Chelsea Dingman is a former Visiting Instructor at the University of South Florida. She is originally from British Columbia, Canada. She has lived in four countries and countless cities in North America. She currently resides in Edmonton, Alberta with her husband, two sons, and baby daughter. She has written several anthrologies over the years, the most well known titled "Thaw".
Naomi Shihab Nye, born in St. Louis, Missouri, is is a distinguished Palestinian-American poet, essayist, and songwriter known for her exploration of identity and culture. In her poem "Snow," Nye captures the fleeting beauty of this natural phenomenon, intertwining it with reflections on life's transient moments.
Emily Jungmin Yoon is a poet, translator, editor, and scholar. She received her BA in English and Communication from the University of Pennsylvania, an MFA in Creative Writing from New York University, and her PhD in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Korean Literature at the University of Hawai’i. Her poem, “Between Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice, Today”,employs the word cold to ponder linguistic gaps and the space between seasons.
Kenard Pak, author of Goodbye Autumn, Hello Winter and Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring, has experienced changing seasons in his life as well. Starting out as a visual development artist with DreamWorks and Disney, working on movies such as Madagascar, Trolls, The Road To El Dorado and Star Wars: Clone Wars. Pak has also illustrated children's books such as Have You Heard the Nesting Bird? by Rita Gray and The Dinner That Cooked Itself by J. C. Hsyu. He now lives in San Francisco with his wife and their three cats.
As leaves fall from their trees, animals huddle against the cold, and frost creeps across windows, everyone knows—winter is on its way!
Join a brother and sister as they explore nature and take a stroll through their twinkling town, greeting all the signs of the coming season. In a series of conversations with everything from the setting sun to curious deer, they say goodbye to autumn and welcome the glorious first snow of winter in Kenar Pak's Goodbye Autumn, Hello Winter
With Omega Point destroyed, Juliette doesn't know if the rebels, her friends, or even Adam are alive. But that won't keep her from trying to take down The Reestablishment once and for all. Now she must rely on Warner, the handsome commander of Sector 45. The one person she never thought she could trust. The same person who saved her life. He promises to help Juliette master her powers and save their dying world . . . but that's not all he wants with her.
The Shatter Me series is perfect for fans who crave action-packed young adult novels with tantalizing romance like Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and Legend by Marie Lu. Tahereh Mafi has created a captivating and original story that combines the best of dystopian and paranormal and was praised by Publishers Weekly as "a gripping read from an author who's not afraid to take risks."
Octavia Butler is widely regarded as one of the best and most influential science fiction authors of all time, and yet remains relatively unknown by the general public. She won multiple Nebula and Hugo awards, and wrote the mind-bending "Patternist" series and "Lilith's Brood" series. Perhaps her best known work is 1979's Kindred, which follows Dana, a black woman living in 1970s United States, when she uncontrollably and unexplainedly travels backward in time to the 19th century, where she is her own ancestor's slave. The story digs deeply into the complex historical reality of slavery, and its echoes in the modern day. It is both thrilling and deeply affecting.
Butler died far too young in 2006, but her legacy as a prominent writer of science fiction at a time when neither women nor people of colour were common in the field can not be overstated.
In reponse to the poem by John Mcrae, Raymond Garfield Dandridge takes the imagery and location but sees the world through his own lens. He often wrote in a vernacular style and was both critisized for a type of atificiality and commended for creating a sound that is evocative of natural speech patterns.
The story of the beautiful relationship between a little girl and her grandfather. When she asks her grandfather how to say something in his language – Cree – he admits that his language was stolen from him when he was a boy. The little girl then sets out to help her grandfather find his language again. This sensitive and warmly illustrated picture book explores the intergenerational impact of the residential school system that separated young Indigenous children from their families. The story recognizes the pain of those whose culture and language were taken from them, how that pain is passed down, and how healing can also be shared.
Melanie Florence is an award-winning writer of Cree and Scottish heritage. She wrote Stolen Words in honor of her grandfather. Melanie never had the chance to speak to him about his Cree heritage, and the story is about the healing relationship she wishes she had been able to have with him.
The New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code returns with an unforgettable World War II tale of a quiet bookworm who becomes history's deadliest female sniper. Based on a true story.
In 1937 in the snowbound city of Kyiv, wry and bookish history student Mila Pavlichenko organizes her life around her library job and her young son--but Hitler's invasion of Ukraine and Russia sends her on a different path. Given a rifle and sent to join the fight, Mila must forge herself from studious girl to deadly sniper--a lethal hunter of Nazis known as Lady Death. When news of her three hundredth kill makes her a national heroine, Mila finds herself torn from the bloody battlefields of the eastern front and sent to America on a goodwill tour.
Naomi Mitchison was a distinguished Scottish author and social activist known for her literary contributions and advocacy work. Born into a prominent family on November 1, 1897, she grew up in a stimulating intellectual environment. Mitchison was a prolific writer, exploring various genres including novels, essays, poetry, and plays. Her literary works often delved into complex themes, reflecting her deep understanding of human nature and society.
Marjorie Lowry Christie Pickthall, was a Canadian writer who was born in England but lived in Canada from the time she was seven.She was once "thought to be the best Canadian poet of her generation." She sold her first story in 1898 when she was just 15. Marjorie Pickthall "stood as proof in the eyes of the next generation of female poets that women could indeed earn the respect and attention of a literary establishment dominated by men."
Caldecott Medalist Michaela Goade's first self-authored picture book is a gorgeous celebration of the land she knows well and the powerful wisdom of elders.
On an island at the edge of a wide, wild sea, a girl and her grandmother gather gifts from the earth. Salmon from the stream, herring eggs from the ocean, and in the forest, a world of berries.
Salmonberry, Cloudberry, Blueberry, Nagoonberry.
Huckleberry, Snowberry, Strawberry, Crowberry.
Through the seasons, they sing to the land as the land sings to them. Brimming with joy and gratitude, in every step of their journey, they forge a deeper kinship with both the earth and the generations that came before, joining in the song that connects us all. Michaela Goade's luminous rendering of water and forest, berries and jams glows with her love of the land and offers an invitation to readers to deepen their own relationship with the earth.
Despite serving their country, many soldiers from marginalized communities found they could not escape the "war at home". Archibald H Grimke details the loss and frustration felt over the tragedy known as the "Houston Riot of 1917". For more information about the incedent and context for the poem, check out Dec. 11, 1917: Black Soldiers Executed for Houston Riot - Zinn Education Project.
Written in the voice of a First Nations soldier, Chief, R. Stacey LaForme’s poem “I Love This Land” details the inequity First Nations soldiers faced when they returned from home from the First World War. In this moving piece, he explores themes of national identity, honour, and sacrifice.
Chief R. Stacey LaForme is the elected Chief of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation. He has served his community in Southern Ontario not only as Chief, but as a notable storyteller and poet for over twenty years. He has written several poems commemorating Remembrance Day and a collection of his poetry, Living in the Tall Grass: Poems of Reconciliation, was published in 2018.
Born in Guayaguayare, the southernmost village in Trinidad and Tobago, poet, novelist, and scholar Dionne Brand moved to Canada in the 1970s to attend the University of Toronto. The author of 10 books of poetry, she has won the Governor General’s Award, the Trillium Book Award, the Pat Lowther Award, and the Griffin Poetry Prize. In 2009, she was named the Poet Laureate of Toronto.
This poem was written for the National Youth Remembrance Contests, sponsored by the Legion National Foundation, with the assistance of The Royal Canadian Legion and schools across the country. They invite Canadian youth and children to honour Canada’s Veterans and foster the tradition of Remembrance through visual art, writing, and video. All winners at the national level are awarded a cash prize for their work. First Place Senior Winners are eligible for our most prestigious award – a trip to Ottawa and an opportunity to represent the youth of Canada at the National Remembrance Day Ceremony. More information can be found at Remembrance Contests
"Speak up for yourself—we want to know what you have to say." From the first moment of her freshman year at Merryweather High, Melinda knows this is a big fat lie, part of the nonsense of high school. She is friendless, outcast, because she busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so now nobody will talk to her, let alone listen to her. As time passes, she becomes increasingly isolated and practically stops talking altogether. Only her art class offers any solace, and it is through her work on an art project that she is finally able to face what really happened at that terrible party: she was raped by an upperclassman, a guy who still attends Merryweather and is still a threat to her. Her healing process has just begun when she has another violent encounter with him. But this time Melinda fights back, refuses to be silent, and thereby achieves a measure of vindication.
In Laurie Halse Anderson's powerful novel, an utterly believable heroine with a bitterly ironic voice delivers a blow to the hypocritical world of high school. She speaks for many a disenfranchised teenager while demonstrating the importance of speaking up for oneself.
Though primarily known as a playwright, especially for the 1975 play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf, Ntozake Shange was also a prolific poet and a novelist, children's writer and essayist. She grew up in an artistic and politically-involved family, whose guests included famous musicians, actors and leaders, such as Miles Davis and W.E.B. Dubois. Though her work often focused on the black experience in America, her themes also included femininity, family, power and art—especially music.
Before Tegan and Sara took the music world by storm, the Quins were just two identical twins trying to find their place in a new home and new school. From first crushes to the perils of puberty, surviving junior high is something the sisters plan to face side by side, just like they've always faced things. But growing up also means growing apart, as Tegan and Sara make different friends and take separate paths to understanding their queerness. For the first time ever, they ask who one sister is without the other.
Set in the present day, this effervescent blend of fiction and autobiography, with artwork from Eisner Award–winner Tillie Walden, offers a glimpse at the two sisters before they became icons, exploring their shifting relationship, their own experiences coming out, and the first steps of their musical journey.
The Orange Shirt Story was the best selling children's book in Canada for several weeks in September (Book manager). This true story also inspired the movement of Orange Shirt Day which could become a federal statuatory holiday When Phyllis Webstad (nee Jack) turned six, she went to the residential school for the first time. On her first day at school, she wore a shiny orange shirt that her Granny had bought for her, but when she got to the school, it was taken away from her and never returned. This is the true story of Phyllis and her orange shirt. It is also the story of Orange Shirt Day (an important day of remembrance for First Nations and non First Nations Canadians).