Untying the Knots of Prejudice: Social Justice Book List #7

These picture books, novels and non-fiction books show the extent of discrimination that has been and is being inflicted on all beings, including feline and human.  They are based on ageism, skin colour, country of origin, religion, beauty, physical appearance, health, sexuality, marital status, association and heritage.  The stories include historical accounts, speculative fiction, and fiction in which prejudice allows someone to Untie the Knots of Prejudice and encourage understanding and compassion to take its place.

Picture Books

An Alien in my House
by Shenaaz Nanji
Illustrated by Chum McLeod
Second Story Press
24 pp.
Ages 4-6
2003

Caramba
by Marie-Louise Gay
Groundwood Books
40 pp.
Ages 2-5
2005 
 

Francie and the Basket Women
by Donald Gale
Breakwater Books
29 pp.
Ages 6-8
2002

Migrant
by Maxine Trottier
Illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault
Groundwood Books
40 pp.  
Ages 7-13  
2011

Miss Meow Pageant
by Ricardo Keene Douglas  
Illustrated by Marie LaFrance  
Annick Press  
32 pp.
Ages 4-8  
1998

 

The Remarkable Maria 
by Patti McIntosh
Illustrated by Tara Langois
Maggie and Pierrot
40 pp.
Ages 8-12
2005

Spork
by Kyo Maclear  
Illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault  
Kids Can Press  
32 pp.  
Ages 2-6  
2010

Treasure for Lunch
by Shenaaz Nanji
Illustrated by Yvonne Cathcart
Second Story Press
28 pp.
Ages 4-8
2000

Violet
by Tania Duprey Stehlik
Illustrated by Vanja Vuleta Jovanovic
Second Story Press
23 pp.
Ages 5-8
2010

Fiction

Angel Square
by Brian Doyle
Groundwood Books
128 pp.
Ages 12-14
1984, 1995
 
  



The Baby Experiment

by Anne Dublin
Dundurn
150 pp.
Ages 11-15
2012

Bifocal
by Deborah Ellis and Eric Walters
Fitzhenry & Whiteside
280 pp.
Ages 12-15
2007

Chance to Dance for You
by Gail Sidonie Sobat
Great Plains Teen Fiction
172 pp.
Ages 14+
2011

Child of Dandelions

by Shenaaz Nanji

Second Story Press

215 pp.

Ages 13-17

2008

Crossing to Freedom
by Virginia Frances Schwartz
Scholastic Canada
231 pp.
Ages 10+
2010 

Elijah of Buxton
by Christopher Paul Curtis
Scholastic Canada
288 pp.
Ages 9-12
2007

A Friend like Zilla
by Rachna Gilmore
Second Story Press
113 pp.
Ages 9-11
1995

The Geomancer's Compass
by Melissa Hardy
Tundra Books
254 pp.
Ages 11-15
2012

 



The Glory Wind
 by Valerie Sherrard 

Fitzhenry & Whiteside
 222 pp.
Ages 11+
2010

The Gnome's Eye
by Anna Kerz
Orca Book Publishers
210 pp.
Ages 9+
2010

Ink Me

by Richard Scrimger

Orca Book Publishers

224 pp.

Ages 10+

2012

Lost Goat Lane
by Rosa Jordan
Fitzhenry & Whiteside
197 pp.
Ages 9-12
2005

Mina’s Spring of Colors
by Rachna Gilmore
Fitzhenry & Whiteside
143 pp.
Ages 8-11
2000

The Mountain That Walked
by Katherine Holubitsky
Orca Book Publishers
211 pp.
Ages 10-14
2005

The Mystery of the Graffiti Ghoul
(Marty Chan Mystery Series 2)
by Marty Chan
Thistledown Press
210 pp.
Ages 8-12
2010  
   

No Ordinary Day
by Deborah Ellis
Groundwood Books
159 pp.
Ages 9-12
2011

The Pole
by Eric Walters
Puffin Canada
282 pp.
Ages 10-14
2008

Power of Harmony: A Novel
by Jan L. Coates
Red Deer Press
212 pp.
Ages 9+
May 2013

Puppet
by Eva Wiseman
Tundra Books
243 pp.
Ages 11-14
2009

A Sea of Sorrows: The Typhus Epidemic Diary of Johanna Leary, Ireland to Canada East, 1847  
(Dear Canada) 
by Norah McClintock
Scholastic Canada
175 pp.
Ages 9-12
2012

Secret Signs
by Jacqueline Guest
Orca Book Publishers
140 pp.
Ages 9-12
2006 





Shade and Sorceress  
(The Last Days of Tian Di, Book I)

by Catherine Egan
Coteau Books
279 pp.
Ages 10+
2012

Stitches
by Glen Huser
Groundwood Books
198 pp.
Ages 11-14
2003

Torn Apart: The Internment Diary of Mary Kobayashi, Vancouver, British Columbia, 1941  
(Dear Canada)

 by Susan Aihoshi
Scholastic Canada
209 pp.
Ages 8-13
2012

Tunnels of Tyranny  
(A Fourth Moose Jaw Adventure)
by Mary Harelkin Bishop
Coteau Books
238 pp.
Ages 10-13
2005

Witchlanders
by Lena Coakley
Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster
 400 pp.
Ages 12+
2011

Yellow Line
by Sylvia Olsen
Orca Book Publishers
112 pp.
Ages 14-17
2005
  

Zack

by William Bell

Doubleday Canada

170 pp.

Ages 12+

1998

 
Non-Fiction

Children of Africville
by Christine Welldon
Nimbus Publishing
81 pp.
Ages 8-12
2009

Fatty Legs: A True Story
by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton
Illustrated by Liz Amini-Holmes
Annick Press
104 pp.
Ages 7-11
2010

Season of Rage: Hugh Burnett and the Struggle for Civil Rights
by John Cooper
Tundra Books
69 pp.
Ages10-15
2005 
 

The Secret of Your Name: Proud to be Métis
by David Boucard
Illustrated by Dennis Weber
Music by John Arcand
Red Deer Press
32 pp.
Ages 10-13
2009

A Stranger at Home
by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton
Illustrated by Liz Amini-Holmes
Annick Press
120 pp.
Ages 8-13
2011

Viola Desmond Won’t Be Budged!
by Jody Nyasha Warner
Illustrated by Richard Rudnicki
Groundwood Books
32 pp.
Ages 6-9
2010

Caring Hands: Social Justice Book List #6

This book list, titled Caring Hands, focuses on how we can help the world become more loving and caring. 

Picture Books

Anna's Goat
by Janice Kulyk Keefer
Illustrated by Janet Wilson
Orca Book Publishers
32 pp.
Ages 6-9
2000

The Baritone Cat 

by Mora Skelton
Illustrated by Janet Wilson
Lester Publishing
32 pp.
Ages 4-6
1994

Boo Hoo Bird
by Jeremy Tankard
Scholastic Canada
28 pp.
Ages 3-5
2009

King of the Skies
by Rukhsana Khan
Illustrated by Laura Fernandez and Rick Jacobson
Scholastic Canada
32 pp.
Ages 4-8
2003  

 

Lumpito and the Painter from Spain
by Monica Kulling
Illustrated by Dean Griffiths
Pajama Press
32 pp.
Ages 5+
2012

A Man Called Raven
by Richard Van Camp
Illustrated by George Littlechild
Children's Book Press
32 pp.
Ages 7+
1997 

 

The Man Who Walked the Earth
by Ian Wallace
Groundwood Books
38 pp.
Ages 6-8
2003

Nokum is My Teacher
by David Bouchard
Illustrated by Allen Sapp
Red Deer Press
32 pp.
Ages 6-9
2007

 

The Tiny Kite of Eddie Wing
by Maxine Trottier
Illustrated by Al Van Mil
Stoddart
32 pp.
Ages 4+
1995

Virginia Wolf
by Kyo Maclear
Illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault
Kids Can Press
32 pp.
Ages 5-10
2012

Fiction

40 Things I Want to Tell You
by Alice Kuipers
HarperTrophy Canada
283 pp.
Ages 13+
2012

Before We Go

by Amy Bright

Red Deer Press

222 pp.

Ages 12+

2012

crush. candy. corpse.
by Sylvia McNicoll
Lorimer
219 pp.
Ages 12+
2012

Cuts Like a Knife
by Darlene Ryan
Orca Book Publishers
109 pp.
Ages 14+
2012

Fostergirls
by Liane Shaw
Second Story Press
256 pp.
Ages13-16
2011

The Glory Wind
by Valerie Sherrard 

Fitzhenry & Whiteside
 222 pp.
Ages 11+
2010

Half Brother
by Kenneth Oppel
HarperCollins Canada
377 pp.
Ages 12+
2010
 

Home Truths
by Jill MacLean
Dancing Cat Books
282 pp.
Ages 11-14
2010

 I’ll Be Watching
by Pamela Porter
Groundwood Books
280 pp.
Ages 12+
2011

 

 

The Nine Lives of Travis Keating

by Jill MacLean

Fitzhenry & Whiteside

217 pp.

Ages 8-12

2008

Nix Minus One

by Jill MacLean

Pajama Press

Ages 12+

296 pp.

February, 2013

Not with a Bang

by Gail Sidonie Sobat
Magpie Books
118 pp.
Ages 14+
2012

The Present Tense of Prinny Murphy 

by Jill MacLean

Fitzhenry & Whiteside

217 pp.

Ages 8-12

2009

Rescue Pup
by Jean Little
Orca Book Publishers
101 pp.
Ages 8-10
2004

 

The Third Eye
by Mahtab Narsimhan
Dundurn Press
240 pp.
Ages 10-14
2007

Watching Jimmy

by Nancy Hartry

Tundra Books

144 pp.

Ages 10-14

2009

Non-Fiction

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

The Bite of the Mango
by Mariatu Kamara with Susan McLelland
Annick Press
216 pp.
Ages 14+
2008

Courage and Compassion: Ten Canadians Who Made a Difference
by Rona Arato
Maple Leaf Press
96 pp.
Ages 11-13
2008 

It Takes A Child
by Craig Kielburger
Greystone Books
46 pp.
Ages 4-12
2008

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

No Shelter Here: Making the World a Kinder Place for Dogs
by Rob Laidlaw
Pajama Press
64 pp.
Ages 9-12
2011

One Step at a Time: A Vietnamese Child Finds Her Way

by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

Pajama Press
978-1-927485-02-6
128 pp.
Ages 8-12
2012

Saving Lives and Changing Hearts:  Animal Sanctuaries and Rescue Centres
by Rob Laidlaw
Fitzhenry & Whiteside
62 pp.
Ages 10-14
2013