By Ardo Omer
This month we’re reading a book based on a true story by a Black author. These titles will inform you on little known histories whether it’s the true story of vanilla, the backstory of an iconic poet and entertainer or celebrating Black pilots. What all of these books have in common is that Canadians can walk away learning more about Black visionaries, inventors and creatives than they did before.
1) The True Story of Vanilla: How Edmond Albius Made History by Ann Richards and illustrated by Arden Taylor (Young Adult)
In 1841, a 12-year-old enslaved boy, Edmond Albius, made history when he discovered how to hand-pollinate vanilla plants using a bamboo twig.
Until that time, only bees in Mexico could pollinate the plant—botanists couldn’t figure out another way. With his master, Edmond travelled around Réunion Island to share his technique, le geste d’Edmonde (Edmond’s gesture), which is still in use today. Despite his important achievement, as an enslaved person Edmond didn’t receive payment or recognition for his contribution to science, eventually dying in poverty after being freed from slavery in 1848. Today it is recognized that Edmond’s method of pollination was key to bringing vanilla to the world, helped to create a billion-dollar industry and gave us the flavor we love to use in cooking, baking, medicine and, of course, ice cream.
The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.
2) The Sky’s The Limit! Canadians Who Blazed a Trail in Aviation by Wanda Taylor (Middle Grade)
The first juvenile non-fiction book celebrating diverse Canadian aviators, from the author of Birchtown and the Black Loyalists.
This action-packed, full-colour middle grade non-fiction book opens up the world of aviation to youth from diverse backgrounds, through the incredible stories of Canadians who broke barriers to reach the sky—from Newfoundland and Labrador to Manitoba to the Yukon.
From commercial, transport, and military pilots to search-and-rescue helicopter pilots to airplane mechanics, The Sky’s the Limit!introduces readers to inspiring contemporary aviators, including commercial pilot Captain Mohamed Samanter, Gwich’in pilot Fred Carmichael, and Kimberly Ballantyne, the first woman of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation to become a pilot. Along the way, readers will learn important context about the history of flight in Canada, including the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Black soldiers of the No. 2 Construction Battalion, military pilot Allan Selwyn Bundy—one of only two known Black Canadian combat pilots who flew during the Second World War—and many more.
Featuring sidebars, profiles of various aircraft, photographs, illustrations, as well as a glossary and bibliography, The Sky’s the Limit!is a much needed STEAM resource for young readers interested in a career in aviation, and an inspiring story for the millions of kids who haven’t seen themselves represented in the skies.
3) A Likkle Miss Lou by Nadia L. Hohn and illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes (Picture Book)
Louise Bennett Coverley, better known as Miss Lou, was an iconic poet and entertainer known for popularizing the use of patois in music and poetry internationally—helping to pave the way for artists like Harry Belafonte and Bob Marley to use patois in their work. This picture book tells the story of Miss Lou’s early years, when she was a young girl growing up in Jamaica.
As a child, Miss Lou loved words—particularly the Jamaican English, or patois, that she heard all around her. As a young writer, Miss Lou felt caught between writing “lines of words like tight cornrows,” as her teachers instructed, and words that beat more naturally “in time with her heart.”
The uplifting and inspiring story of a girl finding her own voice, this is also a vibrant, colorful, and immersive look at an important figure in our cultural history. With rich and warm illustrations bringing the story to life, A Likkle Miss Lou is a modern ode to language, girl power, diversity, and the arts.
End matter includes a glossary of Jamaican patois terms, a note about the author’s #OwnVoices perspective as a Jamaican-Canadian writer, and a brief biography of Miss Lou and her connection to Canada, where she lived for 20 years.
