Xwi7xwa Library has a display in Irving K. Barber! Our theme this year is Visiting.
Our Information Services Librarian, Karleen, came up with the idea of exploring what it means to visit through our collection. We often think of things written down in books as static, concrete data; it’s easy to decontextualize the information, and to feel like the information in books is so far removed from us and our lived experiences. But you can discover and rediscover, connect and reconnect, and visit with so much about yourself, your ancestors, your community, and your surroundings through books!
To express what we mean by visiting, we showcase four areas of life you can visit with through our collection.
Display case #1 is about storytelling, oral tradition, and Elders.
Connecting with and learning from our Elders helps us connect to ourselves, our families, our ancestors, our land, our culture. What kinds of traditions does your family hold? Competitive card games, warm cups of tea, and delicious chocolate chip cookies are a few we thought about. These physical acts are carriers for the intangible wisdom being passed to us by those who have lived on this land for longer than us. Beyond those family members we can still hug and hold, we can continue to speak with our ancestors through ceremony and prayer, and in this way Elders stay with us forever.
Resources in this box:
| Title: Cultural Teachings: First Nations Protocols and Methodologies
Author: Sylvia McAdam Call Numbers: TA M33 C85 2009 / E98.R53 C85 2009 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=5700187 Availability: Okanagan Library Summary: First Nations’ people begin ceremonies, feasts, songs, gatherings, healings and other occasions with traditional protocols and methodologies which have been passed on from generation to generation since time immemorial. Cultural Teachings: First Nations Protocols and Methodologies provides introductory teachings so that readers will have an understanding of expected etiquettes when attending various ceremonies, feasts, songs, gatherings, healings, and other cultural activities. |
| Title: Listening to Elders Telling Stories, Sitting in a Circle: an Oral History told by Walter Bonaise
Author: Walter Bonaise Illustrator: Gerald Folster Transcribed by: Karen Hovelkamp Call Numbers: PE B65 L57 2012 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=12045926 Availability: Only available at Xwi7xwa Library special collection (non-circulating) copy currently (on display) – to request access: xwi7xwa.library@ubc.ca Summary: Elders are the people that talk about the past and the future to come. I [Walter Bonaise] have tried my best to put the words of my elders on paper. As long as I live on earth, I will study and share the words the Elders said to me. I want to capture the imagination of our younger generation both Native and Non-Native. That is why I am doing this work. By reading this, they would gain an insight into our traditional ways of living. Although these stories are from my circle of Elders, family and friends I would like to share them with other family circles who may have their own stories, or a version of these stories. It is important to get these words out to the younger people. |
| Title: Written as I Remember it: Teachings (ʻäms taʻaw) from the Life of a Sliammon Elder
Author: Elsie Paul, Paige Raibmon, Harmony Johnson Call Numbers: YS P38 W75 2014 / E99.C86 P39 2014 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=7590603 Availability: Xwi7xwa Library, Koerner Library stacks (Floor 1), RBSC ASRS, Full Text Online Summary: Long before vacationers and boaters discovered BC’s Sunshine Coast, the Sliammon, a Coast Salish people, called it and surrounding regions home. In this remarkable book, Elsie Paul, one of the last surviving mother-tongue speakers of the Sliammon language, collaborates with a scholar, Paige Raibmon, and her granddaughter, Harmony Johnson, to tell her life story and the history of her people, in her own words and storytelling style. |
| Title: So You Girls Remember That: Memories of a Haida Elder
Author: Gaadgas Nora Bellis, Jenny Nelson Call Numbers: YS B45 S69 2022 / E99.H2 B455 2022 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=12170491 Availability: Koerner Library stacks (Floor 1), Okanagan Library, RBSC’s ASRS Summary: Collected wisdoms, reflections and stories from Indigenous Elder Naanii Nora of the Haida Nation. So You Girls Remember That is an oral history of a Haida Elder, Naanii Nora, who lived from 1902 to 1997. A collaborative effort, this project was initiated and guided by Charlie Bellis and supported and encouraged by Maureen McNamara and other community volunteers. The resulting book, compiled by Jenny Nelson, is a window into Nora’s life and her family–from the young girl who “used to sing all the time” and was always bossing her brothers around, to stories of Nora’s father born in a canoe travelling to the mainland, to days spent picking berries and afternoons canning and cooking–these are stories of childhood; of people and place, seasons and change; life stages and transitions such as moving and marriage; and Haida songs and meanings. |
| Title: Nak’azdli Elders Speak = Nak’azdli t’enne yahulduk
Variant Title: Nak’azdli t’enne yahulduk Editor: Lillian Sam, Nak’azdli Elders Society Call Numbers: PE S26 N35 2001 / E99.T17 N34 2001 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=3280689 Availability: Xwi7xwa Library stacks, Koerner Library stacks (Floor 1), RBSC Summary: Nak’azdli Elders Speak is a collection of Oral History from the Nak’azdli people in Northern British Columbia. The knowledge and testimonials contained within encompass decades of history and relate the stories of the Nak’azdli people and territory. The collection was compiled and edited by Lillian Sam and the Nak’azdli Elders Society and represents important documentation which is a valuable resources to the Nak’azdli community and those interested in Oral History and Aboriginal traditions. |
| Title: Our Elders speak: a Tribute to Native Elders
Author: Karie Garnier Call Numbers: PE G37 O8 1990 / E89 .G37 1990 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=2834143 Availability: Koerner Library stacks (Floor 1), Okanagan Library, RBSC Summary: “From 1982 to the present [Karie Garnier] had the honour of visiting more than 70 Elders of the First Native Nations on reserved lands in Western Canada and the United States, recording on film and in print their images and thoughts. Our Elders Speak is a photographic tribute to some of these Elders
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| Title: Salish Elders: Portraits of Elders of the Interior Salish of British Columbia, Canada
Author: Wim Tewinkel Call Numbers: PE T49 S35 2003 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=2699166 Availability: Xwi7xwa Library stacks, Koerner Library oversize (Floor 1), Okanagan Library , RBSC Summary: With stunning photographs and the subjects’ stories – in their own words – photographer Wim Tewinkel captures the lives lead by twenty-one elders of the Lillooet Tribal Council, member of the Interior Salish people. Ranging in age from 55 to over 90, the elders live in three small communities nestled at the foot of the beautiful Coast Range of British Columbia: Mount Currie, D’Arcy and Baptiste Smith. They share with the author highlights of their lives – from being a bomber in World War II to being a grandmother and a master at basket work—the most extraordinary details of their lives in conversational-style writing. Tewinkel’s photos capture both the depth of character of his friends and their compassionate natures. |
| Title: My Elders Tell Me
Author: Marion (Roze) Wright Illustrator: Judy Hilgemann Call Numbers: YUB W75 M9 1996 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=2836606 Availability: Xwi7xwa Library Summary: My Elders Tell Me was written on the advice and in consultation with a number of Elders from the Tri-Bands (Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw, Kwakiutl, and Quatsino First Nations). Each Elder has a world of wisdom that this book only begins to touch upon. During the writing of My Elders Tell Me I found that there may be many versions of a particular story, legend, or way of doing a traditional practice. Garnering consensus for cultural correctness was the single most important goal in the development of the book. I have tried to balance stories between villages and families and I bear sole responsibility for the versions chosen. Gilakas’la, thank you to the Elders and those who helped with their priceless gifts of knowledge – all is for the children. |
Display case #2 is about land.
The grass beneath your feet, the air you breathe, the plants and animals you eat, the flowers you stick in a vase on your windowsill — all of them are given to us by the land. Living in a metropolis like Metro Vancouver paired with the hustle and bustle of student life can easily keep us feeling isolated from our natural surroundings. Whether it means sticking your hands in dirt while you cultivate a garden or simply laying in the grass and feeling the breeze, taking a moment to truly and deeply visit with the land can help you recenter yourself and process whatever it is you’re going through.
Resources in this box:
| Title: Becoming Kin: an Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining our Future
Author: Patty Krawec Call Numbers: PR K73 B43 2022 / E77.6 .K73 2022 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=12373711 Availability: Okanagan Library, Koerner Library stacks (Floor 1) Summary: Weaving her own story with the story of her ancestors and with the broader themes of creation, replacement, and disappearance, Krawec helps readers see settler colonialism through the eyes of an Indigenous writer. Settler colonialism tried to force us into one particular way of living, but the old ways of kinship can help us imagine a different future. Krawec asks, What would it look like to remember that we are all related? How might we become better relatives to the land, to one another, and to Indigenous movements for solidarity? Braiding together historical, scientific, and cultural analysis, Indigenous ways of knowing, and the vivid threads of communal memory, Krawec crafts a stunning, forceful call to ‘unforget’ our history. |
| Title: Eelgrass: “candy of the sea”
Variant Title: Ts’aay’imts eelgrass: “candy of the sea” Author: Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council Fisheries, Uu-a-thluk project Call Number: SN U838 v.2 2010 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=5729728 Availability: Only available at Xwi7xwa Library special collection (non-circulating) copy currently (on display) – to request access: xwi7xwa.library@ubc.ca Summary: The Nuu-chah-nulth Traditional Foods Toolkit promotes the wisdom of Nuu-chah-nulth elders by recording and sharing their experiences, language, and knowledge around the harvest and preparation of traditional foods. The information and activities in the toolkit promote food sovereignty and security, encouraging healthy, sustainable communities for current and future generations. |
| Title: Herring Spawn
Variant Title: kwaqmis (siihmuu, siihbuu) Herring Spawn Author: Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council Fisheries, Uu-a-thluk project Call Number: SN U838 v.3 2010 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=5729732 Availability: Only available at Xwi7xwa Library special collection (non-circulating) copy currently (on display) – to request access: xwi7xwa.library@ubc.ca Summary: The Nuu-chah-nulth Traditional Foods Toolkit promotes the wisdom of Nuu-chah-nulth elders by recording and sharing their experiences, language, and knowledge around the harvest and preparation of traditional foods. The information and activities in the toolkit promote food sovereignty and security, encouraging healthy, sustainable communities for current and future generations. |
| Title: Crushed Wild Mint
Author: Jess Housty Call Numbers: YP H68 C78 2023 / PS8615.O88 C78 2023 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=13265744 Availability: RBSC’s ASRS Summary: Crushed Wild Mint is a collection of poems embodying land love and ancestral wisdom, deeply rooted to the poet’s motherland and their experience as a parent, herbalist and careful observer of the patterns and power of their territory. Jess Housty grapples with the natural and the supernatural, transformation and the hard work of living that our bodies are doing–held by mountains, by oceans, by ancestors and by the grief and love that come with communing. Housty’s poems are textural–blossoms, feathers, stubborn blots of snow–and reading them is a sensory offering that invites the reader’s whole body to be transported in the experience. Their writing converses with mountains, animals and all our kin beyond the human realm as they sit beside their ancestors’ bones and move throughout the geography of their homeland. |
| Title: Good Seeds: a Menominee Indian Food Memoir
Author: Thomas Pecore Weso Call Number: YS W47 G66 2016 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=9915002 Availability: Full Text Online Summary: In this food memoir, named for the manoomin or wild rice that also gives the Menominee tribe its name, tribal member Thomas Pecore Weso takes readers on a cook’s journey through Wisconsin’s northern woods. Weso’s grandfather Moon was considered a medicine man, and his morning prayers were the foundation for all the day’s meals. Weso’s grandmother Jennie made fire each morning in a wood-burning stove, and oversaw huge breakfasts of wild game, fish, and fruit pies. As Weso grew up, his uncles taught him to hunt bear, deer, squirrels, raccoons, and even skunks for the daily larder. He remembers foods served at the Menominee fair and the excitement of sugar bush, maple sugar gatherings that included dances as well as hard work. Weso uses humor to tell his own story as a boy learning to thrive in a land of icy winters and summer swamps. With his rare perspective as a Native anthropologist and artist, he tells a poignant personal story in this unique book. |
| Title: In Our Traditional Territory
Author: Monica Weaver Illustrator: Maedeh Mosaverzadeh Call Number: YUA W43 I5 2022 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=13630540 Availability: Education Library Summary: On the river, beaver smacks his tail, the salmon swim, and a family pull in the catch. As a member of her community, six-year-old Monica participates in the traditional salmon harvest among the picturesque scenery, cold mornings, warm fires, and extended family. |
| Title: Ka’esi Wahkotumahk Aski = Our Relations with the Land (Treaty Elders’ Teachings Volume 2)
Variant Title: Our relations with the land Authors: D’Arcy Linklater, Harry Bone, and the Treaty and Dakota Elders of Manitoba ; with contributions by the AMC Council of Elders Call Number: PE T773 2014 v. 2 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=8157850 Availability: Only available at Xwi7xwa Library special collection (non-circulating) copy currently (on display) – to request access: xwi7xwa.library@ubc.ca Summary: The Treaty Elders’ Teachings Series contains four volumes of oral history from Anishinaabek, Anish-Ininiwak, Dakota, Dene, Ininiwak, and Nehethowuk Elders. The volumes contain transcriptions of interviews in the original languages as well as the English translations. The Elders share their stories and teachings about their identity as peoples, the land, relationship with newcomers, and the Treaties. |
| Title: Held by the Land: a Guide to Indigenous Plants for Wellness
Author: Leigh Joseph Call Numbers: SN J67 H45 2023 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=12831358 Availability: Okanagan Library, Full Text Online Summary: Author Leigh Joseph, an ethnobotanist and a member of the Squamish Nation, provides a beautifully illustrated essential introduction to Indigenous plant knowledge. Plants can be a great source of healing as well as nourishment, and the practice of growing and harvesting from trees, flowering herbs, and other plants is a powerful way to become more connected to the land. In the plant profiles section, common plants are introduced with illustrations and information on their characteristics, range, how to grow and/or harvest them, and how to use them topically and as food. |
| Title: Pacific Northwest plant knowledge cards
Author: Jen McMullen and John Bradley Williams Call Numbers:SN M36 P33 2018 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=12831358 Availability: Xwi7xwa Library, Education Library, Woodward Library Summary:PacificNorthwest Coastal Plant Knowledge Cards highlight 65 edible and medicinal plants from the Pacific Northwest coastal region. The cards include beautiful photographs and descriptions to help identify plants, names of the plants in three different Indigenous languages, includingThe cards describe traditional uses and ways of harvesting each plant and feature Indigenous languages, including lək̓ʷəŋən, SENĆOTEN, Hul’q’umi’num, and Diitiid?atcsx.
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| This display also contains seeds from our branch’s seed lending library! Our branch, and many others, participate in the seed lending program, to learn more see: https://guides.library.ubc.ca/seedlendinglibrary |
Display case #3 is about food.
So much of our culture and memories are related to food. Think about the first time you tasted the canned fish your cousins caught. Remember the first time you made your secret family recipe in your own kitchen. What else could you learn about the food in your community? Have you ever heard of decolonizing your diet? Food is a special way to connect with your culture, family, community, and the place you live.
Resources in this box:
| Title: Moberly Lake School Cookbook
Author: Moberly Lake School (students and parents) Call Number: SNR M63 M63 1986 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=4176612 Availability: Only available at Xwi7xwa Library special collection (non-circulating) copy currently (on display) – to request access: xwi7xwa.library@ubc.ca Summary: Students from Moberly Lake School in kindergarten, grade one, and grade two class dictated recipes to explain how they think cooking works. We know they will make you smile. The grade three, four, five class wrote food poems for your entertainment. All of the parents and students donated their favourite recipes. The idea for the cookbook came from parents. |
| Title: Longhouse Kitchens
Author(s): Mena Pagaduan, Eva Williams, Janet Moore Call Number: SNR P34 L66 2007 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=7290519 Availability: Only available at Xwi7xwa Library special collection (non-circulating) copy currently (on display) – to request access: xwi7xwa.library@ubc.ca Summary: A Cowichan recipe book with foods from the sea and land like sea plants and animals, land animals, waterfowl, berries and plants, breads etc. Includes some Hul’q’umi’num’ translations and glossary. |
| Title: Rababoo Stew for Lunch
Author(s): Wilfred Burton, Angela Caron Call Number: ETE T33 2014 v.6:3 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=8189169 Availability: Only available at Xwi7xwa Library special collection (non-circulating) copy currently (on display) – to request access: xwi7xwa.library@ubc.ca Summary: Gabby likes to have the same thing every day for lunch. Will Mooshoom convince her to eat rabbit stew? This resource is intended for young readers and teachers! |
| Title: Čamus: (chum-us) adj.= Very satisfying when you’ve been well fed : Čamus ma = it tastes good
Variant Titles: West Coast Cooking Nuu-chah-nulth Style/Čamus: West Coast Cooking Nuu-chah-nulth Style Author: Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council Fisheries, Uu-a-thluk project Illustrator: Kelly Poirier Call Number: SNR P65 C36 2008 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=3942641 Availability: Xwi7xwa Library Summary: Čamus is a collection of recipes and stories about foods that come from the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nation’s territories on the west coast of Vancouver Island, BC. |
| Title: Bannock, Berries and Buckskin: a Collection of Recipes and Stories from the Nlaka’pamux Elders of the Fraser Canyon
Author: Boston Bar First Nation (project sponsor) Call Number: SNR B463 B36 2011 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=7664798 Availability: Only available at Xwi7xwa Library special collection (non-circulating) copy currently (on display) – to request access: xwi7xwa.library@ubc.ca Summary: This book of recipes collected from Nlaka’pamux Elders includes recipes for pemmican, bannock, salmon chowder, deer jerky, fish egg soup, pine mushroom pickles, fiddlehead ferns, grouse, elk sausage, smoked venison roast, wild berry breakfast smoothie, huckleberry bars, Indian ice cream, rosehip walnut loaf, and many others. |
| Title: Where People Feast: an Indigenous People’s Cookbook
Authors: Dolly Watts, Annie Watts Illustrator: Annie Watts Call Numbers: SNR W38 W44 2007 / TX715.6 .W375 2007 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=3796308 Availability: Xwi7xwa Library, Okanagan Library, Education Library Summary: The food traditions of Indigenous Peoples are centuries-old and endure to this day. Feasts that include a bounty of land and sea are the focal point of celebrations and ceremonies; for many, food is what connects family, community, and the afterlife. Where People Feast, one of the few Indigenous cookbooks available, focuses on Native cuisine of the Pacific Northwest, which takes advantage of the area’s abundant seafood, game, fruits, and vegetables – with traditional ingredients (oolichan, venison, grouse) and commonly known (salmon, crab, berries). |
| Title: George Watts: Creating Greatness: a Tribute to George Watts through Recipes, Stories, and much more!
Variant Title: Creating greatness: a tribute to George Watts through recipes, stories, and much more Author: Matilda Watts Call Number: SN W38 G46 2007 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=3797536 Availability: Only available at Xwi7xwa Library special collection (non-circulating) copy currently (on display) – to request access: xwi7xwa.library@ubc.ca Summary: George Watts was renowned for his powerful vision and leadership in the Aboriginal rights movement at the local, provincial, nation and international levels. To his ever-growing family and circle of friends, George was so much more! George’s extraordinary leadership abilities extended beyond the political realm into his home which resulted in exceptional memories of love and friendship, splendid food, excellent wine and unforgettable stories. This collection of recipes, quotes and stories has been compiled by George’s family, friends and colleagues to honour the man they were fortunate to know–a welcoming host, talented cook, and loving man. |
| Title: Gathering what the Great Nature Provided: Food Traditions of the Gitksan
Author: People of ‘Ksan Illustrator: Hilary Stewart Call Number: SN P46 G38 1980 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=2831145 Availability: Xwi7xwa Library Summary: Hours of tapes were painstakingly recorded, translated and edited by a group of more than 90 members who call themselves the Book Builders of ‘Ksan. These tapes provide the words for a richly illustrated guide to the gathering, storing, cooking and preserving methods that permitted a sophisticated art and culture to flourish. Here are detailed instructions on how to fillet, smoke, boil, toast, barbecue, age and bake a variety of fish, including salmon; how to pick and preserve berries; how to use evergreen trees not only for containers but also for food; how to preserve and cook moose, beaver, rabbit, porcupine and grouse. |
| Title: tawâw : Progressive Indigenous Cuisine
Variant Title: Progressive Indigenous Cuisine Authors: Shane M. Chartrand, Jennifer Cockrall-King Call Numbers: SNR C4378 T39 2019 / TX715.6 .C437 2019 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=10121653 Availability: Koerner Library stacks (Floor 1), Okanagan special collections storage Summary: tawâw [ta-wow; Cree]: “Welcome, there is room.” Indigenous cuisine, like other aspects of Indigenous cultures, is now reawakening with a fresh vitality and creative energy unlike anything we’ve seen in decades. With Tawâw: Progressive Indigenous Cuisine, acclaimed chef Shane Chartrand hopes to ignite the imagination of a new generation of culinary talent who will create a more inclusive understanding of what it means to cook, eat, and share food in our homes, in our communities, and in our restaurants. Born to Cree parents and raised by a Métis father and Mi’kmaq/British mother, Chartrand has spent the past fifteen years learning about his history, visiting with other First Nations peoples, gathering and sharing knowledge and stories, and creating dishes that combine his diverse interests and express his unique personality. |
Display case #4 is about intergenerational sharing.
Think about when you were a kid and you went to see your grandma for a day, and how she gave you hard candies from the bottom of her bag and told you about how she used to run around the neighborhood with her friends and get into trouble when she was a kid. Remember when you would visit your aunties and they made you the best cookies you’ve ever tasted while they showed you how to knit a scarf or bead earrings. Learning and teaching through familial visits is how culture stays alive, and a way we can strengthen our communities.
Resources in this box:
| Title: Sweetgrass
Author: Theresa Meuse Illustrator: Jessica Jerome Call Numbers: YUA M48 S84 2022 / PZ7.M567935 Sw 2022 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=12416222 Availability: Education Library Summary: It’s early July, and for Matthew and his Auntie that means one thing: time to go sweetgrass picking. This year, Matthew’s younger cousin Warren is coming along, and it will be his first time visiting the shoreline where the sweetgrass grows. With Auntie’s traditional Mi’kmaw knowledge and Matthew’s gentle guidance, Warren learns about the many uses for sweetgrass–as traditional medicine, a sacred offering, a smudging ingredient–and the importance of not picking more than he needs. |
| Title: On the Trapline
Author: David A. Robertson Illustrator: Julie Flett Call Numbers: YUA R63 N84 2021 / PZ7.R544725 On 2021 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=11878687 Availability: Education Library Summary: A boy and Moshom, his grandpa, take a trip together to visit a place of great meaning to Moshom. A trapline is where people hunt and live off the land, and it was where Moshom grew up. As they embark on their northern journey, the child repeatedly asks his grandfather, “Is this your trapline?” Along the way, the boy finds himself imagining what life was like two generations ago — a life that appears to be both different from and similar to his life now. This is a heartfelt story about memory, imagination and intergenerational connection that perfectly captures the experience of a young child’s wonder as he is introduced to places and stories that hold meaning for his family. |
| Title: Mnoomin maan’gowing / The Gift of Mnoomin
Author: Brittany Luby Illustrator: Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley Translator: Mary Ann Corbiere Call Numbers: no call number – NEW book section / PZ23.L829 Mn 2024 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=12831984 Availability: Education Library Summary: In this bilingual book, an Anishinaabe child explores the story of a precious mnoomin seed and the circle of life mnoomin sustains. Written in Anishinaabemowin and English, the story opens at harvest time. We follow the child and family through a harvest day as they make offerings of tobacco, then gently knock ripe seeds into their canoe. On shore, they prepare the seeds, cook up a feast, and gratefully plant some seeds they’d set aside. This beautifully written and illustrated story reveals the cultural and ecological importance of mnoomin. |
| Title: Yetsa’s Sweater
Author: Sylvia Olsen Illustrator: Joan Larson Call Number(s): YUA L74 Y48 2006 / PZ4.9.O486 Yt 2006 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=3758538 Availability: Education Library / Rare Books & Special Collections Summary: It’s springtime, and everything is new. Fresh breezes blow in off the ocean as Yetsa and her mother walk to Grandma’s house. The new fleeces have arrived, and Yetsa will help Grandma turn them into spinning wool for making Cowichan sweaters. Yetsa is wearing her favourite sweater. It’s not new at all. In fact, it’s getting a bit small for her. But this sweater is so full of memories, and there’s so much love knit into it. A new sweater couldn’t possibly tell the stories her old sweater does – could it? |
| Title: Grandma’s Tipi: A Present-Day Lakota Story
Author: S.D. Nelson Illustrator: S.D. Nelson Call Number: NEW BOOK Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=12830570 Availability: Only available at Xwi7xwa Library special collection (non-circulating) copy currently (on display) – to request access: xwi7xwa.library@ubc.ca Summary: Clara spends her summer visiting her grandma and cousin on Standing Rock reservation, where Clara and her family set up the ancestral tipi and grow closer together as they tell stories, sing songs, and learn about their Lakota roots. |
| Title: Berry Song
Author: Michaela Goade Illustrator: Michaela Goade Call Number(s): YUA G62 B47 2022 / PZ7.1.G614 Be 2022 Permalink: https://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=12785282 Availability: Education Library/ Okanagan Library Summary: On an island at the edge of a wide, wild sea, a girl and her grandmother gather gifts from the earth. Like their Tlingit ancestors before them, they harvest salmon from the stream, herring eggs from the ocean, and in the forest, a world of berries. Through the seasons, they sing to the land as the land sings to them. Brimming with joy and gratitude, with 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. |
Many of the display cases also contain puppets and other children’s toys are useful for early education. To find available resources search puppet from our website found here: https://xwi7xwa.library.ubc.ca/
If you haven’t checked out the display in IKB yet, make sure to stop by. Karleen has meticulously gathered all kinds of trinkets to symbolize our concept of visiting that you could spend forever ooh-ing and aw-ing over.
While putting this display together, our staff have shared stories with each other about our childhood visits with grandparents and connected through chats about our own experiences with land and food. The display has already connected the Xwi7xwa staff, and we hope you can be inspired or find something special in our collection the way that we have. If anything in these boxes strikes a chord with you, feel free to come share your story with us!
These four are by no means the only areas of life you can visit with through our collection! We have books spanning all kinds of topics, from beading to forestry to law to poetry. Come visit us, and you just might learn something new about yourself in our collection!