Summer Challenge 2025: Indigenous Reads

Looking for help completing your Summer Challenge Bingo Card? Here are some of our favourite books by Indigenous authors!

Each of our library branches features an Indigenous Reads display, so you can always browse in person!

Updated June 20, 2025
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
"Indian" in the cabinet : speaking truth to power
Wilson-Raybould, Jody
Paper Book
THE #1 BESTSELLER FINALIST FOR THE WRITERS' TRUST BALSILLIE PRIZE FOR PUBLIC POLICY A compelling political memoir of leadership and speaking truth to power by one of the most inspiring women of her generation Jody Wilson-Raybould was raised to be a leader. Inspired by the...
And then she fell : a novel
Elliott, Alicia
Paper Book
*NATIONAL BESTSELLER* *Indigenous Voices Award winner* *Amazon First Novel Award winner* *First Nations Communities READ Award winner* *Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction* *Named a Globe and Mail and CBC Best Book of the Year* From the...
Mamaskatch : a Cree coming of age
McLeod, Darrel J.
Paper Book
Growing up in the tiny village of Smith, Alberta, Darrel J. McLeod was surrounded by his Cree family's history. In shifting and unpredictable stories, his mother, Bertha, shared narratives of their culture, their family and the cruelty that she and her sisters endured in residential school....
Orange Shirt Day : September 30th
Webstad, Phyllis
Paper Book
Revised 2023 Edition. Orange Shirt Day, observed annually on September 30th, is also known as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. It is an official day to honour Residential School Survivors and their families, and to remember the children who did not come home. What was initially...
Mangilaluk : a graphic memoir about friendship, perseverance, and resiliency
Andreason, Bernard
Paper Book
"Some children are born into the world and are home as soon as they come Earthside. Others spend their lifetimes searching for a home, a place to belong, a place where they are safe. I am one of those children." After running away from residential school, Bernard Andreason and his two best...
Man made monsters
Rogers, Andrea L.
Paper Book
Uncover the Terrifying Intersection of History and Horror Imagine a chilling horror collection that weaves classic monsters like werewolves and vampires with the true horrors of colonialism, domestic violence, and displacement. Man Made Monsters, by...
Firekeeper's daughter
Boulley, Angeline
Paper Book
An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller! A Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick! A Printz Medal AND Morris Award Winner! Soon to be adapted at Netflix for TV with President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's production company, Higher Ground.
Rez ball
Graves, Byron
Paper Book
This compelling debut novel by new talent Byron Graves tells the relatable, high-stakes story of a young athlete determined to play like the hero his Ojibwe community needs him to be. These days, Tre Brun is happiest when he is playing basketball on the Red Lake Reservation high school...
Funeral songs for dying girls
Dimaline, Cherie
Paper Book
After inadvertently starting rumors of a haunted cemetery, a teen befriends a ghost in this brand-new young adult novel exploring grief and belonging by the critically acclaimed and bestselling author of The Marrow Thieves series. Winifred has lived in the apartment above the...
Indiginerds : tales from modern indigenous life
Pete, Alina
Paper Book
YALSA's 2025 Great Graphic Novels for Teens "This colorful, inviting graphic memoir anthology shatters narrow ideas about what a nerd (or a Native person) looks like." -- KIRKUS First Nations culture is...
Braiding sweetgrass
Kimmerer, Robin Wall.
Paper Book
A New York Times Bestseller A Washington Post Bestseller Named a "Best Essay Collection of the Decade" by Literary Hub As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member...
Ally Is a Verb : A Guide to Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples
LeMay, Rose.
Paper Book
INSTANT GLOBE & MAIL BESTSELLER TORONTO STAR BESTSELLER BOOKMANAGER INDIE BESTSELLER Your next step on the journey of reconciliation starts here. What can you do to be a better ally for your Indigenous colleagues, community members, and...
Life in two worlds : a coach's journey from the reserve to the NHL and back
Nolan, Ted
Paper Book
Nolan's story is one of succeeding against the odds. He grew up in poverty outside Sault St. Marie, on the Garden River reserve, in a small house that had no running hot water or electricity. He made his own backyard rink and fell in love with the game. That love was enough to take him to the pros....
From the rez to the runway : forging my path in fashion : a memoir
Allaire, Christian
Paper Book
Growing up on the Nipissing First Nation reserve in Northern Ontario, Christian Allaire wanted to work in the fashion industry, a future that seemed like a remote, and unlikely, dream He was first introduced to style and design through his culture's traditional Ojibwe powwow regalia-...
It's all about the land : collected talks and interviews on Indigenous resurgence
Alfred, Taiaiake
Paper Book
Illuminating the First Nations struggles against the Canadian state, It's All about the Land exposes how racism underpins and shapes Indigenous-settler relationships. Renowned Kahnawà:ke Mohawk activist and scholar Taiaiake Alfred explains how the Canadian government's...
The theory of crows : a novel
Robertson, David
Paper Book
A poignant and evocative novel about the bonds of family and the gifts offered by the land When a troubled father and his estranged teenage daughter head out onto the land in search of the family trapline, they find their way back to themselves, and to each other Deep in the night,...
Son of a trickster
Robinson, Eden
Paper Book
CANADA READS 2020 FINALIST NATIONAL BESTSELLER More than ten years after her Giller-shortlisted title Monkey Beach, Eden Robinson returns with a striking and precise coming-of-age novel, in which everyday teen existence meets Indigenous beliefs, crazy family...

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