Reading list for youth and adult learners

A Complicated Kindness
by Miriam Toews

This celebrated coming-of-age novel features the story of a 16-year-old girl growing up in a Mennonite community in rural Manitoba. When her mother and sister move away from their small town, Nomi is left to navigate the complications of teenage life with only her uncommunicative father as support.

A Season in the Life of Emmanuel
by Marie-Claire Blais
Translated by Derek Coltman

This celebrated novel follows Emmanuel, the sixteenth child in a poor Québecois family, during a season of his life. The story chronicles the struggle of his family and older siblings on a rural farm in Québec amid the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s.

Justice Bertha Wilson: One Woman’s Difference
by Kim Brooks

This work of non-fiction examines Justice Bertha Wilson’s career through a feminist perspective, including her contributions to property and contract law, her role in high-profile and controversial decisions, such as prostitution and child custody, and her impact on the legal profession and judicial education.

Mauve Desert
by Nicole Brossard
Translated by Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood

Defying literary conventions, this provocative feminist novel combines three stories into one. It begins with Mauve Desert, 15-year old Mélanie’s story of adventure and desire driving across the Arizona desert, and transforms into metafiction with the story of Maude, who becomes obsessed reading Mauve Desert. It ends with Maude’s translation of the novel, a third story with revealing differences from the original.

Ma vie pleine de vie! : regard sur l'enfance et la jeunesse de la première femme mécanicienne au Canada (French only)
by Jeanne Brault Laurin

In her autobiography, Jeanne Brault Laurin traces her journey to becoming Canada’s first woman mechanic back to her childhood in a rural Quebec village, where from a young age she helped her father in the family-owned garage with the support of her parents and her own fearless spirit.

No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies
by Naomi Klein

No LogoNo Logo is an investigation into the influence of corporate marketing in an increasingly globalized world, exploring issues such as employment conditions in developing countries, corporate censorship, unchecked capitalism, and the public’s emerging awareness and resistance.

Obasan
by Joy Kogawa

Told through the eyes of a child, Obasan is a story of the internment and persecution of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War. Five-year old Naomi grows up separated from her mother, her family considered enemies in their own country, with her only protection coming from her aunt Obasan.

Room for All of Us
by Adrienne Clarkson

This powerful work of non-fiction explores the immigrant experience through the stories of 10 newcomers to Canada. By detailing their life experiences, losses and remarkable successes, their stories show how they have helped transform Canada.

Runaway
by Alice Munro

This collection of eight short stories presents the vibrant lives of women of different ages and backgrounds in all their complexity. While some of the stories are linked, each story examines the experiences of love and betrayal between women and their lovers, friends, and family members.

Ten Thousand Roses: The Making of a Feminist Revolution
by Judy Rebick

Ten Thousand Roses is an oral history of the efforts of more than one hundred feminists across the country to legalize abortion, end violence against women, introduce employment equity, and advance other social causes, while building a strong women’s movement in Canada.

The Handmaid’s Tale
by Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel envisions a future where women live in complete subjugation to men and cannot read books, hold jobs, or have friendships. The novel follows the story of Offred, a “handmaid” whose sole purpose is to produce children for society’s upper class.

The Real World of Technology
by Ursula Franklin

Based on her 1989 CBC Massey Lectures, Ursula Franklin examines the impact of technology on our lives, taking on issues such as privacy and intellectual property rights, government and governance, and the Internet’s influence on writing.

Thérèse Casgrain: La gauchiste en collier de perles (French only)
by Nicolle Forget

This biography of Thérèse Casgrain, one of Québec’s leading suffragists, looks at her lasting influence on Canadian and Québec society, fighting for women’s voting rights and working to bring improvements to health care, education, unemployment and housing.

The Right to Be Cold
by Sheila Watt-Cloutier

This memoir by Sheila Watt-Cloutier, an Inuk woman and influential environmental and human rights advocate, examines the parallels between protecting the Arctic from the threat of climate change and the survival of Inuit culture.

The Stone Angel
by Margaret Laurence

A series of vignettes tell the story of Hargar Shipley, who at age 90, is facing the prospect of entering a nursing home. As she reflects on the many struggles and losses throughout her life, she undertakes an unexpected and revelatory adventure. This novel is the first book in Margaret Laurence’s five-part Manawaka series.

The Tin Flute
by Gabrielle Roy
Translated by Alan Brown

A classic of Canadian fiction originally published in French as Bonheur d’occasion, this book presents a realistic portrait of a family living in poverty in Saint-Henri, a working-class neighbourhood of Montréal, during the Second World War.

Viola Desmond’s Canada
by Graham Reynolds

This work of non-fiction provides a narrative of Black experience in Canada, from slavery under French and British rule in the 1800s to the fight for racial equality in the twentieth century led by activists like Viola Desmond. A comprehensive Teacher’s Guide is also available from Cape Breton University.

War Crimes and the Culture of Peace
by Louise Arbour

Based on her 2001 Davey Lecture at the University of Toronto, Louise Arbour reflects on her experiences as Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, arguing the need for greater public understanding of the significance of these events.

With All Her Might: The Life of Gertrude Harding, Militant Suffragette
by Gretchen Wilson

Gretchen Wilson details the life of her great aunt, Gertrude Harding, from her childhood on a farm in New Brunswick to her experience as a leading organizer for the UK’s militant suffragette movement, where she engaged in acts of civil disobedience and edited the underground magazine The Suffragette.