Embedded Files
“The truth about stories is that that’s all we are.”
“The truth about stories is that that’s all we are.”
-Thomas King
-Thomas King
The Importance of Stories
The Importance of Stories
Stories are an integral part of who we are as peoples. For First Nations people, traditional storytelling was mostly based on the spoken word. For generations, children learned about their culture and their history through stories their elders told them. It was also used as a tool for entertainment. People of all ages gathered around a storyteller to hear funny stories — ancient tales that also served as important lessons. First Nations people also used other methods to record their stories, such as rock paintings, birchbark scrolls, and wampum belts and carvings, but the foundation was always the oral narrative.
This all changed in the generations after contact with European settlers because Aboriginal people were forced to abandon their languages, and subsequently, their traditional stories. This had a huge impact on many First Nations peoples because instead of looking to their Elders to learn, books became the way to learn. books and how we learn from books is definitely different from how Aboriginal people used to learn — from their families, communities and people.
I believe that literature is a vital component of introducing a culture and a people’s way of thinking and living. Teachers should aim to introduce stories and literature in the classroom written by Indigenous authors, and I strongly believe that should be a requirement for all the grades.
I have compiled below a vast anthology of literature written by authors of Algonquin descent. For students attending school in the Ottawa area, it is important they are exposed to Indigenous authors from their surroundings and start to develop perspectives towards Indigenous peoples that are not fed to them by the media or popular culture.
Title: Little Firefly
Author: Terri Cohlene
Illustrator: Charles Reasoner
Genre(s): Legend, Folklore
Summary: Little Firefly is often mistreated by her older sisters when their father is away. After her mother comes to her in a dream, Little Firefly sets off to find happiness as a servant for the Invisible One. Both legend and lore are part of the Native American tradition. Reminiscent of the Cinderella story, this is the enchanting tale of a shy maiden who wins the heart of a great warrior despite her cruel and mocking older sisters.
Geographical, historical, and cultural information reveal the Algonquin way of life as revealed through photographs, drawings, glossary, essays, and a map.
Title: I Am Algonquin
Author: Rick Revelle
Genre(s): Suspense, Adventure fiction
Summary: I Am Algonquin tells the story of Mahingan, a warrior, and his family, living in what is now Ontario in the mid-1300s. An engaging and readable portrayal of indigenous life before Europeans settled in North America.
Title: This Place: 150 Years Retold
Author(s): Sonny Assu, Katherena Vermette, Jen Storm, Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley, Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, David Robertson, Chelsea Vowel, Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair, Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley, Brandon Mitchell, Richard Van Camp
Illustrator(s): Tara Audibert, Natasha Donovan, Andrew Lodwick, Ryan Howe
Genre(s): Comics, Graphic novel, Young adult fiction
Summary: Explore the past 150 years through the eyes of Indigenous creators in this groundbreaking graphic novel anthology. Beautifully illustrated, these stories are a wild ride through magic realism, serial killings, psychic battles and time travel. See how Indigenous peoples have survived a post-apocalyptic world since Contact.
Title: The Maple Leaves of Kichi Makwa
Author: Albert Dumont
Illustrator(s): Joan Tenasco & Genevieve Calve
Genre(s): Picture Book, Fiction
Summary: This unique book is trilingual, written in Algonquin, English, and French. Maple Leaves is a special gift for any child, and can be used to help teach the Algonquin language. The lovely illustrations help convey an important anti-bullying message to today’s children. No home or classroom should be without it!
Title: The Stone Collection
Author: Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm
Genre(s): Fiction,Coming of Age, Humour
Summary: In these 14 unique stories, Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm takes on complex and dangerous emotions, exploring the gamut of modern Anishinaabe experience. Through unforgettable characters, these stories — about love and lust, suicide and survival, illness and wholeness — illuminate the strange workings of the human heart.
Title: Speaking Our Truth
Author: Monique Gray Smith
Genre(s): Non-Fiction
Summary: Canada's relationship with its Indigenous people has suffered as a result of both the residential school system and the lack of understanding of the historical and current impact of those schools. Healing and repairing that relationship requires education, awareness and increased understanding of the legacy and the impacts still being felt by Survivors and their families. Guided by acclaimed Indigenous author Monique Gray Smith, readers will learn about the lives of Survivors and listen to allies who are putting the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission into action.
Title: Speak to Me in Indian
Author: David Gidmark
Genre: Young Adult, Fiction
Summary: Shane Bearskin, a Cree from James Bay, and Theresa Wawati, an Algonquin from Northern Quebec, are united by a profound love and a visceral attachment to their cultural heritage. Both have experienced the challenges that face so many young people from indigenous communities. Though they are now studying in Montreal, they are determined to buck everything modern society would impose on them and return to live in the bush, like their ancestors, and have a baby.
Title: On the Shores of Darkness, There Is Light
Author: Cordelia Strube
Genre(s): Fiction, Young Adult, Adventure
Summary: Harriet is eleven, going on thirty. Her mixed media paintings are a source of wonder to her younger brother, Irwin, but an unmitigated horror to the panoply of insufficiently grown up grown-ups who surround her. She plans to run away to Algonquin Park, hole up in a cabin like Tom Thomson and paint trees; and so, to fund her escape, she runs errands for the seniors who inhabit the Shangrila, the decrepit apartment building that houses her fractured family.
Page updated
Report abuse