Decolonizing Your Child’s Bookshelf
Photo by Zahra Amiri on unsplash
IndigiNews has shared a selection of six children’s books by Indigenous authors to read with the whole family, drawn from a list compiled by education and child welfare storyteller, Jenessa Joy Klukas throughout her years working within the early childhood education sector.
Stressing the value of educating and teaching Indigenous history and culture to children from a young age, and creating diversity within the stories they hear, this list of six books creates a starting point suitable for a variety of ages and exploring a variety of topics, from getting dressed for the weather to empowering children through story.
1. Little You, by Richard Van Camp and illustrated by Julie Flett, is a board book for 0 – 2 - year-olds, talking about the wonder of your child and the beautiful potential of children. The book is also available in two bilingual editions: Plains Cree/English and Ojibwa/English. In an amazing interview with Tamara Taggart https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJbTqsBmkto Richard van Camp talks about his recent book Gather: Richard Van Kamp on Storytelling, which shares the stories he has been entrusted with by elders. (Original tracks of some of the elders telling their stories are available on his Soundcloud at https://soundcloud.com/richardvancamp ) In the interview, he explores the value of storytelling in building cultural diversity by connecting people though our stories and our shared experiences, and shares the timely message that “all storms pass and we’ve been here before as a species and we’re going to come through this”. He asks, what have we missed most during the pandemic and what can we learn from this experience to make this a better world? The half hour I spent listening to this interview was truly inspiring (and entertaining!) and I highly recommend it. Richard articulates beautifully his vision of what it means to be a decent human being in this world.
2. My Heart Fills with Happiness, a board book for 0 – 2 - year-olds by Monique Gray Smith and again illustrated by Julie Flett, discusses the joys of life: family, drumming, dancing and more, with beautiful illustrations that include Indigenous drumming and Indigenous regalia.
3. Getting Dressed, a bilingual book that features Inukitut and English printing, by Inhabit Education , a Nunavut-based publisher, and illustrated by Amiel Sandland, brings readers through the process of a child getting ready to go outside in the winter. (Age 0 – 3).
4. Phyllis’s Orange Shirt, by Phyllis Webstad and illustrated by Brock Nicol, for children 4 and older, introduces the origin story of how Orange Shirt Day came to be. IndigiNews recommend this book as an age-appropriate way to open the topic of residential school experiences to children.
5. The Girl and the Wolf, by Katherena Vermette and illustrated by Julie Flett, for children aged 4 – 7, tells the story of a girl who gets separated from her mother whilst picking berries in the woods. A friendly wolf helps her find her mother by using his sense of smell.
6. The Way Creator Sees You, a book of poetry by Cree author, Shayla Raine and illustrated by Shayla and Anwar Hussain, is recommended for children aged 4 and older. Through poetry, the book tells the story of a young boy whose Grandmother teaches him about where his hair and his name came from. The author created the book to inspire Indigenous children who may be struggling with their identity and to help them to embrace who they are. The book centres around a Plains Cree boy who faces adversity at school and finds himself struggling to accept his Indigenous features. His Kokum (grandmother) brings him on a lyrical adventure to help him find appreciation for his heritage.