First Nation Communities READ 2024-2025 announces the selected titles in the Children’s and Young Adult/Adult Categories! The winners were chosen by a jury of Indigenous librarians from across Ontario, and the winning titles, together with the rest of the nominated books, represent some of the best, modern Indigenous literature today. The authors of the selected titles will each receive a $3000 cash prize.

Many of the long and short-listed books nominated for these awards are available in the NNELS Collection: First Nations Communities Read 2024, and it has been our absolute pleasure to work with the people at the Southern Ontario Library Service and First Nations Communities Read in order to ensure that this collection was as accessible as possible.

We hope you enjoy these books! Please check out all the wonderful books from previous years: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015.

Selected Title in the Children’s Category

Freddie the Flyer, by Fred Carmichael and Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail, published by Tundra Books

Please request this book from your local public library. If you can't find it, please contact us.

Fred Carmichael is Gwich’in from Aklavik, NWT. He was the very first Indigenous commercial pilot from the Canadian Arctic. He has spent over 60 years in northern aviation and is a well-known entrepreneur, search and rescue pilot, and mentor. He is a member of the Order of Canada and the Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame. He is an Inspire Award laureate. He lives in Inuvik.

Freddie the Flyer When he was ten years old, Freddie got to touch a plane for the first time. From then on, his heart has been in the air.  This gorgeous picture book follows the months of the year as the reader learns all about Freddie’s career as a pilot.  Each month, shown in the Gwich’in and Inuvialuktun languages, follows highlights from Freddie’s early life and throughout his career. A glossary shows the pronunciation of each month as well as it’s meaning to the Gwich’in and the Inuvialuit peoples.

Selected Title in the Young Adult/Adult Category

And Then She Fell, by Alicia Elliott, published by Doubleday Canada

NNELS has this title in MP3 and DAISY Audio formats. Please request this book from your local public library. If you can't find it, please contact us.

Alicia Elliott is a Mohawk writer and editor living in Brantford, Ontario. A prolific writer, Alicia is a National Magazine Award winner.  Her short fiction was selected for The Best American Short Stories in 2018.  Alicia was chosen by Tanya Talaga as the 2018 recipient of the RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award. Her first book won the Forest of Reading Evergreen Award.

And Then She Fell tells the story of Alice, a new mother and writer who is starting to experience things that can’t be explained.  She seems to have it all, but why is she losing bits of time and hearing voices? It soon becomes apparent to her that the writing she needs to finish, a modern retelling of the Haudenosaunee creation story, is the key to her and daughter’s survival.  Can she finish it in time?

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Periodical Marketers of Canada The Periodical Marketers of Canada PMC Indigenous Literature Award is inspired by the goals of the First Nation Communities READ program. It will provide each of the authors of the First Nation Communities READ 2024-2025 title selections with a cash prize. This is the 11th year the Periodical Marketers of Canada has presented The PMC Indigenous Literature Award.

First Nation Communities READ was launched in 2003 by the First Nations Public Library Community in Ontario with support from the Ontario Library Service. FNCR celebrates and promotes the importance of Indigenous literature across Canada. The program encourages family literacy, intergenerational storytelling as well and intergenerational knowledge transmission.

Ontario Library Service (OLS) is mandated to deliver programs and services on behalf of the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Gaming:

• increasing cooperation and coordination among public library boards and other information providers to promote the provision of library service to the public;
• assisting Public Library boards and First Nation public libraries by providing them with services and programs that meet their needs, including consultation, training, and development.