First Nation Communities READ Announces the Children’s and Young Adult/Adult Selected Titles for 2026-2027

Toronto October 5, 2026 – First Nation Communities READ 2026-2027 announces the selected titles in the Children’s and Young Adult/Adult Categories. Chosen by a jury of librarians from First Nation Public libraries across Ontario, these titles represent the very best of Indigenous literature. The selected titles will be recognized online during First Nation Public Library Week on the morning of October 8, 2026. Each of the selected title authors will receive a cash award of $5000.

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 as
intergenerational knowledge transmission.

Selected Title in the Children’s Category

Nutshimit Activity Book
by Mellisa Mollen Dupuis, illustrated by Elise Gravel
Published by Scholastic

Melissa Mollen Dupuis is an Innu film director, radio host, and activist from Ekuanitshit Quebec, Canada. Mollen Dupuis is a prominent figure in the Indigenous rights movement in Quebec. She has hosted the radio show Kuei! Kwe! on Radio Canada since 2021. The Nutshimit Activity Book is a companion to her widely successful first
book Nutshimit: In the Woods.

Nutshimit Activity Book The Innu word nutshimit signifies the physical and social space to practice traditional activities and language. With over 90 pages of fun activities, this companion to Nutshimit: In the Woods encourages children to be curious, to have fun and learn from the teachings found in the forest. Activities include word searches, connect the dots, DIY comic making, spot the differences, and picture prompts.

Selected Title in the Young Adult/Adult Category

All the Little Monsters: How I Learned to Live with Anxiety
by David Robertson
Published by Harper Collins Canada

David Robertson is from the Norway House Cree Nation. He lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba. A prolific writer, David is the author of over 30 books. He is a two-time Governor General’s literary award winner and has won the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award as well as the Writer’s Union of Canada Freedom to Read award.
David travels extensively attending school and library visits, keynote talks, as well as workshops and seminars. He is also the Editor at Swift Water Books, an imprint of the Tundra Book Group, the children’s division of Penguin Random House Canada. Swift Water Books focuses on uplifting Indigenous writers and illustrators
and supporting their truths. All the Little Monsters: How I Learned to Live with Anxiety This honest and raw memoir shares David’s long-term relationship with anxiety, hypochondria and depression. The book reveals what it is like for him to live with these little monsters and how they take up space in his mind and his body. David shares his reality living with anxiety as well as championing the tools he uses to help manage his mental health. Tools such as community, medication and therapy. We are welcomed along as he searches for healing and finding a way to live with all the little monsters.

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

For more information about First Nation Communities READ and the Ontario Library Service, contact:
Nancy Cooper, First Nation Consultant
Ontario Library Service
ncooper@olservice.ca