Fishing with Grandma

by Susan Avingaq and Maren Vsetula

Illustrated by Charlene Chua

Inhabit Media

978-1-77227-084-6

32 pp.

Ages 5-7

2016

The beginning of the year is a wonderful time to catch up on hidden gems that I missed last year, especially ones that were released at extraordinarily busy times or at incongruous times, like a winter book in the spring.  To that end, I am so pleased to review Fishing with Grandma, a marvelous picture book that provides a glimpse into Inuit traditions of fishing and food and the important role of female elders in the family and community.

A young boy and his sister go to visit their grandmother, Anaanatsiaq, in search of an adventure.  With the house smelling of bannock, the children playing string games, and their grandmother sewing a sealskin, with her ulu on the ground beside her, the setting will be familiar to many Inuit but eye-opening for many others.  The children ask their anaanatsiaq to take them jigging for fish, a type of fishing the uses a jig or a lure. Their grandmother instructs them how to dress appropriately for the outdoor activity and then loads up the ATV with the appropriate equipment and they're off. While teaching her grandchildren how to test the ice for walking, how to make holes in it, and the movements of the wrist necessary to entice the fish, Anaanatsiaq introduces them to tools such as a tuuq, an ice skimmer, a jigging stick and an ice probe.  But it's the excitement of the sounds of the ravens and other fisher people jigging from their mats and of the sights of fish swimming by, as well as the thrill of the catch that elevates the outing to an adventure.

From Fishing with Grandma 

by Susan Avingaq and Maren Vsetula 

illus. by Charlene Chua

The story of Fishing with Grandma balances the blending of old and contemporary cultures with a special intergenerational relationship, making it a wonderful story for teaching acceptance and cultural competence. I love the children's grandmother, wise in tradition and facility, knowing the right thing to do and with the right tool.  I suspect that Nunavut author Susan Avingaq learned from her own grandmother just as she now would take her own grandchildren fishing and camping to teach them important land skills.  Susan Avingaq and Maren Vsetula's text of Fishing with Grandma is like Grandma herself, forthcoming without preaching, modelling acceptance and wonder and a joie de vivre.  Illustrator Charlene Chua, whose artwork in Akilak's Adventure (Inhabit Media, 2016) drew much attention, keeps the children's admiration and fascination for their grandmother and the adventure elevated as she does for young readers of the story.  Most importantly, the essence of being Inuit, from going jigging and sharing their catch with the community, is always uppermost in the story's text and illustrations, both teaching and entertaining readers of all cultures.

From Fishing with Grandma 

by Susan Avingaq and Maren Vsetula 

illus. by Charlene Chua

My Two Grandmothers

by Diane Carmel Léger

Illustrated by Jean-Luc Trudel

Nimbus Publishing

978-1-77108-400-0

32 pp.

Ages 4-8

April 2016

How fortunate these children are to have two grandmothers! Two grandmothers who are incredibly different-one Acadian, the other Scottish–and living in villages separated by the world's second-longest covered bridge.  Two grandmothers who are also so similar, connected by that same bridge and bonded by their love for their grandchildren.

From My Two Grandmothers

by Diane Carmel Léger, illus. by Jean-Luc Trudel

On one side of the Rockland bridge lives Mémére Hermance whose grandchildren call Grandmother Sun or Mémére Bee who lives her life with vitality and joie de vivre. She is a "very chic Acadian lady."  Nannie Henrietta, their Grandmother Moon or Nannie Hen, is a "calm and modest Scottish lady." What they offer their grandchildren in the way of treats, experiences and life lessons are very different but equally fulfilling.  Whether they get bonbons or toffee, or go to the beach or listen to a blethering brook, celebrate Réveillon or Christmas with Scottish cookies, the children, called petits escrables and wee lumbers, are loved, scolded, taught, protected, and entertained by their two grandmothers.

My Two Grandmothers is a captivating story of differences and similarities in a loving and lovely Canadian context, though Canadian and non-Canadian readers will both benefit from the glossary of French and Scottish vocabulary. (A listing of how to say "grandmother" and "grandfather" in over 20 languages is also included.)  A made-for-TV movie would have undoubtedly played up the differences between the two grandmothers making it into a competition but Diane Carmel Léger's My Two Grandmothers demonstrates how much the two older women are adored by the children who appreciate their distinct personalities as adding richness to their lives.  Illustrator Jean-Luc Trudel offers up flavourful portraits of both women, and their grandchildren, without stereotyping either.  By choosing to differentiate them both in their forms and the colours that surround them, Jean-Luc Trudel has created two contrasting but similarly soft and strong women.  As a child who grew up without grandmothers around, I would have been delighted to have had a Nannie and Mémére in my life.  For me and for those who are fortunate to have grandmothers in their lives, My Two Grandmothers will delight. And for those whose children are fortunate enough to have a French or Acadian grandmother, you might consider acquiring Mémère et Nannie, the French edition and co-publication by Bouton d'or Acadie.

From My Two Grandmothers

by Diane Carmel Léger, illus. by Jean-Luc Trudel