Sharing Our Truths/Tapwe

Written by Henry Beaver and Mindy Willett
with Eileen Beaver

Photographs by Tessa Macintosh

Fifth House Publishers

978-1-92708352-9

34 pp.

Ages 9-12

May 2019

We can't tell you what to do with the truths we share in this book, but we hope that reading our story will help you get to know us a little better so that together we can make this nation a place we can all be proud of.

With his opening, Henry Beaver explains his intention for Sharing Our Truths/Tapwe. He and his wife Eileen Beaver live in Fort Smith, NWT and through time have taught their children and now their grandchildren about their culture and their ways.  Sharing Our Truths/Tapwe is an opportunity to teach others the same.

From Sharing Our Truths/Tapwe by Henry Beaver, Mindy Willett and Eileen Beaver, photos by Tessa Macintosh

With their grandchildren visiting, Henry Beaver and Eileen Beaver introduce them to a variety of activities, places and learning that comes from living where and as they and their ancestors have. There is the harvesting of salt from the Salt Plains, and trapping of the beaver as well as preparation of its hide and meat. Henry Beaver shows his grandchildren how to set up a mikiwawhp (tipi) and prepare a scared fire circle. As a retired educator, Eileen Beaver shares her teaching about the medicine wheel, smudging, sacred plants and storytelling including her telling of How the Female Moose Lost her Beautiful Antlers. 

From Sharing Our Truths/Tapwe by Henry Beaver, Mindy Willett and Eileen Beaver, photos by Tessa Macintosh

Amidst the richness of their activities and teachings, the authors also share details about the Salt Plains and Wood Buffalo National Park, the Nēhiyaw or Cree, and the Salt River First Nation, as well as including a glossary and short list of Cree words. Sharing Our Truths/Tapwe may only scratch the surface of the teachings that Henry Beaver and Eileen Beaver and other elders can and have shared with others but it's a wonderful introduction that places young readers into their culture. Co-authored by Mindy Willett, who has been integral to the whole The Land is Our Storybook series, and documented in photographs by Tessa Macintosh, Sharing Our Truths/Tapwe shows us the actuality of what it is to be Cree in the NWT and to live on the land.

Tapwe means "it is so" or "the truth" and so it is in this exemplary non-fiction book for young readers which will surely engage and educate.

From Sharing Our Truths/Tapwe by Henry Beaver, Mindy Willett and Eileen Beaver, photos by Tessa Macintosh

••••••••••••••••

The Land is Our Storybook series, which includes several in French translation, is a great starting point for teaching the culture of Indigenous peoples from a child's perspective. There are now nine titles in this series, written at an early reader-middle grade level and featuring photographs that take readers into the heart of Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and Indigenous communities in Canada.

The Spirit Trackers

Written by Jan Bourdeau Waboose

Illustrated by François Thisdale

Fifth House Publishers

978-1-92708-311-6

32 pp.

Ages 4-8

November 2017

It's been far too long since the CanLit world has welcomed a book from Jan Bourdeau Waboose, a First Nation Anishinaabe of the Ojibway Bear Clan of northern Ontario.  Adding to her stunning collection of picture books which includes SkySisters, Morning on the Lake and Firedancers, Jan Bourdeau Waboose's telling tale of Ojibway traditions and the relationship between children and their uncle is breathtakingly illustrated by François Thisdale, award-winning artist of The Stamp Collector, Missing Nimâmâ, and French Toast.  The Spirit Trackers is a magnificent story in words and art, melding together First Nations and an intergenerational relationship with legends and spirits and the wonder of children.

Illustration by François Thisdale 

used in The Spirit Trackers by Jan Bourdeau Waboose

Two cousins are awed by the stories told by their uncle of their clan, the Moose Clan, and their heritage of extraordinary trackers but it's the story of the Windigo that truly captures their attention.  His story of the Wandering Night Spirit of Winter is a warning to the boys. 

"Watch out for the Windigo on a winter night.  It has a heart of ice, and its teeth are like steel.  It will eat anything in its way!" 

"Even the best Trackers disappear in Windigo's footsteps."

In the night, the boys are awakened by a Thump! Bang! and, upon seeing a black shadow cross the window, are convinced the Windigo has visited their uncle's house.  The next day, however, evidence in the snow and on a tree compel the two to put their tracking skills to work.  But far from the house, hearing a sad cry that "slices the air like a trapper's knife" the two are immobilized with terror.  It may not be the Windigo but the boys demonstrate the aptitude in tracking and their reverence for the natural world, especially for an animal they know to honour.

Jan Bourdeau Waboose infuses her atmospheric text with the companionship of family and an appreciation for traditions and legends of First Nations. Because of that, an occasion of storytelling becomes more; it becomes a lesson in caution and curiosity and heritage. Tom and Will are apt students at their Uncle's knee, listening, hearing and learning.  Resplendent in snow, the frigid medium of trackers, The Spirit Trackers is an appropriate visual and textual read for the winter season.  Artist François Thisdale makes sure that his illustrations transport readers to that frosty season and to a life of snowshoes, moosehide clothing, and ravens.  Combining photographs, drawings and paint with digital imagery, François Thisdale lends a supernatural essence to the story, perfect for a pair of boys already spooked by their disquietude about the Windigo but determined to follow the path of their tracker ancestors into the unknown winter stillness shattered by a haunting cry.

Illustration by François Thisdale 

used in The Spirit Trackers by Jan Bourdeau Waboose

Whether you believe in the Windigo is irrelevant.  The boys believe, as does their Uncle, and in the stillness and cold of winter, it's a story, like The Spirit Trackers, that has much to teach.

❅❅❅❅❅❅

The illustrations included in this review are derived from illustrator François Thisdale's Facebook page at Thisdale illustration.

The Incredible Adventures of Mary Jane Mosquito

by Tomson Highway

Illustrated by Sue Todd

Fifth House Publishers

978-1-92708-338-3

70 pp.

Ages 14-18

October 2016

Think of The Incredible Adventures of Mary Jane Mosquito as an illustrated script, a script of “a one-woman musical in one act” and it’s the story of Mary Jane Mosquito, the only female mosquito born without wings.  Dedicated to “disabled children everywhere. Because they make our world a special place to live in”, the story is both light-hearted and heartbreaking–quite a workout for the heart–with a powerful lesson about acceptance of self and others.

The book opens, as any script will, with information about place, time and characters (here, dramatis personae) and the scene heading.  There is a vamp playing just before a voice from offstage announces “the one and only, the very talented, and the very beautiful, Miss Mary Jane Mosquito” (pg. 9). Though the child who eventually comes out on stage, bedecked in a top hat and oversized coat of tails, is a little surprised by the audience, she goes on to tell them her story, starting with the secret that she doesn’t have any friends or know how to make them.

From The Incredible Adventures of Mary Jane Mosquito 

by Tomson Highway, 

illus. by Sue Todd

Peppering her monologue with songs, as “singing is the only thing I know how to do” (pg. 12), and teaching the audience some mosquito (or is it Cree or Ojibway?) words like friend (“weecheewaagan”) and song (“nagamoon”), Mary Jane tells of growing up in Petit Petit Le Paw, northern Manitoba, and trying to find a connection between her lack of friends and her lack of wings.  At Miss Kathleen B. Curdew’s Centre for Education of Very Young Mosquitoes, her teacher Miss Maggie May Ditchburn would cruelly make an example of Mary Jane and, in insisting they repeatedly sing while marching, almost drives out Mary Jane’s love for singing.

From The Incredible Adventures of Mary Jane Mosquito 

by Tomson Highway, 

illus. by Sue Todd

Eventually Mary Jane convinces her parents to send her to Winnipeg to stay with her Aunt Flo, hopeful of a better school life.  Sadly, there she finds herself the only mosquito in a school of flies, moths, hornets and more.  A brave attempt at making a friend is thwarted and Mary Jane, surprisingly, sees red and attacks Minnie Matouche.  Her Aunt Flo wisely tells Mary Jane that “You don’t trust yourself.  You don’t love yourself. And therefore you don’t let others trust you or love you” and recommends, along with a change in venue (to wherever the cabaret is being performed), that “when you show ten times the kindness, to others, sooner or later, it will come back to you, ten times ten times ten.” (pg 51) Even knowing that the corollary is also true, i.e., that doing something bad will also come back at you, ten times ten times ten, Mary Jane at 16, sets off by train for Ontario.  And now here she is, singing and making friends with members of the audience, and telling them

I don’t need wings to fly.  I can fly on my own just fine, thank you, in my heart.  It’s not what you look like that matters, Aunt Flo’s words ring in my ears like chimes in the wind, it’s what you give to others that counts. (pg. 64)

The Incredible Adventures of Mary Jane Mosquito is a full read.  There is dialogue and details of the character’s actions on stage, and verses of song and choruses, and audience participation, and production notes (it was originally performed at Stratford in 2001) and it’s a brilliant vehicle for teaching, reading, and performing.   The Incredible Adventures of Mary Jane Mosquito is a book sated with lessons and wisdom in a unique format, a little girl performing on stage to an audience with whom she is to become friends.

Because The Incredible Adventures of Mary Jane Mosquito has the feel of a folktale, a oral story told to teach, Sue Todd’s lino cut illustrations work perfectly in carrying the story from opening music to curtain drop.  The art is bold in line and shape and colour, popping off the page in emphatic presentation, not unlike Mary Jane herself.  There’s emotion and a self-assuredness to Sue Todd’s art that invites the reader to partake in the drama within.  With Tomson Highway’s evocative text and Sue Todd’s powerful art,  The Incredible Adventures of Mary Jane Mosquito could be a condemnation of the residential school system or of communities that still have not embraced diversity, but at its heart it just conveys the message that we don’t all have to be the same and that love and friendship can surmount just about anything.

Illustration from The Incredible Adventures of Mary Jane Mosquito 

by Tomson Highway, 

illus. by Sue Todd

Image retrieved from http://www.suetodd.com

Dragonfly Kites / Pimithaagansa

by Tomson Highway

Illustrated by Julie Flett

Fifth House Publishers

978-1-89725-263-5

32 pp.

Ages 4+

March 2016

The two young Cree brothers from Tomson Highway’s Caribou Song (Fifth House, 2013) return in a new release of the second tale from the author and playwright’s Magical Songs of the North trilogy. This time the boys and their parents and dog Ootsie are heading to spend the summer further north in Manitoba.

From Tomson Highway’s reminiscent text and Julie Flett’s creative and evocative illustrations, Dragonfly Kites takes readers to a simpler time and one deep in traditions. A time of traveling north by canoe and erecting a tent by a lake so papa and mama could fish while the boys played by themselves on land, and “think up games with made-up toys.” (pg. 6) The boys are only limited by their imaginations and because their imaginations are so expansive, there are no constraints on their play.

They create personalities from sticks.  They make friends of terns, loons, rabbits, and eaglets.  And they create magical kites from dragonflies and string. But even after the sun sets and the boys are asleep, their dragonfly kites take them on wondrous adventures.

From Dragonfly Kites by Tomson Highway, illus. by Julie Flett

The story of Dragonfly Kites is both uplifting and calming and beautifully captivated by Julie Flett’s illustrations.  The clean lines of her art may appear to be stark but they conjure the lavish environment of the lakes and north of Tomson Highway’s story so persuasively that any “more” would have been too much.

Like Caribou Song, Dragonfly Kites is presented in English and Cree and shares another aspect of traditional Cree ways, the summer in the north. While most young readers could not imagine a whole summer away from their technology, Joe and Cody demonstrate the richness of a life based in family, the natural world and imaginative play is more than enough to fill their days and their dreams.

The Old Ways

by Susan Margaret Chapman

Illustrated by John Mantha

Fifth House

978-1-92708-316-1

32 pp.

Ages 5+

October, 2014

The clash of cultures between generations is seemingly inescapable but it must be especially overpowering for those of Aboriginal heritage.  For older members, the history and perhaps memories of the old ways being driven from them by heavy-handedness might compel them to relinquish those traditions or to hold on even tighter.  Although young Simon in The Old Ways may be oblivious to the history of his culture, his grandparents, Ananaksaq and Ataatga, undoubtedly are not, but their kindness and wisdom help them educate Simon in the most subtle of ways.

You see, Simon is a child drawn to the amenities of contemporary culture: computers, TV, video games and even pizza. But, living with his Ananaksaq and Ataatga, his life includes caribou stew, story-telling and offers to build igloos.  Simon may think, "Ataatga and the old ways again" but when a snowmobile trip to Igloolik to visit family takes a dangerous direction, the young boy realizes the value of the old ways in ensuring more than just their survival.

The cover of The Old Ways states that the story was inspired by a true story and perhaps that is why it is all the more poignant.  Preaching to children of the way things used to be done is worthless when young ones have no connection to those ways.  It's irrelevant if mom and dad walked to school or didn't use computers; their children only know about getting driven to school and being digitally connected to everything. But author Susan Margaret Chapman allows Simon to witness the benefits of the old ways and come to the realization of their worth for himself, rather than demanding his acceptance. His grandparents make him aware of their ways, sharing with him as needed, but they wisely allow him to come to them when he's ready to really learn about these ways. And John Mantha's illustrations make almost tangible the simplicity of a northern lifestyle, whether in the house or on the cold, blue tundra while exposing the contrast between old and new.

While The Old Ways is a lovely and valuable resource for teachers to introduce the concept of comparing cultures, over time and place, it is also a story of connecting between generations, recognizing that sharing is a demonstration of respect and should be appreciated as such.

Caribou Song / Atihko Nikamon

by Tomson Highway

Illustrated by John Rombough

Fifth House Publishers

978-1-89725-261-1

32 pp.

Ages 4+

June, 2013

Joe and Cody are two brothers who travel with their parents by dog sled across the tundra all year round.  Joe plays the kitoochigan, an accordion, while his younger brother dances.  At one stop, a large rock in the middle of a meadow seems a fine spot for music and dance, especially when singing, "Ateek, ateek! Astum, astum!" ("Caribou, caribou! Come, come!"). Engrossed in their play, the two boys do not hear the rumbling of thousands of caribou heading their way, even though young Cody has fallen onto the caribou moss below.  While their parents fear for the boys' safety, the rapids of powerful beasts carry the boys along and the mystical voice of the herd invites them to know the caribou spirit.

Tomson Highway, award-winning Canadian and Cree playwright and author, originally offered this tantalizing story in 2001, illustrated by Brian Deines (HarperCollins, 2001). This new edition, illustrated by Chipewyan Dene artist John Rombough,  emphasizes the intensity of the story, specifically the emotional experience of the boys amidst the enormity of and the potentially fatal caribou run.  The bold and rich tones of blues and purples, strongly outlined in unrelenting black visually depict the fierce, almost violent nature of the landscape and the caribou in run.  The intermittent golden hues of the sky and other backgrounds lend a warm cushion that provides relief from the terror and hostility of the boys' circumstances.  

Presented in English and Cree, Caribou Song will take young readers to a world fast disappearing: one of a frozen landscape of snow and traditional hunting and life on the tundra.  For those readers who can appreciate the high Cree translation of Caribou Song, this new edition suggests that there are still valuable ways to retain their ancestral ways.