For those who prefer to read a post rather than watch a video, we are pleased to present a written transcript of the Fall 2024 Early Reader selections!
Hi everyone and welcome back to Top Grade. My name is Spencer Miller and today I'm so excited to introduce you to a selection of brand new Canadian books for the Fall 2024 Season.
These books are going to inspire young readers on their reading journey. I'm so excited let's get started!
Sarah Ponakey Storycatcher and Anasiw's Forest Powwow from Annick Press is written by Sita MacMillan and illustrated by Azby Whitecalf. This is a vibrant debut that kicks off a new early chapter book series that celebrates Cree culture.
In this first book, readers are introduced to Sarah and follow her through the ups and downs of moving to the city from her home community, including missing her kokum and her best friend Eden. After being transported to a magical forest powwow, Sarah is reminded that she is connected to her Cree culture no matter where she lives.
Throughout the story, Sarah writes letters to her friend Eden to keep in touch and let her know how things are going in the city. A great activity after reading would be to have your students write letters to Sarah. Have them include things like advice for starting at a new school and questions for Sarah about powwows and her Cree culture.
The Secret Office from Orca Book Publishers is written by Sara Cassidy and illustrated by Alyssa Hutchings. This relatable story with real world problems shows how kids can be self-sufficient and take the lead in solving problems.
In the story, twins Henry and Ali feel cramped in their apartment since their mom started working from home. When they discover a secret locked room in the building's basement, they excitedly work with the building's custodian to set up a new workspace for their mom.
Who doesn't love a secret room? But even more than that, I love that the story deals directly with the really relatable real world problem of sharing space and parents working from home. Something that's been happening more and more since the pandemic. I know I relate, I'm filming this video from inside of a closet. And so I really appreciated how the twins in the story deal with the situation with patience and positivity.
Alina in the Deep from Second Story Press is written by Shenaaz Nanji. This is a sequel to previous Top Grade selection, Alina in a Pinch. And I'm so excited that Alina is back. She's a lovable and relatable character and she lives just down the road from me in Calgary.
In the story, Alina welcomes her cousin Safi, arriving from Kenya, to spend the summer in Calgary. While Alina has been looking forward to this visit for months nothing goes according to plan as it appears Alina and Safi couldn't be more different. What I love about Alina is that she works through big feelings like jealousy and disappointment and big ideas like family culture and identity and relatable and simple terms. In fact, while reading I kept having flashbacks to when my cousins would come and visit me for the summer.
After reading pair up students and have them create two lists: one list of things they have in common and one list of things that are different. An activity like this can help students get to know each other and to learn to appreciate their similarities and differences.
Birds on the Brain from Groundwood Books is written by Uma Krishnaswami and illustrated by Juliana Swaney. This is a funny and triumphant story about learning to advocate for the human and non-human inhabitants of your community.
In the story, bird-lover Rini and her friends take up a quest to save her city's bird count event when the mayor tries to it down. Ro save the day they must get people interested in the birds and get them to ask the city's government to support the event.
After reading you and your students could plan a bird count event of your own. Find a time and a place and get outside and count how many birds you can find in your community.
Bee and Flea and the Fall Fiasco from Owlkids Books is written by Anna Humphrey and illustrated by Mike Deas. This latest adventure starring crime solving pair Bee and Flea explores how the backyard critters adapt and prepare for winter.
The story starts with Bee noticing the critters in the backyard acting strange: Flea is extra sleepy, the yard is strangely quiet, and there's a commotion at the compost heap. Heroics, hijnks, and hilarity ensue, and along the way readers learn more about seasonal changes and animal adaptation.
Perfectly themed for fall, this book is great for classroom reading as it is full of humour, excitement, and science.
Little by Little from HighWater Press is written by Sonya Ballantyne and illustrated by Rhael McGregor and Toben Racicot. This inspiring graphic novel is based on the real life childhood experiences of author and activist Michael Redhead Champagne.
The story follows young Michael as he attends a youth leadership conference excited to learn more and help others. Michael is dismayed when he's the youngest person there and the speaker on stage is saying things about his Indigenous community that aren't true.
Little by Little is all about finding your voice and using it. It's a great resource for teachers to teach leadership skills and cultural appreciation. And I also love how the story promotes a love of reading.
Bog Myrtle from Annick Press is written and illustrated by Sid Sharp. This witty modern folk tale will leave you laughing and thinking long after the story is done.
It's a tale of two sisters: Beatrice, who is cheerful and kind, uses a gift from a giant forest monster and the help of her spider friends to knit a perfectly warm sweater. And Magnolia, who is grumpy and greedy, is determined to exploit her sister's new found sweater making skills and work the spiders all day and night in order to make massive profits.
This folk tale has so many lessons to explore about environmentalism, labor rights, and just being a nice person.
After reading ask your students questions like how should the spider workers be treated? And what would you say to support the spiders going on strike? Students may may not realize it but they're surrounded by workers every day. So it's important for them to start thinking critically about the value of labor and how workers should be treated.
How to Know a Crow: The Biography of a Brainy Bird from Greystone Kids is written by Candace Savage and illustrated by Rachel Hudson. For the little birders out there, this book contains more information about crows than they could even hope for. It follows the entire life cycle of a crow and answers questions about how crows communicate, play, interact with humans, and literally everything else you would ever need to know about crows.
A good non-fiction book changes the way we see the world. I saw a crow just like this one the other day on my morning walk and I stopped to watch it and I paid closer attention to what it was up to and thought about how it might be preparing for the winter.
The more that we know, the more that we learn, and read in books, the more that we can appreciate the beauty of the birds and the animals that surround us.
This book pairs really well with Birds on the Brain that we talked about earlier. After reading, a good activity would be to have your students write a short story based on the day in a life of a crow using the facts and information they can research in this book.
And those are all of our books for today.
On behalf of the Association of Canadian Publishers, thank you so much for watching. We really appreciate your support. We hope that you'll leave a like, a comment, subscribe to the channel, and most importantly send this video to a teacher friend of yours. We also want to give a big thank you to Ontario Creates for their continued support of the Top Grade program.
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What's next?
• Find out more about the Top Grade program
• Sign up to receive email updates
• Download the book list of the Fall 2024 Early Readers (.csv file)