Books for your classroom: MCIC’s Reading List for Global Citizens

Reading is one of the best tools we have for starting to think like a global citizen — someone who understands the actions we take here can affect others in our communities and around the world.

Did you know MCIC shares reading lists for students and adults each year? Today, we’re highlighting a graphic novel on the list that is perfect for high school students and adults interested in exploring the past 150 years through the eyes of Indigenous creators.

This Place: 150 Years Retold is a powerful and compelling look at how Indigenous peoples have survived a post-apocalyptic world since Contact. Featuring 10 beautifully illustrated stories from different Indigenous authors and illustrators, read about events from the past or time travel to the year 2350.

Using this book in your classroom:

1. Check out this educator’s guide from the publisher, intended for Gr. 9-12 classes.
2. MCIC hosted one of the authors, Dr. Nigaanwewidam James Sinclair, in an event discussing the book. Watch the recording and share with your class to get a preview of the book, and hear Niigaan discuss:

• What it was like to create a graphic novel and the creative process
• The role of stories and oral history in Indigenous ways of knowledge
• The chapter he wrote: “Warrior Nation” about the Oka Crisis/Mohawk Resistance
• The power of language and stories and how Indigenous communities continue 150 years post-contact

3. Discuss this graphic novel in your class! Here are some discussion questions to get you started:

• What did you like best about the book? Least?
• How do you read a graphic novel? Do you look at the images and words together, panel by panel? Do you read all the text on the page and then go back and look at the pictures? Do you look at the pictures first and then go back and read the words? (There’s no right way to read a graphic novel, and many readers go through them differently.)
• Were there any stories you hadn’t heard before?
• Which characters in the book did you like best?
• Which character in the book would you most like to meet?
• What do you think of the book’s title? How does it relate to the book’s contents? What other title might you choose?
• What did you already know about this book’s subject before you read this book? What new things did you learn?
• What feelings did this book evoke for you?
• What else have you read on this topic, and would you recommend these books to others?

Reach out and let us know if you use this idea in your classroom! We update these book lists each year, so please send us your recommendations by emailing pe@mcic.ca.