Local and Global Citizenship: Social Justice Book List #8

I defy anyone to find a country that publishes more children's books about showing good citizenship towards the Earth and towards other people than Canada.  We have a rich print history of environmental awareness and citizenship that increases our young readers' awareness of the importance of Local and Global Citizenship. This is just a sampling.

 Picture Books

At Grandpa's Sugar Bush
by Margaret Carney
Illustrated by Janet Wilson
Kids Can Press
32 pp.
Ages 5-8
1997

Big Bear Hug
by Nicholas Oldland
Kids Can Press
32 pp.
Ages 5-7
2009

The Children of China: An Artist's Journey
by Siong Nan Zhang
Tundra Books
32 pp.
Ages 8-12
1995 

Dear Baobab 
by Cheryl Foggo
Illustrated by Qin Leng
Second Story Press
24 pp.
Ages 5-8
2011

Gummytoes
by Sean Cassidy
Fitzhenry & Whiteside
32 pp.
Ages 4-8
2004

The Little Hummingbird
by Michael Yahgulanaas
Greystone Books
32 pp.
Ages 5+
2010

Morning on the Lake
by Jan Bourdeau Waboose
Illustrated by Karen Reczuch
Kids Can Press
32 pp.
Ages 6-9
1997

Picture a Tree
by Barbara Reid
North Winds Press/Scholastic Canada
30 pp.
Ages 3-5
2011 

A Promise is a Promise
by Robert Munsch and Michael Kusugak
Illustrated by Vladyana Krykorka
Annick Press
32 pp.
Ages 4-6
1992

Salmon Forest
by David Suzuki and Sarah Ellis
Illustrated by Sheena Lott
Greystone Books
32 pp.
Ages 4-8
2006

Skink on the Brink
by Lisa Dalrymple
Illustrated by Suzanne Del Rizzo
Fitzhenry & Whiteside
32 pp.
Ages 5+
For release May, 2013   

Weber Street Wonder Work Crew

by Maxwell Newhouse
Tundra Books
24 pp.
Ages 4-7
2010

Wolf Island
by Celia Godkin
Fitzhenry & Whiteside
32 pp.
Ages 5-11
1989, 2006

Fiction

Blue Mountain Trouble

by Martin Mordecai

Scholastic Canada

341 pp.

Ages 10-13

2009
 

Jacob's Little Giant
by Barbara Smucker
Puffin Books
101 pp.
Ages 8-10
1987

Lone Wolf
by Edo Van Belkom
Tundra Books
177 pp.
Ages 10-13
2005 

Luz Sees the Light
by Claudia Dávila 
Kids Can Press
96 pp.
Ages 8-11
2011

The Royal Woods
by Matt Duggan
Key Porter
218 pp.
Ages 8-12
2007 

Sacred Leaf
(The Cocalero Novels)
by Deborah Ellis
Groundwood Books
207 pp.
Ages 10-13
2007

The Summer of the Spotted Owl

(A Dinah Galloway Mystery)

by Melanie Jackson

Orca Book Publishers

180 pp.

Ages 9-12

2005

Zoobreak
by Gordon Korman
Scholastic Canada

230 pp.

Ages 9-12

2009 

 
Non-Fiction

A is for Algonquin: An Ontario Alphabet
by Lovenia Gorman
Illustrated by Melanie Rose
Sleeping Bear Press
40 pp.
Ages 8-13
2005

The Birdman
by Veronika Martinova Charles
Illustrated by Anouchka Gravel Galouchko and Stéphan Daigle
Tundra Books
32 pp.
Ages 4-7
2006

Food Fight: A Graphic Guide Adventure
by Liam O’Donnell
Illustrated by Mike Deas
Orca Book Publishers
64 pp.
Ages 11-15
2010

The Good Garden: How One Family Went from Hunger to Having Enough
by Katie Smith Milway
Illustrated by Sylvie Daigneault
Kids Can Press
32 pp.
Ages 8-10
2010
 

Last Airlift: A Vietnamese Orphan’s Rescue from War
by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
Pajama Press
99 pp.
Ages 10-15
2011 

Not Your Typical Book about the Environment
by Elin Kelsey
Illustrated by Clayton Hammer
Owlkids Books
60 pp.
Ages 10-13
2010

Ollie's Field Journal: A 9/10ths Happy Story from Africa
by Patti McIntosh
Illustrated by Tara Langois
Maggie & Pierrot
40 pp.
Ages 8-10
2008

One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference
by Katie Smith Milway
Illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes
Kids Can Press
32 pp.
Ages 7+
2008
 

 

One Peace: True Stories of Young Activists

by Janet Wilson

Orca Book Publishers

48 pp.

Ages 8-12

2008 

One Well: The Story of Water on Earth
by Rochelle Strauss
Illustrated by Rosemary Woods
Kids Can Press
32 pp.
Ages 8-13
2007

Other Goose: Recycled Rhymes for our Fragile Times
by Barbara Klunder
Groundwood Books
48 pp.
Ages 8-12
2007

Our Earth: How Kids are Saving the Planet
by Janet Wilson
Second Story Press
32 pp.
Ages 8-11
2010

Sandy's Incredible Shrinking Footprint
by Femida Handy and Carole Carpenter
Illustrated by Adrianna Steele-Card
Second Story Press
24 pp.
Ages 5-7
2010

Shannen and the Dream for a School
by Janet Wilson
Second Story Press
206 pp.
Ages 8+
2011

 


Tale of a Great White Fish: A Sturgeon Story 
by Maggie de Vries
Illustrated by Renné Benoit
Greystone Books/Douglas & McIntyre
42 pp.
Ages 8-13
2006

Tell Me Why: How Young People can Change the World
Edited by Eric Walters
Doubleday Canada
214 pp.
Ages 10+
2009  

The Tree of Life: The Incredible Biodiversity of Life on Earth 
by Rochelle Strauss
Illustrated by Margot Thompson
Kids Can Press
40 pp.
Ages 9-15
2004