David A Robertson
Author
Language
English
Description
An empowering story of resistance that gently introduces children to the history of residential schools in Canada. In When We Were Alone, a young girl notices things about her grandmother that make her curious. As she asks questions, her grandmother tells her about her experiences in a residential school.
When We Were Alone won the 2017 Governor General's Literary Award in the Young People's Literature (Illustrated Books) category, and was nominated...
2) Monsters
Author
Series
Reckoner novels (David Robertson) volume 2
Language
English
Formats
Description
"The ending...is so unexpected that readers will eagerly anticipate [the] third volume."-Kirkus Reviews
Cole Harper is struggling to settle into life in Wounded Sky First Nation. He may have stopped a serial killer but the trouble is far from over. A creature lurks in the shadows of Blackwood Forest, the health clinic is on lockdown by a mysterious organization, and long-held secrets threaten to bubble to the surface. Can Cole learn the truth about...
3) Strangers
Author
Series
Reckoner novels (David Robertson) volume 1
Language
English
Formats
Description
A talking coyote, mysterious illnesses, and girl trouble. Coming home can be murder...
When Cole Harper gets a mysterious message from an old friend begging him to come home, he has no idea what he's getting into. Compelled to return to Wounded Sky First Nation, Cole finds his community in chaos: a series of shocking murders, a mysterious illness ravaging the residents, and reemerging questions about Cole's role in the tragedy that drove him away...
4) Ghosts
Author
Series
Reckoner novels (David Robertson) volume 3
Language
English
Formats
Description
Mysterious murders, shadowy figures, and high school. Life can be hard; death can be harder.
Cole Harper is dead. Reynold McCabe is alive and free. Mihko Laboratories has reopened the research facility and works to manufacture and weaponize the illness that previously plagued Wounded Sky. People are missing, and the community has been quarantined. What deal did Eva strike with Choch? Who will defeat Reynold and Mihko? Time is running out.
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
Alice is a single mother raising her three young daughters on the rez where she grew up. Life has never been easy, but she's managed to get by with the support of her best friend, Gideon, and her family. When an unthinkable loss occurs, Alice is forced to confront truths that will challenge her belief in herself and the world she thought she knew.
Peopled with unforgettable characters and told from multiple points of view, this is a novel where spirits...
Author
Language
English
Description
A son who grew up away from his Indigenous culture takes his Cree father on a trip to their family's trapline, and finds that revisiting the past not only heals old wounds but creates a new future.
The son of a Cree father and a non-Indigenous mother, David A. Robertson was raised with virtually no knowledge or understanding of his family's Indigenous roots. His father, Don, spent his early childhood on a trapline in the bush northeast of Norway...
Author
Language
English
Description
Hockey fans will love this action-packed middle grade novel about teamwork, overcoming adversity, and being proud of who you are and where you come from. Join Alex as he navigates a new school, deals with new friends and bullies alike, and proves that on the ice, only the colour of your jersey matters.
Author
Language
English
Description
A young girl notices things about her grandmother that make her curious. Why does kókom have long, braided hair and beautifully coloured clothing? Why does she speak Cree and spend so much time with her family? As the girl asks questions, kókom shares her experiences in a residential school, when all of these things were taken away.
Author
Language
English
Description
A son who grew up away from his Indigenous culture takes his Cree father on a trip to their family's trapline, and finds that revisiting the past not only heals old wounds but creates a new future.
The son of a Cree father and a non-Indigenous mother, David A. Robertson was raised with virtually no knowledge or understanding of his family's Indigenous roots. His father, Don, spent his early childhood on a trapline in the bush northeast of Norway...
10) The Land of Os
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
When Richard's class from Big Spirit School takes a canoe trip, he and his classmates chance upon an ederly woman. She tells them the story of her grandfather, John Ramsay, of the Sandy Bar community on Lake Winnipeg. Ramsay's land was taken by the government and given to the new settlers from Iceland who arrived there in 1875. Yet many owed their survival to Ramsay, who helped them through freezing winters, hunger, and a devastating smallpox epidemic.
The...
11) The Rebel
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
For Tyrese, history class is the lowest point of his school day. This is, until his friend Levi reveals a secret -- a secret that brings history alive, in the form of one Gabriel Dumont. Through Dumont, a great Metis leader of the Northwest Resistance, the boys experience a bison hunt, a skirmish with the Blackfoot, and encounter with the great Louis Riel, and, ultimately, a great battle at Batoche, Saskatchewan.
The Rebel is one book in the Tales...
12) The Peacemaker
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
When Cole's teacher catches him drawing rather than listening in class, he gives Cole a special assignment: an oral presentation on an important Aboriginal figure. Cole will do almost anything to avoid speaking in public -- even feigning illness. But when he hear the story of the remarkable woman known as Thanadelthur-peacemaker between the Cree and the Dene and interpreter for the governor of Fort York -- he is so inspired by her bravery, he overcomes...
13) Betty
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
Helen Betty Osborne, known as Betty to her closest friends and family, dreamed of becoming a teacher. She left home to attend residential school and later moved to The Pas, Manitoba, to attend high school. On November 13, 1971, Betty was abducted and brutally murdered by four young men. Initially met with silence and indifference, her tragic murder resonates loudly today. Betty represents one of almost 1,200 Indigenous women in Canada who have been...
14) The Poet
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
Although Kathy loves poetry, she is far too shy to recite it in front of her class. But the story of Pauline Johnson, renowned as the "Mohawk Princess," inspires Kathy to overcome her stage fright. Pauline, from the Grand River Reserve in Ontario, crisscrossed the country, reciting her poems to far-flung communities, making her among the most beloved literary figure of the Edwardian era.
The Poet is one book in the Tales from Big Spirit series....
15) The Chief
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
On her way to school one day, Sarah is relieved to find the book she'd dropped the day before-shortly after an encounter with a bear. But when she opens it, the story within, about the Cree chief Mistahimaskwa, comes alive. It takes Sarah back to the Saskatchewan Plains of 1832, where the young boy who would become the great chief first learns the ways of his people, to the final days of his life.
16) 7 Generations
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
Illustrated in vivid colour, 7 Generations: A Plains Cree Saga is an epic story that follows one Indigenous family over three centuries and seven generations. This compiled edition was originally published as a series of four graphic novels: Stone, Scars, Ends/Begins, and The Pact.
Stone introduces Edwin, a young man who must discover his family's past if he is to have any future. Edwin learns of his ancestor, Stone, a Plains Cree warrior who came...
17) Will I See?
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
May, a young teenage girl, traverses the city streets, finding keepsakes in different places along her journey. When May and her kookum make these keepsakes into a necklace, it opens a world of danger and fantasy. While May fights against a terrible reality, she learns that there is strength in the spirit of those that have passed. But will that strength be able to save her? A story of tragedy and beauty, Will I See illuminates the issue of missing...
18) Sugar Falls
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
Inspired by true events, this story of strength, family, and culture shares the awe-inspiring resilience of Elder Betty Ross.
Abandoned as a young child, Betsy is adopted into a loving family. A few short years later, at the age of 8, everything changes. Betsy is taken away to a residential school. There she is forced to endure abuse and indignity, but Betsy recalls the words her father spoke to her at Sugar Falls-words that give her the resilience,...
19) Version Control
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
After finding out Mihko reinstated the Reckoner Initiative in Breakdown, Cole and Eva confronted Mihko head-on. But when Eva stumbles across a secret laboratory, she finds her worst nightmares come to life. After a vicious battle with Mihko's newest test subject leaves Cole close to death, Eva is forced to continue their investigation without him. With Brady missing and Cole in recovery, Eva is on her own.
What new terrors has Mihko created? Can they...
20) Breakdown
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
After the events in Wounded Sky, Cole and Eva arrive in Winnipeg, the headquarters of Mihko Laboratories. They are intent on destroying the company once and for all, but their plans are thwarted when a new threat surfaces. When Cole becomes mired in terrifying visions, Eva must harness her newly discovered powers to investigate Mihko without him. Are Cole's visions just troubled dreams, or are they leading him to a horrible truth?
Perfect for fans...