Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday observance is a day to remember and honor all those whose labor and sacrifice built the Civil Rights movement, and those who maintain that seemingly never-ending march toward a more just society. Today, I want to honor them by recognizing and recommending three recent books for young people, by Native creators, that explore in different ways the themes of standing one's ground and making a positive difference in one's community. The books are:
We Need Everyone by Michael Redhead Champagne (Shamattawa First Nation), illustrated by Tiff Bartel (Viet Canadian)
Little By Little: You Can Change the World by Sonya Ballantyne (Swampy Cree), illustrated by Rhael McGregor (Metis and settler heritage) and Toben Racicot (not Native)
Surviving the City, Vol. 3: We Are the Medicine by Tasha Spillett (Cree and Trinidadian), illustrated by Natasha Donovan (Metis and white)
All three were published during 2024 by Highwater Press, located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. We Need Everyone is a picture book intended for children ages 6 - 8. Little By Little is a graphic novel for ages 9 - 12. Surviving the City, Vol. 3, also a graphic novel, is for teens and up. I'm not going to do full reviews of these books -- just summaries to encourage you to look for yourself!
We Need Everyone is by a community activist, Michael Redhead Champagne. Here's what the publisher says about it: "We Need Everyone empowers children to identify their gifts and use them to overcome challenges, achieve goals, and strengthen communities. Inspiring and uplifting, this interactive picture book celebrates diverse cultures, perspectives, and abilities through playful illustrations. Perfect for reading aloud." It's a colorful, encouraging look at making one's world larger, and better. The publisher provides a free We Need Everyone teachers' guide, and a book trailer, too.
Little By Little: You Can Change the World is biographical, briefly telling part of the life story of Michael Redhead Champagne, author of We Need Everybody. The focus is on how Michael began, as a pre-teen, to call out misinformation and prejudices regarding homeless people. In the back of the book, Michael himself writes about how he came to be adopted by the Champagne family, after being born to a mother who struggled with untreated trauma and could not care for him. There's a free Little By Little teachers' guide, too.
Surviving the City, Vol. 3 concludes Spillett's & Donovan's series featuring Indigenous teens and friends living in Winnipeg. As the story begins, the teens are stunned by news that the remains of hundreds of children were discovered at former Indian residential schools. The publisher states, "The teens struggle with feelings of helplessness in the face of injustice. Can they find the strength to channel their frustration into action toward a more hopeful time?" Some of the teens are arrested during a protest and endure harsh unjust treatment at the hands of the police. They wonder what is necessary to make an action effective, and what price activism can exact from individuals. Of the three, this is the most hard-hitting, depicting police violence against a peaceful protest, and the personal aftermath for the characters involved.
All three of the books end with optimism about the necessity of being actively involved in one's community, and the potential for positive change through cooperation and creative approaches. All provide opportunities for meaningful discussions of such questions as, "What might make you want to get involved to help your community? What abilities and interests do you have that might make you effective? Who is is interested in the same issues? What important things need to be done? Does getting involved result in suffering, for some of the characters in these books? How are they able to go on?"
Educators, librarians, family members, and community activists -- please get to know these books and share them with the young people you know -- Native and not Native! Now and in the near future, the well-being of so many in our communities is going to call for well-informed, inspired, caring, and courageous people of all ages to speak out for themselves and those around them. We have our work cut out for us, striving to make sure that the arc of the moral universe bends continually toward justice. These three books can help young people decide, if good trouble is needed, how (and whether) they might make it.
