Born and raised on the prairies, David Bouchard was a West Vancouver school administrator when he first provided the poetic text for Roy Henry Vickers' The Elders Are Watching (Eagle Dancer), about a Native boy learning spiritual values from his grandfather, as well as the text for If You're Not From The Prairie, in collaboration with prairie artist Henry Ripplinger. He has since produced more than 20 titles, plus his collaborations with Cree artist Allen Sapp entitled Song of My Heart (Raincoast, 2002, $19.95) and Nokum Was My Teacher (Red Deer Press, 2006). Having moved to Victoria, he was one of four co-authors of For the Love of Reading: Books to Build Lifelong Readers (Orca, 2004), co-author of the picture book Long Powwow Nights (Fitzhenry & Whiteside 2009) with Pam Aleekuk and illustrated by Leonard Paul and author of The Secret of Your Name (Red Deer Press, 2009), illustrated by Dennis Weber.

In 2017, Bouchard published The Journal of Etienne Mercier (Vidacom Publications $19.95) with art by Gordon Miller. Using the broken English, or Franglais of 19th century voyageur painter Etienne Mercier, it depicts the everyday tribulations of a typical voyageur and life on the Canadian colonial frontier in the 1850's.

Books:

The Elders Are Watching (Eagle Dancer) Illustrations by Roy Henry Vickers
If You're Not From The Prairie. Illustrations by Henry Ripplinger
The Song Within My Heart (Raincoast, 2002) $19.95. Art by Allen Sapp
For the Love of Reading: Books to Build Lifelong Readers (Orca, 2004)
Nokum Was My Teacher (Red Deer Press, 2006)
Long Powwow Nights (Fitzhenry & Whiteside 2009) co-authored with Pam Aleekuk. Illustrations by Leonard Paul
The Secret of Your Name (Red Deer Press, 2009), illustrated by Dennis Weber
The Journal of Etienne Mercier (Vidacom Publications 2017) $19.95 with art by Gordon Miller. 978-1-988182-10-0
Meet Your Family (Medicine Wheel Education, 2021) 24.99 9781989122662. Illustrations by Kristy Cameron.

[BCBW 2021] "Kidlit"