Storytelling is an integral part of Indigenous culture, rooted in tradition, communication and celebration. These must-read children's books by Indigenous authors exquisitely explore history, nature, language and wisdom.
“For centuries, Indigenous peoples have honoured storytelling. There are stories of how things are made, how the animals came to be and how our people lived and traveled the land back in the day. There are stories of why the birds sang — about those who are tricksters and those who represent courage.
There are stories about Nokomis (Grandmother Moon), and Mishomis (Grandfather Sun) and stories meant to teach and guide. Stories were celebration, stories were art and stories were how we communicated from tribe to tribe. It was in this way, as storytellers, that we kept our history and traditions alive, long before the invention of ink and paper. Storytelling is how we survived.
It was verbal, passed down from one generation to the next. Today, these kinds of stories and the traditional ways to tell them remain - blood memory never goes away. We still share, create, conjure, elaborate, imagine and celebrate through storytelling. It’s how we strive to bridge gaps between differences in lifestyles and beliefs, where our pride and dignity as a people flourishes. Our family reads a lot at home. There is this glorious, growing abundance of Indigenous children’s book authors that I hungrily collect and stock in our library to enjoy at home whenever we want. These are some of our favourites written by celebrated Indigenous authors from across Turtle Island. Enjoy!”
See the books here
