It’s World Storytelling Day! Celebrate the long-lasting power of oral storytelling and the exceptional, diverse books that connect us across language, time, and location. This list will make reading out loud more fun with the whole family, whether you’re a nature lover, into whimsical tales about magic, music, and friendship, or engaging reads on Indigenous identity and culture that you can share with any reader in your life. These stories will transport you into their captivating worlds!
Little Fortified Stories by Barbara Black (Caitlin Press)
In Little Fortified Stories, award-winning writer Barbara Black conjures a cast of characters that defy convention. In this new collection of short stories, we follow a spinster in love with a tobacco-smoking ghost, a lonely one-eyed monster who wanders the desert and a medieval saint who delights in her “miraculous ruine.” Swirling with wit, wonder, weirdness, and what Black calls “authentic fabrications” from her own ancestry, these eclectic tales are told with an eye to the absurd. Little Fortified Stories presents a world in which everything is theatre, making for a spectacular read-aloud storytime adventure.
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Crow Helps A Friend by Andrea Fritz (Orca Book Publishers)
Crow Helps A Friend is an illustrated book set in Coast Salish Traditional Territory. Meet Qwiwilh the wood duck, ready to nest in his favourite tree, when Q’uleeq’e’ the crow invites him to play. They jump higher and higher until the branches break, sending them crashing into the stream. After a daring rescue, Qwiwilh finds his nesting spot destroyed, and Q’uleeq’e’ vows to make things right. Author and artist Andrea Fritz uses Indigenous storytelling techniques and art to share the culture and language of the Hul’q’umi’num’-speaking Peoples, both traditional ones learned orally and new ones created from modern experience.
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Drumming Our Way Home by Georgina Martin (UBC Press)
Drumming Our Way Home takes readers on an autobiographical journey to recover Indigenous identity, demonstrating how storytelling—aided by her hand drum—can open up a new world of pedagogy and culture-based learning.
Georgina Martin was separated from her mother shortly after birth in a segregated tuberculosis hospital, reflecting the intergenerational trauma caused by the Canadian state to Indigenous peoples. She shares her story and invites Elder Jean William and youth Colten Wycotte to reflect on their family experiences. Together, they discuss identity, culture, language, and the challenge of gaining traditional knowledge, highlighting both the pain of cultural separation and the power of reconnection through healing and intergenerational learning. A perfect read for celebrating the role of storytelling in preserving and healing cultures.
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The Animal People Choose a Leader by Richard Wagamese, Illustrated by Bridget George (Douglas & McIntyre)
From late author Richard Wagamese comes a new moving tale accompanied by award-winning illustrator Bridget George’s luminous artwork. The Animal People Choose a Leader is a tradition-steeped story that meditates on the unifying powers of wisdom, kindness and respect. The story takes place in a “Long Ago Time” when animals speak a common language and gather to choose a leader. After hearing boasts about the candidates—Horse’s speed, Buffalo’s endurance, Cougar’s patience, and Wolverine’s stealth—the animals decide on a race around a mountaintop lake. An unlikely contestant, a humble rabbit named Waabooz, is also chosen, though his chances seem slim.
Through vivid storytelling, Wagamese and George highlight the limits of physical strength and the quiet power of humility, empathy, and a deep connection to the land that showcases the extraordinary power of storytelling.
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The Game by Henry Charles, Illustrated by Shoshannah Greene (Greystone Books)
The Game is a beautifully illustrated reimagining of the origins of hockey from an Indigenous lens for younger readers aged 4-8. Killer Whale and Brown Bear are arguing: Brown Bear says he can beat Killer Whale at any challenge, yet Killer Whale disagrees. When Powerful Mena overhears their bickering, he comes up with a solution: a game on the ice, played with sticks, nets, a star for a puck and eyes on the trophy. This book is a vibrant introduction to Musqueam language and culture featuring beautiful watercolour artwork from a celebrated Haida artist, that will surely inspire readers to rediscover a sport many of us know and love.
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The Three Sisters by Paul Yee, Illustrated by Shaoll Wang (Orca Book Publishers)
In this picture book by author Paul Yee, three sisters, gifted in music and magic, face a tyrannical emperor bent on war. Using the power of their instruments, they protect themselves and their parents. But can the beauty of their music sway the emperor’s heart and bring peace?
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Fjord by Willy Wanggen (Rocky Mountain Books)
Take a visual journey through a stunning fjord as Catmarin, a slender and graceful bird, gathers the other shorebirds (seagull, cormorant, guillemot) to share his discovery. While some only see mountains and waves, those who look closer can see the world as a story—new snow like a blank page, mountains setting the scene, raindrops like commas, and waves surrounding the belugas like brackets. Fjord is an immersive way to uncover nature’s story for readers of all ages.
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Raven Gets Tricked by Andrea Fritz (Orca Book Publishers)
Indigenous artist and storyteller Andrea Fritz tells an engrossing tale of a greedy raven and the little deer who make sure they both have enough food for the winter in the third book of the Coast Salish Tales series. In Raven Gets Tricked, we meet Smuy, a little deer running out of food who wishes Spaal’, the raven, would share. But Spaal’ always tricks him in return for Smuy’s offers. This time around, Smuy is ready with a trick of his own—one that will ensure that both animals are ready for the winter.
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