Our collection of picture books featuring Black and Indigenous people and People of Color (BIPOC) is available to the public. *Inclusion of a title in the collection DOES NOT EQUAL a recommendation.* Click here for more on book evaluation.
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Trip to the moon
This adventurous tale follows three boys from Pangnirtung, Nunavut, who after discovering an old oil drum on the beach embark on a journey they'll never forget!
When I was eight
Based on the true story of Margaret Pokiak-Fenton, this book chronicles the unbreakable spirit of an Inuit girl while attending an Arctic residential school. Olemaun is eight and knows a lot of things. But she does not know how to read. Ignoring her father’s warnings, she travels far from her Arctic home to the outsiders’ school to learn. The nuns at the school call her Margaret. They cut off her long hair and force her to do menial chores, but she remains undaunted. Her tenacity draws the attention of a black-cloaked nun who tries to break her spirit at every turn. But the young girl is more determined than ever to learn how to read.
A walk on the tundra
Inuujaq learns about local plants while walking on the tundra with her grandmother.
Tales from the tundra
Learn why the raven is black or how a little boy was transformed into a bird. Find out why a walrus used to have antlers and how an earth spirit pulled the first caribou from the ground. These fascinating stories will capture the imagination of young readers and introduce them to the rich mythology of the Canadian Inuit.
Alego
The experiences of a young child as she and her grandmother go for a walk along the shore to gather clams for the family's supper. During the experience Alego finds many new and interesting animals and creatures that live the tide pools along the shore and grandmother teaches her the names of the creatures.
The Delta is My Home
"Tom McLeod is an eleven-year-old boy from Aklavik who is a gifted storyteller heard frequently on CBC Radio North. He is of mixed cultural heritage-Gwich'in and Inuvialuit. Tom tells us why his home in the Mackenzie Delta is a special place and why he loves to live on the land. He describes how his town floods in the spring and why he loves "ratting" (trapping muskrats) and hunting "black ducks" (white-winged and surf scoters) in the Delta. Readers will learn why these ducks are decreasing in number and how and why they are important to Tom and his people. Tom says, Northerners have always hunted animals for survival. We are careful about how we use the land. To be good hunters we need to pay attention to what is happening on the land around us-that's why it's important for us to be out there. We are the first to know if the land and animals are changing." -- publisher
Very Last First Time
"An ALA Notable Children’s Book, Very Last First Time comes from one of Canada's most distinguished storytellers and an award-winning illustrator. Eva Padlyat lived in an Inuit village on Ungava Vat in northern Canada. In winter, when people wanted mussels to eat, they searched along the bottom of the seabed. Eva had often walked on the bottom, helping her mother, but today – for the very first time – she was to go down below the thick sea ice herself. Her mother went with her to the shore and out onto the ice. The time was just right. The outgoing tide had pulled the seawater away, leaving only the ice above and the rock-strewn seabed below. Eva lowered herself through a hole in the ice and, by candlelight, had soon gathered a pan full of mussels. There was still time to explore, she decided. But she stumbled and her candle went out. She was alone in the darkness, and the tide had turned. When, at the end of her adventure, she is safe with her mother again on top of the ice, she says, "that was my very last first time for walking alone on the bottom of the sea."" -- publisher