National Network for Equitable Library Service

This is Robert James Challenger's fifth collection of beautifully illustrated, easy-to-read short stories that impart practical, moral lessons about life in today's world. As in Aesop's fables and First Nations legends, animals, birds and insects are the ones who do the teaching. Mother Eagle helps her daughter overcome her sibling rivalry. An encounter with Mosquito teaches a little girl that revenge doesn't make a person feel any better. Little Orca learns from his grandfather that being grown up has very little to do with how big you are.

In the traditional Algonquian world, the windigo is the spirit of selfishness, which can transform a person into a murderous cannibal. Native peoples over a vast stretch of North America—from Virginia in the south to Labrador in the north, from Nova Scotia in the east to Minnesota in the west—believed in the windigo, not only as a myth told in the darkness of winter, but also as a real danger.

This colourful account of the Chilcotin War is an insightful and absorbing examination of an event that helped to shape the course of British Columbia history. In the spring of 1864, 14 men building a road along the Homathko River in British Columbia were killed by a Tsilhqot’in (Chilcotin) war party. Other violent deaths followed in the conflict that became known as the Chilcotin War.

The expansive ancestral territory of the Blackfoot Nation ranged from the North Saskatchewan River in Alberta to the Missouri River in Montana and from the Rocky Mountains east to the Cypress Hills. This buffalo-rich land sustained the Blackfoot for generations until the arrival of whiskey traders, unscrupulous wolfers, smallpox epidemics, and the encroachment of white settlers on traditional hunting grounds. These factors led to widespread poverty and demoralization, forcing the Blackfoot to appeal to the Canadian government for protection.

This collection of west-coast fables combines the approach of Aesop with the oral tradition of First Nations storytellers. Woodpecker shows how to be a true friend. Beaver demonstrates how to achieve dreams through hard work. Rainbow Trout finds that all things in nature have a purpose. Parents, grandparents and teachers will embrace Robert James Challenger's stories, which, like all fables, promote cultural values and respect among generations.

This collection of short stories is based on traditional values important to us all—respect, cooperation and kindness. Robert James Challenger's illustrations and tales reveal a world of magical birds, fish and other wildlife, who teach readers lessons about life and the world. Seal shows us why we should not let fear of failing stop us from trying new things. Hummingbird helps us appreciate the beauty in our world. Kingfisher teaches us how to believe in ourselves. Coho learns the rewards of not giving up.

In her third book inspired by First Nations’ stories, children’s author and illustrator Caroll Simpson explains the significance of community values. She introduces readers to a world of creatures like Sea Lion, Killer Whale, Dogfish and Kingfisher. Her dramatic tale of young twins and their transformation shows how working together keeps a community healthy.When new twins are born in a mythical Pacific Coast village, everyone celebrates because the birth of twins is a rare occasion; twins are the children of the salmon.

There is a special place on the southeastern shores of Barkley Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island. It is a magnificent landscape of rocky cliffs fronting onto the wild Pacific Ocean, sheltered beaches, lakes, mountains and forests. Since the beginning of time, it has been the ancestral home of the Huu-ay-aht First Nation. Drawing directly from oral history passed down by generations of Huu-ay-aht chiefs and elders, Kathryn Bridge and Kevin Neary tell the compelling stories of the Huu-ay-aht people from their perspective.

Edward S. Curtis Above the Medicine Line is both an introduction to the Seattle-based photographer and a tribute to a true visionary. While Curtis’s photographs will long be his legacy, his own story is likewise compelling. Curtis built his first camera at 12 and developed that interest into a large Seattle photo studio by the age of 30. Then, on an expedition to Alaska in 1899, Curtis was exposed to First Nations cultures in a way that affected him profoundly. First Nations people had been decimated due to the diseases and aggressions of white settlers.

Yax is too young to accompany his father on a trading expedition and must stay at home with his mother and his younger sister. Disappointed, he goes off to practise his spear-throwing. When he loses his spear, he thinks he is old enough to go into the forest to look for it, even though he has been warned about the dangers that await children who wander into the woods alone . . .In this, her second book inspired by First Nations’ stories, author and illustrator Caroll Simpson tells how the first mosquito came to be.