The Indigo Love of Reading Foundation is committed to advancing reconciliation within all the programs and partnerships we facilitate. While the books we provide help achieve this goal, many of the schools, parents and even students we work with reach out regularly for support in selecting Indigenous texts that will support them in their own goals of promoting reconciliation, education, and cultural reclamation. It is for this reason that we sought out partnerships with Native Child and Family Services of Toronto as well as the artist Jordan Stranger to create a resource guide for students and educators that highlights 50 book titles for children and youth.

These books are just a starting point – and do not represent a comprehensive curriculum nor do they reflect all backgrounds, perspectives, or worldviews. Nevertheless, they were carefully and thoughtfully selected with the goal of supporting young people, parents and educators in building knowledge and understanding. We encourage anyone with recommendations of new titles that they would like to see added to email us at loveofreading@indigo.ca so we can continue to update and revise this list in the year(s) to come.   

The Indigo Love of Reading Foundation’s partnership with Native Child and Family Services of Toronto

Native Child and Family Services of Toronto (NCFST) first partnered with the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation in Spring 2020 as a recipient of the foundation’s Community Response Fund, created as a $1M initiative to help keep kids reading in high-needs communities amidst the nationwide closure of schools and public libraries caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through subsequent summer reading program initiatives with the foundation in 2021-22 , NCFST selected and acquired books written by Indigenous authors and illustrators to help meet the needs and requests of their community members who desired culturally relevant books that support various teachings, self-esteem, and have characters that are representative of their families and are relatable to their everyday lives. Through this three-year partnership, over 3,000 children and families throughout the NCFST network in the Greater Toronto Area have been provided with over 4,000 books to read and enjoy in the home.

After years of damage to our ways of life and having our stories and practices stopped from being passed down generations through story-telling, the funding that allows us to continuously find new ways to pass down our stories is fundamental to the well being of our children, youth and their families and the continuous progress of the Culture as a whole.”

A quote from a NCFST parent on the impact of these books on their community

In 2021, our foundation supported 20 schools across Canada by gifting these books along with others to underserved elementary schools with the goal of promoting a love of reading and a love for the environment. After rifling through the new books, one student in Winnipeg, Manitoba immediately led their class in a community clean up, while a group of students in Hamilton, Ontario began to question why so many students are driven to school when they live so close. This led to the development of the “Walking Bus” an initiative that had available staff meet in the neighborhood to walk students to school every morning. 

While inspiring action is just one benefit of environmental literacy, we also saw students engage with these books for the benefits to their mental health. One student from Toronto had a strong connection with the book “Slow Down: 50 Mindful Moments in Nature” and took it out of the library four weeks in a row! When asked about why this book was so special, she described the way it made her feel calm. 

To celebrate these students, our foundation will be gifting each of these schools an additional $250 for books this Earth Month! Tackling climate change won’t happen overnight but we believe that by educating young Canadians, we have the power to spark individual action and collective change.

Let’s Talk Science – a leading partner in Canadian education – is a national charitable organization committed to inspiring and empowering children and youth of all ages in Canada to develop the skills they need to participate and thrive in an ever-changing world.  

As a part of our commitment to Earth Day and promoting environmental literacy we granted twenty schools to receive an Earth Day classroom kit filled with environmental literacy books. These schools from across Canada have been working hard to restore our planet and engaging in many eco-friendly initiatives in their own school and communities.

Below, we have assembled Earth Day resources to aid in these important conversations to restore our planet at home or in the classroom:

Earth Day resources for educators

• INDIGO LOVE OF READING ENVIRONMENTAL ECO WARRIORS BOOKLIST 
• Project learning tree: Earth Day Activities to Inspire your students and make a difference
• Susan Jones Teaching: Earth Day Activities for Kids- how to teach your kids about recycling for Earth Day
• Environmental Education- Edutopia
• Climate Kids: Government of Canada website
• Ecokids.ca- Lesson plans, books, videos and other materials to help educators and parents discover how outdoor play informs  learning and supports environmental education
• Celebrating Earth Day in Canada Teacher Resources- here is a list of Canadian resources to teach in your classroom
• National Geographic Kids: Save the Earth: games, videos and articles for student use on Earth day and environmental protection
• Education.com Learning Library Earth Day Resources
• NASA: Climate Kids website– Learn all about Climate Change and the environment right from NASA!
• Children’s Environmental Literacy Foundation: Teacher tools for Grades K-12