“First Nation Communities Read kicks off its 10th anniversary celebrations with a five-title shortlist for 2013-2014.
The First Nation Communities Read program is the Ontario First Nation public library community’s contribution to the popular community reading movement.
Through its featured Aboriginal titles, First Nation Communities Read encourages family literacy and intergenerational storytelling, and promotes the publication, sharing, and understanding of Aboriginal voices and experiences. The shortlisted titles are listed below.”
“Saul Indian Horse has hit bottom. His last binge almost killed him and now he’s a reluctant resident in a treatment centre. But Saul wants peace and he realizes that he’ll only find it through telling his story. Beginning with his childhood on the land, he embarks on a journey through his life as a northern Ojibway, with all its joys and sorrows.” – Publisher
“Otter Lake is an Anishnaawbe Reserve buried deep in central Ontario. It is a community with a few problems. But then a mysterious, handsome white stranger named John arrives riding a vintage 1954 Indian Chief motorcycle. Who he is nobody knows, except Lillian who happens to be on her deathbed. When she summons him during her final farewells, she also charges him with a mission to help the people she loves, whom she is leaving behind. Drew Hayden Taylor, an Ojibway with an accomplished literary career, brings his insider view of life on the reserve in his personable and funny way.” -Publisher
“In ‘Nobody Cries At Bingo’, the narrator, Dawn, invites the reader to witness first hand Dumont family life on the Okanese First Nation. Beyond the sterotypes and clichés of Rez dogs, drinking, and bingos, the story of a girl who loved to read begins to unfold. It is her hopes, dreams, and indomitable humour that lay bear the beauty and love within her family. It is her unerring eye that reveals the great bond of family expressed in the actions and affections of her sisters, aunties, uncles, brothers, cousins, nieces, nephews, and ultimately her ancestors. It’s all here — life on the Rez in rich technicolour — as Dawn emerges from home life, through school life, and into the promise of a great future. ‘Nobody Cries At Bingo’ is a book that embraces cultural differences and does it with the great traditional medicine of laughter.” – Publisher
“Traveling to be reunited with her family in the Arctic, 10-year-old Margaret Pokiak can hardly contain her excitement. It’s been two years since her parents delivered her to the school run by the dark-cloakednuns and brothers. Coming ashore, Margaret spots her family, but her mother barely recognizes her, screaming, “Not my girl.” Margaret realizes she is now marked as an outsider. And Margaret is an outsider: she has forgotten the language and stories of her people, and she can’t even stomach the food her mother prepares. However, Margaret gradually relearns her language and her family’s way of living. Along the way, she discovers how important it is to remain true to the ways of her people — and to herself.” – Publisher
Sugar Falls: a residential school story (M) – Graphic novel – by David Alexander Robertson
“Traveling to be reunited with her family in the Arctic, 10-year-old Margaret Pokiak can hardly contain her excitement. It’s been two years since her parents delivered her to the school run by the dark-cloakednuns and brothers. Coming ashore, Margaret spots her family, but her mother barely recognizes her, screaming, “Not my girl.” Margaret realizes she is now marked as an outsider. And Margaret is an outsider: she has forgotten the language and stories of her people, and she can’t even stomach the food her mother prepares. However, Margaret gradually relearns her language and her family’s way of living. Along the way, she discovers how important it is to remain true to the ways of her people — and to herself.” – Publisher
