, and challenging the majoritarian stories of racial privilege."

Education

A Mind Spread Out on the Ground

When I write about books under the Education [https://teacherbees.ca/tag/education/] tag on my blog, I aim to recommend books I think teachers should read. Often I think these books give useful insights when it comes to teaching for social justice or sustainability. Today's recommendation has

Middle Grade Books

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You [https://teacherbees.ca/this-place-150-years-retold/] 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 for teaching students about racism. Most of the book focuses on

Indigenous

Indigenous Writes

Indigneous Writes [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30181589-indigenous-writes?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=fAdqK9QRDb&rank=1] 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

Education

How to Be an Antiracist

How to Be an Antiracist [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40265832-how-to-be-an-antiracist], by Ibram X. Kendi, is an essential book for people who want to better understand how racism is embedded in our society and how we can work more proactively to be antiracists. Part memoir, part guide, Ibram X.

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 this crisis. That being said, let's dig deeper and

Indigenous

This Place: 150 Years Retold

This Place: 150 Years Retold [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39351184-this-place?ac=1&from_search=true] 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 delves into stories from

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 [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43708708-white-fragility], by Robin DiAngelo. Appreciating this excellent book, I opened a tab to create a blog post and immediately got stuck. The subtitle

Human Rights

Prisoner B-3087

Prisoner B-3087 [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15756277-prisoner-b-3087?ac=1&from_search=true] , by Alan Gratz, is based on the true story of Yanek Gruener, a Holocaust survivor. Starting in the Jewish ghetto in Kraków, Poland, the novel recounts his experiences in ten concentration camps over the course

Environment

World Without Fish

The past few weeks, I have been reviewing books that help promote environmental awareness for middle school students. World Without Fish [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9423723-world-without-fish?from_search=true] , by Mark Kurlansky, is another excellent addition to a classroom library. The book describes the dangers facing Earth'

Environment

Environmental Action in Middle School

In my last blog entry, I discussed various texts that can be used to teach middle school students about climate change. However, often climate change education can be overwhelming for students and adults alike. If messages become too dire, it is all too easy for people to tune out the

Environment

Climate Change in Middle Years

Want to find some resources for teaching climate change in middle years? Check out this blog post!

LGBTQ

The 57 Bus: A Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives

Summer is an excellent time to catch up on reading, so stay tuned for book reviews of texts that belong in the classroom and beyond. Today's review is on The 57 Bus [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33155325-the-57-bus?ac=1&from_search=true], by Dashka Slater.

Indigenous

Seven Fallen Feathers and Systemic Racism in Schools

This week I finished reading Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City [https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1487002262/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=15121&creative=330641&creativeASIN=1487002262&linkCode=as2&tag=ebees-20&linkId=5ef4fb94a45083fe9d60b87bf8b111b0] , by Tanya