Which Way Should I Go?

Congratulations to Ron Martin — who lives very near to Tough City — on his book (written with Sylvia Olsen and illustrated by Kasia Charko): Which Way Should I Go? This lovely picture book explores several themes, the main one being that we all have choices to make, often very hard ones. Joey is a happy boy who loves visiting with his grandmother. One of the things she does is pass on a song, which talks about choices: which way should I go? When his beloved grandmother dies, Joey has to learn to make choices to create his own world into being. This is an empowering book, that tells us, despite the sad and bad things that happen to us, life is what we make it. Although the characters in this story are First Nations, the sentiment is universal. In 2009, this book was selected as the title for the First Nations Communites Read program.

Here's more on the First Nations Communities Read program. And be sure to check out their resources, including the very helpful and handy "2009 Tips Sheet." Here are the other books submitted for this award. A must-read for anyone wanting to include First Nations-related literature in their home, school or library. The publisher also has produced a Teacher's Guide. And here's a review from Canadian Materials.