IBBY Canada (International Board on Books for Young People) has released an educators’ resource and children’s activity kit to accompany its third edition of From Sea to Sea to Sea: Celebrating Indigenous Picture Books. The new resource aims to help schools and libraries connect with the books in the catalogue in a more substantial way. The third edition, which was released last year, features 25 books by First Nations, Métis, and Inuit creators published between 2020 and 2022.

From Sea to Sea to Sea: Celebrating Indigenous Picture Books was first launched in 2016 in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action. The first edition of the catalogue, launched in 2018, featured the 100 best Indigenous picture books published from 1993–2018; and the second, launched in 2021, featured the best 25 Indigenous picture books published from 2018–2020.

“IBBY Canada is committed to the belief that all children should be able to walk into a library, classroom, or bookstore and see themselves and their lives reflected,” said Colette Poitras (Métis Nation of Alberta), chair and 1st vice-president in the press release. “It is always a joy for a child to read a book which includes folks who look like you and have experiences or worldviews similar to your own, as for too long this has not been the case.”

The educators’ resource and children’s activity kit was written by librarian and educator Linda Lou Classens (Ojibwe). “The voices of Elders share traditional knowledge in beautiful form, often in their Indigenous languages. Children of all ages will be thrilled to learn the heritage of Canada’s First Peoples,” Classens writes in her introduction to the resource. “Educators will appreciate the wealth of prime Indigenous literature increasingly available to fill gaps in ministry of education curricula while stirring excitement within their classrooms.”

The kit is available to download on the IBBY Canada website.