Anti-Bullying Reads in #youngCanLit

February 27 is marked as Anti-Bullying Day or Pink Shirt Day to commemorate the day two Nova Scotian teens organized friends and schoolmates to wear pink to stand up for a younger boy who had been bullied for wearing a pink polo shirt to school the day before.  Hearing the news of the boy being called a homosexual and threatened with harm, Travis Price and David Shephard of Cambridge, Nova Scotia took to the store and the Internet to create a "sea of pink" as a show of support for the boy against bullying.  It's been six years since that day in 2007 and the tragedy of bullying is still with us: in our schools, in our workplaces, in the public, and on the Internet.  Do your bit to stand up to bullying with these #youngCanLit reads and

PICTURE BOOKS

Bird Child
by Nan Forler
Illustrated by Francois Thisdale
32 Pages
Ages 5-8
2009

 



Franklin is Bossy
by Paulette Bourgeois
Illustrated by Brenda Clark
Kids Can Press
32 pp.
Ages 4-8
2011




Give Maggie a Chance
by Frieda Wishinsky
Illustrated by Dean Griffiths
Fitzhenry & Whiteside
32 pp.
Ages 5-7
2002



I Like Who I Am
by Tara White
Illustrated by Lee Claremont
Theytus Books
40 pp.
Ages 7-11
2007

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




The Tale of Sir Dragon: Dealing with Bullies for Kids (and Dragons)
by Jean E. Pendziwol
Illustrated by Martine Gourbault
Kids Can Press
32 pp.
Ages 3-9
2007 



You're Mean, Lily Jean
by Frieda Wishinsky
Illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton
Scholastic Canada
30 pp.
Ages 5-8
2009 



FICTION

Addison Addley and the Things That Aren't There
by Melody DeFields McMillan
Orca Book Publishers
83 pp.
Ages 8-12
2008

All-Season Edie
by Annabel Lyon
Orca Book Publishers
179 pp.
Ages 9-12
2008

Better than Weird
by Anna Kerz
Orca Book Publishers
217 pp.
Ages 8-12
2011

 

Blob

by Frieda Wishinsky
Orca Book Publishers
98 pp.Ages 10-14
2010

 




Burn
by Alma Fullerton
Dancing Cats Books/Cormorant
255 pp.
Ages 10-13
2010

Darkest Light
by Hiromi Goto
Illustrated by Jillian Tamaki
Razorbill (Penguin Group)
327 pp.
Ages 12-15
2012





Death in the Air (The Boy Sherlock Holmes)
by Shane Peacock
Tundra Books
254 pp.
Ages 10-14
2008

Egghead
by Caroline Pignat
Red Deer Press
173 pp.
Ages 11-14
2008

 




Feather Brain
by Maureen Bush
Orca Book Publishers
136 pp.
Ages 8-11
2008

Fight for Justice
by Lori Saigeon
Coteau Books
102 pp.
Ages 9-13
2009

 

The Ghost Horse of Meadow Green 
by Anne Louise MacDonald
Kids Can Press
207 pp.
Ages 9+
2005 

Girl on the Other Side
by Deborah Kerbel
Dundurn
140 pp.
Ages 12-15
2009   

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

 




How to Be a Friend
by Nancy Wilcox Richards
Illustrated by Annabelle Métayer
Scholastic Canada
91 pp.
Ages 7-9
2011

 


How to Handle a Bully
by Nancy Wilcox Richards
Illustrated by David Sourwine
Scholastic Canada
92 pp.
Ages 7-9
2010

 

How to Outplay a Bully
by Nancy Wilcox Richards
Illustrations by David Sourwine
Scholastic
102 pp.
Ages 7-9
2008

 



How to Tame a Bully
by Nancy Wilcox Richards
Illustrated by Drazen Kozjan
Scholastic Canada
75 pp.
Ages 6-9
2006

 

Impossible Things
by Robin Stevenson
Orca Book Publishers
185 pp.
Ages 10-13
2008 

 




Into The Ravine
by Richard Scrimger 
Tundra Books
258 pp.
Ages 11-14
2007

 



Leaving Fletchville
by René Schmidt
Orca Book Publishers
158 pp.
Ages 10-14
2008

 



The Luck of Jude
by Andrew Larsen
James Lorimer
106 pp.
Ages 7-9
2011

 

Maddie Stands Tall 
by Louise Leblanc
Illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay
Translated by Sarah Cummins
Formac
61 pp.
Ages 6-8
2005

 

My Worst/Best Sleepover Party
by Anna Morgan and Rachel Turkienicz
Illustrated by Heather Castles
Second Story Press
122 pp.
Ages 9-12
2007

 

The Maze
by Monica Hughes
HarperCollins
192 pp.
Ages 11-13
2002

 



Missing Matthew
by Kristyn Dunnion
Red Deer Press
108 pp.
Ages 9-12
2003

The New Normal
by Ashley Little
Orca Book Publishers
222 pp.
Ages 12+
March 2013

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
296 pp.
Ages 12+
February 2013

The Nose from Jupiter
by Richard Scrimger
Tundra Books
156 pp.
Ages 8-12
1998

 




The Odds Get Even
by Natalie Ghent
HarperCollins
199 pp.
Ages 9-12
2009

Payback
by James Heneghan
Groundwood Books
184 pp.
Ages 11-13
2007






Pigboy
by Vicki Grant
Orca Book Publishers
101 pp.
Ages 9-12
2006

 


Queen of the Toilet Bowl
by Frieda Wishinsky
Orca Book Publishers
104 pp.
Ages 11-13
2005

 


Ramp Rats: A Graphic Guide Adventure
by Liam O’Donnell
Illustrated by Mike Deas
Orca Book Publishers
64 pp.
Ages 8-12
2008

The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen
by Susin Nielsen
Tundra Books
243 pp.
Ages 11-14
2012

 


See No Evil
by Diane Young
Orca Book Publishers
103 pp.
Ages 9-13
2006

 


The 6th Grade Nickname Game
by Gordon Korman
Scholastic Canada
154 pp.
Ages 9-13
1998

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

The Time Time Stopped
by Don Gillmor
Scholastic Canada
151 pp.
Ages 8-11
2011

True Blue
by Deborah Ellis
Pajama Press
229 pp.
Ages 11-14
2011

 


Walking with the Dead
by L. M. Falcone 
Kids Can Press
196 pp.
Ages 9-12
2005

 



Zach & Zoe: Bully and the Beagle
by Kristin Butcher
James Lorimer
117 pp.
Ages 7 -11
2009






YOUNG ADULT

Alice, I Think
by Susan Juby
HarperCollins
244 pp.
Ages 13+
2003

The Beckoners
by Carrie Mac
Orca Book Publishers
217 pp.
Ages 14-17
2004

Fishtailing
by Wendy Phillips
Coteau Books
196 pp.
Ages 14-17
2010







Getting the Girl: A Guide to Private Investigation, Surveillance, and Cookery
by Susan Juby
HarperCollins
339 pp.
Ages 13-15
2008

Hit Squad
by James Heneghan
Orca Book Publishers
106 pp.
Ages 12-15
2003

The Losers' Club
by John Lekich
Annick Press
249 pp.
Ages 13-15
2002

The Lottery
by Beth Goobie
Orca Book Publishers
264 pp.
Ages 12-17
2002

Men of Stone
by Gayle Friesen
Kids Can Press
216 pp.
Ages 14-17
2000

Out of Order
by Robin Stevenson
Orca Book Publishers
 221 pp.
Ages 14-17
2007

Rat
by Lesley Choyce
Orca Book Publishers
120 pp.
Ages 14-17 
2012

Responsible
by Darlene Ryan
Orca Book Publishers
100 pp.
Ages 12 and up
2007

 



Run Like Jäger
by Karen Bass
Coteau Books
305 pp.
Ages 13-17
2008

The Second Trial
by Rosemarie Boll
Second Story Press
319 pp.
Ages 12+
2010

Skud
by Dennis Foon
Groundwood Books
171 pp.
Ages 14-17
2003

 



Some Girls Are
by Courtney Summers
St. Martin's Griffin
245 pp.
Ages 14-17
2009

 



Sticks and Stones
by Beth Goobie
Orca Book Publishers
86 pp.
Ages 12-15
2002



Tribes
by Arthur Slade
HarperCollins
134 pp.
Ages 15+
2002

NON-FICTION 

Dear Bully: Seventy Authors Tell Their Stories
edited by Megan Kelley Hall and Carrie Jones
HarperTeen
352 pp.
Ages 14+
2011
Includes writing by youngCanLit authors Marina Cohen, Deborah Kerbel and Cecil Castellucci.  Details at http://www.dearbully.com/ with a discussion guide from HarperCollins.

We Want You to Know: Kids Talk About Bullying

by Deborah Ellis
Coteau Books
120 pp.
Ages 9-14
2010

When I Get Older: The Story behind "Wavin' Flag"
by K'NAAN and Sol Guy
Illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez
Tundra Books
32 Pages
Ages: 6-9
2012

 




FILM

Apples and Oranges
Directed by Lynne Fernie
Produced by Tamara Lynch
Written by Lynne Fernie & Laura Kosterski
National Film Board of Canada
18 min.
Ages 9-13
2003 

Bully Dance
Directed by Janet Pearlman 
Produced by Marcy Page
National Film Board of Canada
10 min., 6 sec.
Ages 5 and up
2000
Teacher resource available at www.bullfrogfilms.com/guides/bullyguide.pdf

Porte à porte / Door to Door
Directed by Zabelle Côté
Written by Zabelle Côté
National Film Board of Canada
4 min., 12 sec.
Ages 5-8
1992
Wordless film for young children

It's a Girl's World: A Documentary About Social Bullying 
Directed and written by Lynn Glazier
Produced by Gerry Flahive
National Film Board of Canada
52 min.
Ages 9-17
2004
Teacher resource guide is available at onf-nfb.gc.ca/sg/100303.pdf

 

Real Mermaids Don't Need High Heels

Written by Hélène Boudreau

Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
978-1-4022-6458-0
240 pp.
Ages 9+
Release February 2013

The cover of Real Mermaids Don't Need High Heels may suggest a grad or a prom but the story only has Jade and Cori entering their first year of high school so no need to jump ahead too far.  While the transition to high school includes the promise of lockers, going for lunch off school grounds and new freedoms, it is often fraught with any number of worries about responsibilities, relationships and expectations.  Couple those with the recent discovery of your mermaid nature, the return of your mother who all thought had drowned and a budding first love, and you'll know what Jade Baxter is experiencing.  Plus she has to pretend that her mother is her aunt, Tanti Natasha, and the mermaid daughter of jailed mer-people Finalin and Medora is her cousin Serena from Tonganesia (explaining her poor English language skills) which recently experienced a volcanic eruption.  Deception can be so imaginative.

"Every student at Tonganesia High brings a dog to school," I continued.  "Dogs are very sensitive to seismic shifts in the earth's crust.  Since Serena's village was at the base of an active volcano, the dogs act as alarms during the students' mile-long walk to school.  Not to mention, protecting everyone from Komodo dragon attacks through the dangerous rain forest." (pg. 24)

But with deception comes the need for secrecy, and secrecy abounds.  Jade learns that their underwater hockey coach Laurena, who is engaged to marry Daniel, head cook at Bridget's Diner, is a Webbed One, as is Bridget.  Like Serena, Luke and Jade's mom Michaela, they are humans who started out as mer.  Unfortunately, the Mermish Council is ordering the Webbed Ones back to the ocean, intending to enforce Tidal Law at the next supermoon (in nine days!), to help fight a revolt that intends to see all Freshies (like Finalin and Medora) freed from the Talisman Lake jail. 

Everything seems to be folly. In fact, it is.  Keeping their Webbed Ones from returning to the ocean becomes lunacy for Jade and her friends and family, as the pull of Tidal Law is impressively strong. There's the upcoming Fall Folly, the dance where the girls ask the boys, made difficult for Jade's second-guessing of her relationship with Luke.  And there Folly's Passage, the narrow channel that once connected the upper end of Talisman Lake to the Atlantic Ocean, and the cause of the legendary shipwreck of Fortune's Folly.  It too may be folly for those mer who aim to reach the ocean without detection by the Mermish Council so they may provide support for the uprising.

But folly can mask wisdom ("If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise" wrote poet William Blake) and the actions of Jade and her cohort in Real Mermaids Don't Need High Heels are always grounded in good intentions, even if things do go awry occasionally.  A slip of the tongue, an unexpected reveal of a tail, a misunderstanding.  However, one of the best features of Hélène Boudreau's Real Mermaids books is the weaving together of the multiple and sophisticated subplots into a satisfying and upbeat ending.  We know that life doesn't often have happy endings, but when a book is embedded with mer-people, first-love and the confusion of puberty and transitioning to high school, isn't it refreshing to put aside the expected angst and enjoy the pleasure of a story tied up beautifully in a glittery satin bow of turquoise and pink?

⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲

For new readers to Hélène Boudreau's Real Mermaids series, links to reviews of her earlier books and our interview with her are provided here:

• Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings reviewed here February 21, 2013

• Real Mermaids Don't Hold Their Breath reviewed here February 22, 2013

• interview with author Hélène Boudreau as part of her blog tour, on February 23, 2013

Hélène Boudreau: Blog Tour and Author Interview

Hélène Boudreau

author 

of the recently released

Real Mermaids Don't Need High Heels
(Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, 2013)

and two previous Real Mermaids books

Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings (2010)

and

Real Mermaids Don't Hold Their Breath (2012)

graciously agreed to answer a few questions
for CanLit for LittleCanadians as part of her
blog tour for Real Mermaids Don't Need High Heels
(which I will review tomorrow)

⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲

CLfLC: What compelled you to take mermaids from the Little Mermaid realm for little girls and move them into the middle grade and teen years of your books?

Hélène Boudreau: My main goal was to write an honest portrayal of what it’s like for a young girl when so many changes are happening in her body. Jade just happens to be a mermaid but she’s not so different from other girls her age. She’s wondering about boys, trying to figure out friendships, and seeing changes in her body. Though, in Jade’s case, make that BIG changes!

My own daughter is almost twelve and is at the precipice of entering those uncertain years of raging hormones and topsy-turvy emotions. I really wanted to write a fun story for her (and girls like her) to ease her into the land of zits, training bras and smelly armpits. The upside being that—no matter how hard puberty might get—at least she doesn’t have a TAIL!

⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲

CLfLC: What kind of research did you do to help develop the mer characteristics and society?

Hélène Boudreau: The setting for my story is based on a small town near where I grew up in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. There is a boat canal, which connects the Atlantic Ocean to an inland fresh water lake, separated by a boat lock. I spent a lot of time researching the mechanism of the boat lock, water height, tides and salinity to really try to grasp how these varying conditions might affect the mers in my story.

I also researched a lot of theories on primordial development and the concepts of human evolution. My main focus was to make the magic as ‘believable’ as possible by basing it on scientific explanations (which I extrapolated on, of course).

⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲

CLfLC: Why did you choose to make Jade a plus-size character?

Hélène Boudreau: I don’t think it was a conscious decision on my part but, when I started writing about Jade and getting to know her, her size just became part of her character, just like the color of her hair or her love of flip-flops.

⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲

CLfLC: The voices of your early teen characters resonate well with thirteen- and fourteen-year-old girls. How do you manage to make Jade and her friends' voices sound so authentic?

Hélène Boudreau: Thank you! It thrills me to bits to hear you think so. As far as authenticity, it helps that I have young daughters and nieces, I suppose. I think for any type of character an author needs to immerse themselves in that role just like an actor researching a part. Reading lots of books, listening to popular music and watching movies for that age range, plus observing kids in that age group in real life all help but I think each character has their own emotional truth and staying true to that is key to writing authentic characters.

⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲

CLfLC: Was it harder to write the first Real Mermaids book, with establishing the characters, the backgrounds, history and setting, or writing your newest Real Mermaids book, and having to find new ways to plot for your Real Mermaids and mers?

Hélène Boudreau: They are all hard! LOL Honestly, though, the first one was difficult for me because as you say, there is a lot of world-building and character development when you first delve into a story. I wrote and rewrote that first book many, many times trying to get it right because I knew I wanted it to develop into a series so it was important to lay the groundwork. That being said, each subsequent book is a little bit harder for me because I need to work within the confines of the previous books while growing the story in new, fresh directions. It’s all fun, though!

For more information about her books and news,
connect with Hélène Boudreau
through Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲

Many thanks to Hélène Boudreau for allowing
CanLit for LittleCanadians to participate in her
Real Mermaids Don't Need High Heels blog tour

⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲ ⌲

Look for my review of Real Mermaids Don't Need High Heels posting tomorrow here on CanLit for LittleCanadians

Real Mermaids Don't Hold Their Breath

Written by Hélène Boudreau

Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

978-1-4022-6446-7

234 pp.

Ages 9+

2012

If you're reading this review before the one I wrote yesterday for Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings, stop.  Now.  Go read my review and details about Hélène Boudreau's first book in her Real Mermaids series, Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings, here. Come back only after you've read that review.

Back already? Alright. Now onto Real Mermaids Book 2: Real Mermaids Don't Hold Their Breath.

Jade's mom, Michaela, is safe from Finalin and Medora for now but she still is a mermaid until she can transform back into a human by accessing a special tidal pool. This was the information that the Freshies had hoped to squeeze out of Michaela.  The mer-people had heard tales of the Webbed Ones, humans who originated as mer, and the partial webbing between Michaela's third and fourth toes marks her as one.  By keeping her prisoner, Finalin and Medora had hoped to discover the means to break out of their freshwater prison, Talisman Lake. 

Back on land, school is out and Jade is working at Bridget's Ice Cream Parlour with best friend Cori and Chelse Becker, a sixteen-year-old cellphone aficionado, whose family has a cottage across the lake from Jade's Gran.  While waiting for Mom to get approval from the Mermish Council to use the tidal pool, whose location Michaela sadly cannot recall, Jade and her dad have enlisted the help of Jade's friend (or is it boyfriend?) Luke, and his grandfather Eddie, to speed things along.  Dad and Eddie have created the Merlin 3000, a mer-to-human synthesizer that is essentially a fake tidal pool that would allow the transformation from mer to human to take place over several days.  And Luke introduces Jade to a couple of mers, Reese and Renata, in the hopes of finding the elusive tidal pool. Unfortunately, when Cori and Jade find the tidal pool, it is on the guarded property which Lainey Chamberlain's dad is developing for the new wing of the mall.

The effortless storylines that keep you reading and wondering and laughing come together when: 

• they learn the tidal pool site is also a known habitat of the Monarch butterfly;

• Chelse Becker decides to get even with an ex-boyfriend by posting a video, and helps the tidal pool cause by setting up a Facebook page dedicated to Butterflies vs. Boutique;

• an Environmental Assessment comes under question;

• Finalin and Medora's daughter Serena takes a liking to Lainey's dog Cedric;

• the Mermish Council plans on imprisoning those who broke the Mermaid Code of Silence; and

• it becomes evident that not everyone is who they seem to be, good or bad.

And I can't even share with you the little secrets about Eddie, Luke, Reese, Renata, Serena, accusations of murder, the men in the dark sedan, and how Jade and Luke's young romance is progressing!  However, I can tell you that Hélène Boudreau has a magnificent way of intertwining the plot lines with such fluency, like seaweed rippling together and apart, extending into new waters.  As a reader, you never know where the plant could take hold but you know it'll be spectacular when it does.  And no angst or trepidation to hound you until the next book!

Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings

Written by Hélène Boudreau
Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
978-1-4022-4412-4
208 pp.
Ages 9+
2010

With the third book, Real Mermaids Don't Need High Heels, in Hélène Boudreau's Real Mermaids series scheduled for release this month and after meeting the lovely Hélène Boudreau at the TD Canadian Children's Book Awards in November, I realized it was time to explore this series of books. Shamefully, I must confess to "mermaid" prejudices which, like all prejudices, were completely unfounded. As a teacher-librarian who has a multitude of little girls asking me for princess and mermaid books, I expected Hélène Boudreau's books to be weakly plotted stories with pretty covers in pink and purple, perfect for ages 3-5. Nah uh. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Instead what I discovered is a series of perfect middle-grade reads with complex plotting and lots of "Aha!" moments as connections and revelations twist and enhance storylines. The covers may have beautiful shimmering tones of turquoise, green and pink but these are hardly Disney's mermaid books. And Hélène Boudreau always ends her Real Mermaids books with a recipe courtesy of one of the characters. (The chocolately treat in Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings has become a regular after-dinner dessert in our household.)

Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings introduces almost-fourteen-year-old Jade Baxter, a plus-size teen who lives with her engineer father in Port Toulouse, a town on the Atlantic Ocean. Jade's mother, Michaela, drowned at her Gran's cottage on Talisman Lake less than a year ago. Even though she has the support of her dad and her fashionista best friend, Cori, Jade is finding that going through puberty without a mom is awkward, if not farcical. Imagine getting your period (horrors) while trying on a bathing suit (least favourite shopping for most women) but being unable to tell your best friend because you'd lied about getting it two years earlier (peer pressure, you know) and having to meet your dad at the drug store to pick out an assortment of feminine hygiene products while the boy you've always crushed on, Luke Martin, is trying to chat you up. Oh wait, did I mention that when you get home to take a warm bath with some soothing Epsom salts, you fall asleep and have your legs morph into a tail? They may always tell tweenies that "it's wonderful being a girl" but let's face it: puberty sucks, and even more so for Jade.

      Rubbing my eyes, blinking away the sting, trying to get out, shocked by what I saw breaking through the surface of the water.
     Then, I was yelling for Dad, he was crashing through the door.
     And I had a tail. A shimmering, scale-covered, slimy, wet tail.
     Freak-of-nature suddenly took on a whole new meaning. (pg. 40)

Luckily Dad is working very hard to be both parents to Jade and is there for her, even having to share the startling news with her that Mom had been a mermaid too. The big question - how could her mom have drowned if she was a mermaid? - sadly has no answer. Sadder still is the fact that Jade cannot share any of this with Cori (who is currently very busy hanging out with snooty Lainey Chamberlain in the hopes of getting Mrs. Chamberlain to mentor her in fashion design) or Gran or Luke who surprisingly seems to be chattier to her than before he and his family had gone on a lengthy boating trip.

While taking a break by the canal and lock that link the lake with the ocean, a scuffle in the water has Jade connecting with her mother who tells Jade, in the strange language of sharp ringing sounds, that she is being held by Freshies, mer-people who have been jailed in freshwater Talisman Lake by the Mermish Council. Desperate to free her mother from the clutches of the Freshie leaders, Finalin and his wife Medora, Jade and her father learn everything and anything they can about mer-people in the hopes of bringing Michaela home.

I won't give too much away here, as I'll be reviewing Real Mermaids Don't Hold Their Breath and this month's new release, Real Mermaids Don't Need High Heels, in the next few days. Suffice it to say, the humour, the storylines, Jade's pure 14-year-old voice and a startling ending to Book 1 will have you reading the second book asap, just as I did. So do yourself a favour and order Books 1, 2 and 3 at the same time. It'll be worth it.

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