Today I Am: 10 Stories of Belonging, edited by Jael Richardson, was a nominee for the OLA Red Maple Award for fiction and shortlisted for the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Award in 2025. The anthology’s contributors come from a variety of backgrounds and their stories span genres, from sci-fi to poetry to graphic novel to a tale of modern wartime survival. In her introduction, Richardson tells us, “In each story [the young characters] learn something important about themselves, something that reminds them that they are smart, powerful, courageous, clever, compassionate, beautiful.”

Two stories, in particular, worked well as read-alouds in my Grade 7 classroom last year. The first, “Where the Mulberries Grow” by Liselle Sambury, a Trinidadian Canadian author, introduces us to Sal. The young inventor, and her helpful robot Mio, live on planet Mulberry. Sal is tasked with proving that her agricultural colony has developed a thriving and valuable culture distinct from communities on Earth. If Sal fails, her community will be moved off-world.

My class enjoyed the humorous interactions between the characters and the tendency for Sal’s inventions to, well, spontaneously combust. I enjoyed the discussions we had about what factors define cultures (which led to learning more about my own students’ identities), and how Sal proved she had enough evidence to defend her community.

The second story, “The Secret Cousin” by Chad Lucas, a descendant of the African community of Lucasville, Nova Scotia, is an accessible story about Lonnie, his sister Talia, and his mother, who visit their somewhat estranged relatives in Cambridge, Ont. The author explores being in a family of mixed race, the proliferation of gender stereotypes and same-sex relationships. This story’s greatest strength is revealing how cringey it is when adults try and fail to navigate conversations about all of these things with young people.

Because it is so rich in conversational topics that are absent in many other short stories, this book is in a unique position to empower Intermediate-level students to contribute questions or anecdotes about their own lived experiences.

Today’s teachers and their students are ready for new stories by Canadian authors that challenge our ways of thinking, introduce us to new genres and recognize the humanity of modern youth. This literary collection supplies these in abundance.

Sarah Solter is a member of the Hamilton- Wentworth Teacher Local.