Honouring all languages: Cultural competence with diverse youngCanLit

Today's post, the second in seven, continues the series of booklists I compiled for and presented at the Ontario Library Association's Superconference in Toronto recently to help individuals, schools and other institutions become culturally competent.

Today's post will focus on...

Alego
by Ningeokuluk Teevee
Groundwood Books
24 pp.
Ages 3-7
2009
Inuktitut (Inuit)

The Boy in the Attic
by Paul Yee
Illus. by Gu Xiong
Groundwood Books
32 pp.
Ages 6-9
1998
Mandarin/Cantonese (Chinese)

Caribou Song/ Atihko Nikamon
by Tomson Highway
Illus. by John Rombough
Fifth House Publishers
32 pp.
Ages 4+
2013
Cree
Reviewed here

The Diamond Willow Walking Stick
by Leah Marie Dorion
Michif trans. by Norman Fleury
Gabriel Dumont Institute
48 pp.
Ages 8-12
2012
Michif (Métis)

Dragonfly Kites/ Pimithaagansa
by Tomson Highway
Illus. by Julie Flett
Fifth House Publishers
32 pp.
Ages 4+
2016
Cree
Reviewed here

The Finding Place
by Julie Hartley
Red Deer Press,
244 pp.
Ages 10-14
2015
Mandarin (Chinese)
Reviewed here

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

Long Powwow Nights
by David Bouchard, Pam Aleekuk, and Patsy Paul-Martin
Illus. by Leonard Paul
Red Deer Press
32 pp.
Ages 8-14
2009
Mi’kmaq

My Two Grandmothers
by Diane Carmel Léger
Illus. by Jean-Luc Trudel
Nimbus Publishing
32 pp.
Ages 4-8
2016
French Acadian, Scottish
Reviewed here

Niwechihaw/ I Help
by Caitlin Dale Nicholson
Trans. by Leona Morin-Neilson
Groundwood Books
24 pp.
Ages 4-6
2008
Cree

No Borders/ Kigliqangittuq
by Darla Evyagotailak  and Mindy Willett
Photos by Tessa Macintosh
Fifth House Publishers
40 pp.
Ages 8-12
2013
Inuktitut (Inuit)

Nokum is My Teacher
by David Bouchard
Art by Allen Sapp
Red Deer Press
32 pp.
All ages
2015
Cree

Norman, Speak!
by Caroline Adderson
Illus. by Qin Leng
Groundwood Books
32 pp.
Ages 4-7
2014
Mandarin (Chinese)
Reviewed here

Racines
by Marianne Ferrer
Monsieur Ed
16 pp.
Ages 4-8
2016
French
Reviewed here

The Secret of Your Name
by David Bouchard
Illus. by Dennis Weber
CD performed by John Arcand
Red Deer Press
32 pp.
Ages 8-13
2009
Michif (Métis)

Stepping Stones: A Refugee Family's Journey
by Margriet Ruurs
Artwork by Nizar Ali Badr
Orca Book Publishers
28 pp.
All ages
2016
Arabic (Syria)
Reviewed here

The Trouble with Dilly
by Rachna Gilmore
HarperCollins Canada
 162 pp.
Ages 7-10
2009
Hungarian, Punjabi (Indian)

Download the complete booklist here

Becoming Culturally Competent with Diverse youngCanLit

Last week, I presented a talk on cultural competence at the Ontario Library Association's Superconference in Toronto.  The premise behind the talk was the need for schools, libraries and all institutions to go beyond tolerance and acceptance and become culturally competent.  To that end, I shared lists of some books (but only a fraction of a fraction of the books that could  be included!) of youngCanLit that could be used to support that endeavour, and thought that perhaps others might benefit from them as well.

If diversity is a window into other cultures, races, ethnicities, sexualities, families and individuals, then cultural competence is a mirror or a sliding glass door into those same identities. It is based on three main premises:

• recognizing the differences among students and families from different cultural groups;
• responding to those differences positively; and
• interacting effectively in a range of cultural environments.

(Lindsey, R.B., Robins, K.N. and Terrell, R.D. 2003. 

Cultural proficiency: A manual for school leaders. 

Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press)

I based my presentation on seven foci that need to be understood and honoured in order to become more culturally competent.  There were:

• cultures
• languages
• races and ethnicities
• gender identities and sexualities
• capacities and abilities
• family life
• Aboriginal ways of knowing and being

Becoming culturally competent is a tall order but one which must be addressed in order to become a considerate and full-functioning member of society.  Everyone should be culturally competent, and awareness through youngCanLit is a great first step.

I hope these booklists, which I will present in a series of 7 posts, will help readers to come closer to achieving that end.

Let's begin with today's post focusing on...

Alego
by Ningeokuluk Teevee
Groundwood Books
24 pp.
Ages 3-7
2009
Inuit life

Chin Chiang and the Dragon’s Dance
by Ian Wallace
Groundwood Books
32 pp.
Ages 4-8
1994/1998
Chinese, dance, celebration

From Lands of the Night
by Tololwa Mollel
Illus. by Darrell McCalla
Red Deer Press
32 pp.
Ages 7+
2014
Tanzania, illness, ancestors, celebration
Reviewed here

Games of Survival: Traditional Inuit Games for Elementary Students
by Johnny Issaluk
Inhabit Media
60 pp.
Ages 7+
2012
Inuit, Arctic, games, skills, survival
Reviewed here

Greetings, Leroy 
by Itah Sadu
Illus. by Alix Delinois
Groundwood Books
32 pp.
Ages 4-7
2017
Immigration, Jamaica

Haiti My Country
Haitian schoolchildren
Illus. by Rogé
Fifth House Publishers
44 pp.
Ages 7-11
2014
Haiti, nature, poetry

Hand Over Hand
by Alma Fullerton
Illus. Renné Benoit
Second Story Press
24 pp.
Ages 5-8
2017
Philippines, fishing

The Hill
by Karen Bass
Pajama Press
256 pp.
Ages 12+
2016
Cree, survival, legends, supernatural beliefs, tolerance
Reviewed here

Lights for Gita
by Rachna Gilmore
Illus. by Alice Priestley
Second Story Press
24 pp.
1994
Hinduism, Diwali

Malaika’s Costume
by Nadia L. Hohn
Illus. by Irene Luxbacher
Groundwood Books
32 pp.
Ages 3-7
2016
Trinidad & Tobago, Carnival, absentee mother
Reviewed here

Mission Mumbai: A novel of sacred cows, snakes, and stolen toilets
by Mahtab Narsimhan
Scholastic Canada
272 pp.,
Ages 9-12
2016
India, Hinduism, Mumbai
Reviewed here

The Mummer’s Song
by Bud Davidge
Illus. by Ian Wallace
Groundwood Books
32 pp.
Ages
2009
Newfoundland, mummering, song

My Two Grandmothers
by Diane Carmel Léger
Illus. by Jean-Luc Trudel
Nimbus Publishing
32 pp.
Ages 4-8
2016
French Acadian, Scottish, grandmothers
Reviewed here

P’ésk’a and the First Salmon Ceremony
by Scott Ritchie
Groundwood Books
32 pp.
Ages 4-7
2015
Sts’ailes, salmon, ceremony

Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox
by Danielle Daniel
Groundwood Books
36 pp.
Ages 4-7
2015
Anishinaabe, totem animals
Reviewed here

The Tiffin
by Mahtab Narsimhan
Dancing Cat Books
190 pp.
Ages 8-13
2011
India, abandonment, working children
Reviewed here

Treasure for Lunch
by Shenaaz Nanji
Illus. by Yvonne Cathcart
Second Story Press
28 pp.
Ages 4-8
2000
Indian food,  shame, immigration

The Trouble with Dilly
by Rachna Gilmore
HarperCollins Canada
162 pp.
Ages 7-10
2009
Immigration, cultural conflict, hockey, India, Hungary

When the Rain Comes
by Alma Fullerton
Illus. by Kim La Fave
Pajama Press
32 pp.
Ages 4-8
2016
Sri Lanka, monsoons, rice-planting, oxen, floods
Reviewed here


Downloadable book list available here

The Valiant: Book launch (Toronto, ON)

Join fantasy young adult author

Lesley Livingston

author of

Wondrous Strange series

and

Starling series

for the launch of her newest young adult novel

The Valiant

by Lesley Livingston

HarperCollins Canada

9781443446280

384 pp.

Ages 12-16

February 2017

on

Thursday, February 23, 2017

7-11 p.m.

Dominion Pub

500 Queen St. E.

Toronto, ON

There will be:

• live entertainment

• a reading from The Valiant

• books available for sale and 

• author book signing.

The book is described as following:
The youngest daughter of a proud Celtic king, Fallon has always lived in the shadow of her older sister Sorcha’s legendary reputation as a warrior. But when Fallon was a young child, the armies of Julius Caesar invaded the island of Britain and her beloved older sister was killed in battle.

On the eve of her seventeenth birthday, Fallon is excited to follow in her sister’s footsteps and earn her rightful place in her father’s royal war band. But she never gets the chance. Instead, Fallon is captured by a band of ruthless brigands who sell her to an exclusive training school for female gladiators—and its most influential patron is none other than Julius Caesar himself. In a cruel twist of fate, Fallon’s worst enemy, the man who destroyed her family, might be her only hope of survival.

Now, Fallon must overcome vicious rivalries, chilling threats and the dangerous attention of Caesar himself to survive the deadly fights that take place both in and out of the arena—and claim her place in history among the Valiant.

Retrieved from 

The Valiant Launch Party Facebook page 

at https://www.facebook.com/events/1871513563083242/ 

on January 14, 2017.

Everything Beautiful Is Not Ruined: Book launch (Toronto, ON)

Join author

Danielle Younge-Ullman

for the launch of her new young adult book

Everything Beautiful Is Not Ruined

Written by Danielle Younge-Ullman

Razorbill

978-0-425-28759-0

368 pp.

Ages 13-17

February 2017

on

  Sunday, February 26, 2017

2-4 p.m.

at

Another Story Book Shop

315 Roncesvalles Avenue

From Penguin Random House website at http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/535860/everything-beautiful-is-not-ruined-by-danielle-younge-ullman/9780425287590/

Wild meets The Breakfast Club in this story of a girl who must survive an extreme wilderness experience to prove to her mother that she has the strength to pursue her dreams. 

Then
Ingrid traveled all over Europe with her opera star mother, Margot-Sophia. Life was beautiful and bright, and every day soared with music.

Now
Ingrid is on a summertime wilderness survival trek for at-risk teens: addicts, runaways, and her. She’s fighting to survive crushing humiliations, physical challenges that push her to her limits, and mind games that threaten to break her.

Then
When the curtain fell on Margot-Sophia’s singing career, they buried the past and settled into a small, painfully normal life. But Ingrid longed to let the music soar again. She wanted it so much that, for a while, nothing else mattered.

Now
Ingrid is never going to make it through this summer if she can’t figure out why she’s here . . . and why the music really stopped.

Blood Brothers: Book launch (Winnipeg, MB)

Here's a last minute book launch you won't want to miss 

if you live in the Winnipeg area.

Join

Colleen Nelson 

author of 

Finding Hope (Dundurn, 2016)

250 Hours (Coteau Books, 2015)

The Fall (Great Plains, 2013)

Tori by Design (Great Plains, 2011)

for the launch of her newest young adult novel

Blood Brothers

by Colleen Nelson

Dundurn

9781459737464

240 pp.

Ages 12-15

February 2017

Hosted by broadcast journalist Joanne Kelly

on

Friday, February 3, 2017

7 p.m.

at

McNally Robinson Booksellers

Grant Park in the Atrium

Winnipeg, MB

The book is described as follows on McNally Robinson's website for the event: 

Close as brothers, Jakub’s and Lincoln’s lives diverge when Jakub gets a private school scholarship and Lincoln is lured into a gang. 

Fifteen-year-old Jakub Kaminsky is the son of Polish immigrants, a good Catholic boy, and a graffiti artist. While his father sleeps, Jakub and his best friend, Lincoln, sneak out with spray paint to make their mark as Morf and Skar. 

When Jakub gets a scholarship to an elite private school, he knows it’s his chance for a better life. But it means leaving Lincoln and the neighbourhood he calls home. 

While Jakub’s future is looking bright, Lincoln’s gets shady as he is lured into his brother’s gang. Jakub watches helplessly as Lincoln gets pulled deeper into the violent world of the Red Bloodz. The Red Bloodz find out Jakub knows more than he should about a murder and want him silenced — for good. Lincoln has to either save his friend, or embrace life as one of the Red Bloodz.

Look for my review of Colleen Nelson's latest YA on CanLit for LittleCanadians within the week.

Racines

Written and illustrated by Marianne Ferrer

Monsieur Ed

978-2-924663-04-2

16 pp.

Ages 4-8

2016

Racines is an seemingly-inconspicuous accordion-style (leporello) picture book that shares both a powerful sentiment about our roots and a story of one girl's family influence. Don't let its small size mask the power of its story.

En racines s’incarne la sérendipité.
(translated: Roots embody destiny.)

Racines (translated to Roots) is a deeply-moving yet simple examination of a girl’s roots and her awareness of what they mean to her.  She recognizes the roles of the key people in her life–her grandmother, mother and grandfather–in shaping her with both the magical and the tragic.  But beyond the simple but profound words, Marianne Ferrer illustrates the intensity of emotion  in her starkly-coloured but complex artwork.  Playing on both the emotions and the words, Marianne Ferrer depicts the girl embedded in the landscape, her hair becoming branching roots that meld into the tassels of the rug from which her grandmother combs out tangles. This is her grandmother who climbed down from the mountains, from her own ancestral roots, to make her way into a new world in which she is transformed by the love of a dark-skinned and moustached man.

From Racines by Marianne Ferrer

It is then the girl's mother's story of life by the sea, of extraordinary stars and animals, and fears from which comfort is given and tragedies endured that become part of the girl’s story.  “Je suis toujours consciente de mes racines” (translated: I am always aware of my roots.)

From Racines by Marianne Ferrer

Marianne Ferrer's artwork is both complex and simple, embedding complicated messages of family and heritage in the soft textures of the characters' landscapes.  It is a shame that my own limitations in understanding French has kept me from promoting the profound artistry of illustrators such as  Marianne Ferrer but I hope that Racines is but the first of more French-language books that I might promote here on CanLit for LittleCanadians.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

n.b. The interpretation of this French-language book is solely my own.  I take full responsibility for any errors in translation and interpretation of words and art, and apologize for any discrepancies from the author/illustrator’s intent.

Leporello format of Racines by Marianne Ferrer