Feb 9

Written by: Joe Longo
Saturday, February 09, 2008 

“First Nations Public Library Week” which will be celebrated next week encourages First Nations libraries to feature their resources and services in their communities and invites all public libraries to promote related materials.

The book “Ancient Thunder” by Leo Yerxa was the winner of the 2006 Governor General's Award for Illustration and honoured as the First Nations Communities Read selection. The book is available at the Victoria Avenue Library Library.

A beautiful and visionary book, Ancient Thunder celebrates wild horses and the natural world of the prairies. Using an extraordinary technique, Yerxa, an artist of Ojibway ancestry, makes paper look like leather, so that his illustrations seem to be painted on leather shirts. Each shirt is accompanied by a rich song of praise for the wild horses that came to play such an important role in the lives of the First Peoples.

Years in the making, the book is truly a work of art one that reflects Yerxa's sense of nature and the place of native people within it.

Our Library has the previous books honored by this program. These include “As long as the rivers flow” in 2006; “Skysisters” in 2005; “Solomon’s Tree” in 2004 and “Dragonfly Kites” in 2003.

Just published last year was the children’s book “Great women from our First Nations “ by Kelly Fournel and the reference book for adults “First Nations, Metis and Inuit children and youth : time to act” by the National Council of Welfare in Ottawa.

Also borrow “Canada's modern-day First Nations: Nunavut and evolving relationships” by Ellyn Sanna with William Hunter which discusses the contributions made by First Nations people to Canadian culture and government, the formation of Nunavut and what the future holds for its people.

“Before Canada: First Nations and first contacts : prehistory-1523" by Sheila Nelson examines the geology and geography of Canada and the cultures of First Nations people living in Canada before European exploration.

The new DVD “Luna: spirit of the whale” starring Jason Priestley was inspired by a true story and the account of Michael Maquinna. A government official is sent to a coastal town to capture a killer whale and return it to its pod despite the objections of a First Nations chief who sees the whale as the spirit of his tribe's late chief.