The Inquisitive Raven

Written by Richard Wagamese

Illustrated by Bridget George

D & M Kids (Douglas & McIntyre)

978-1-771624497

32 pp.

All ages

September 2025 

 

Last year, the first book in the Richard Wagamese Storybook Collection, The Animal People Choose a Leader, was published. This beautiful book, a retelling of a short story by the late Richard Wagamese with illustrations by Bridget George, introduced new readers to his writings. Now, with The Inquisitive Raven, the second book in this collection, a story of curiosity, determination, and self-acceptance, there will be new readers of all ages who will be drawn to the wisdom in Richard Wagamese's Ojibwe storytelling and the beauty of Bridget George's digital artwork.

From The Inquisitive Raven, written by Richard Wagamese, illustrated by Bridget George

Rueben is the titular inquisitive raven. Some might see him as nosy, but he just finds the world to be an amazing place. He is especially curious about the other animals and what they do.  Grampa Raven, ever supportive, tells Rueben, "Wonder is the glue that holds everything together. It keeps you searching, eager for more." (pg. 10) 

 

When Rueben sees a magnificent eagle with its impressive wingspan and ability to soar, his grandfather tells him of Migizi and that she is blessed with many gifts. Sadly, Rueben then sees himself as lacking and decides to learn to soar like Migizi. 

He craved the sensation of becoming more: bigger somehow, more beautiful, less a raven and more revered and respected like an eagle, through the singular act of soaring. (pg. 17) 

From The Inquisitive Raven, written by Richard Wagamese, illustrated by Bridget George

With great determination and much practice, Rueben learns to soar, but when he goes to demonstrate his newfound ability, fatigue and fear get the better of him and he plummets to the ground. He is devastated to think that others will not respect him as they do Migizi, but Grampa Raven has wise words to share about Rueben's own gifts and the blessing that is respect.

From The Inquisitive Raven, written by Richard Wagamese, illustrated by Bridget George

Taken from Richard Wagamese's One Drum: Stories and Ceremonies for a Planet (Douglas & McIntyre, 2013), The Inquisitive Raven has an important message about self-acceptance. Like many of us, Rueben aspires to be admired, though he doesn't recognize that he already is appreciated by the other animals for his curiosity and enthusiasm for learning. In fact, it is that curiosity and passion for knowledge that takes him to try something new and work hard at achieving it. He may not reach the heights of Migizi, but his skill at soaring and his consequent plummeting are recognized as amazing just the same. Through Rueben, Richard Wagamese helps us respect the best in ourselves.

 

Bridget George is an Anishinaabe illustrator who has also authored her award-winning picture book It's a Mitig! (D & M Kids, 2020). Her art is created digitally with a Woodland style to her animals, giving shape and movement with the internal lines. While Rueben and many animals are in earthy browns and blacks, Bridget George adds colour in her landscape features like the blues and pinks of her skies and water, and in her decorative, embroidery-like flowers.

From The Inquisitive Raven, written by Richard Wagamese, illustrated by Bridget George

The Inquisitive Raven will be a much-cherished gift that will be appreciated for many years and countless generations. Beautifully covered in textured buckram, and decorated with Bridget George's Woodland-style art, The Inquisitive Raven lets us connect once again with Richard Wagamese and share in his insight into the value of curiosity and recognizing the gifts we have.

 

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For teachers, there is a Teacher's Guide available from Douglas & McIntyre here.

 

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Nick the Sidekick

Written and illustrated by Dave Whamond

Kids Can Press

978-1-77138-355-4

48 pp.

Ages 6-9

April 2018

Celebrated cartoonist of the syndicated Reality Check and author-illustrator of the three Oddrey books (Oddrey, Oddrey and the New Kid, and Oddrey Joins the Team; Owlkids, 2012, 2013 and 2014) and My Think-a-Ma-Jink (Owlkids, 2009), Dave Whamond brilliantly applies his cartooning skills to a new genre, the graphic novel, and superbly masters it with the flair of a superhero and the diligence of a loyal sidekick.

Nick is a superhero assistant with incredible hearing courtesy of his incredibly-large ears.  Though his classmates may ridicule him, his best friend Tess always has his back.  That comes in handy when you're the superhero assistant to the egotistic Super Fantastic Guy who wants to use Nick's super hearing without giving him the credit for his cleverness or contributions.  Super Fantastic Guy can't even remember Nick's name, always calling him Rick, and even getting all his details wrong on his membership to the National Superhero Society. And Nick does not appreciate the lack of respect and his designation as a (sigh!) sidekick, especially considering he does all the crime-solving! But it's Nick who learns that he is the true superhero when he uses his super talent to save Super Fantastic Guy and let Tess help bring the egomaniac down a bit from the superhero pedestal he's always taken advantage to enjoy.

From Nick the Sidekick by Dave Whamond

As much as Nick is a superhero (he does have the card to prove it), he's really the anti-hero in that he accomplishes much good without the public recognition and even his partner's appreciation.  Nick is probably the antithesis of the highly-acclaimed superhero in that he doesn't parade himself in front of the public and demand accolades, though he would appreciate a little respect and for everyone to stop calling him a sidekick. 

From Nick the Sidekick by Dave Whamond

Dave Whamond's artwork is made for graphic novels. Okay, I know it's also great for his cartoons and his picture books but, by applying it to storytelling in the graphic novel format, he can tell more story by creating action-packed plot lines that move with the force of his illustrations.  There's movement and energy and kapow!  Nick the Sidekick delivers a punch in character and story and has just launched Dave Whamond's career into a different layer of the stratosphere, though we knew it was inevitable. As much as Nick can't fly and hates all the clichés related to superheroics, from the Spandex onesies and to the criminals' responses when caught, he's going to be joining Dave Whamond on that trajectory. Happy travels to our newest superheroes!

From Nick the Sidekick by Dave Whamond

The Water Walker

Written and illustrated by Joanne Robertson

Second Story Press

978-1-77260-038-4

36 pp.

Ages 6-9

September 2017

At first glance from title and illustration, The Water Walker may look like an Aboriginal myth or a picture book story.  It is neither.  It is an illustrated piece of creative non-fiction that recounts the efforts of Ojibwe Grandmother (Nokomis) Josephine Mandamin originally of Manitoulin Island and her extraordinary efforts to raise awareness about the need to protect our water (Nibi).  Her story is true, as attested by three knee surgeries and countless pairs of sneakers.

As a child, Nokomis loved Nibi in all its attributes: cold, warm, calm, wild.  Every day she would thank Nibi for its gift of life. "Gichi miigwech, Nibi, for the life you give to every living thing on earth.  I love you.  I respect you." (pg. 9)  But after hearing an elder (ogimaa) speak of water's fate and Nokomis realized that water was being disrespected and wasted, she banded with her sister and women friends (kwewok niichiis) to formulate a plan to protect Nibi.  Four days later, a copper pail full of Nibi in one hand and a Migizi (bald eagle) Staff in her other, Nokomis lead the Mother Earth Water Walkers in their walk around the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River.  For the next seven springs, they walked, prayed and sang, offering sacred tobacco (seema) at every Nibi encountered.

From The Water Walker by Joanne Robertson

Though the media picked up on their walking for Nibi, Nokomis knew there was more to do.  The Water Walkers went to the waters surrounding Turtle Island (North America) and sang Nibi's praises and demonstrated their respect.  They went to the Pacific Ocean, an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean and the Arctic Ocean.  Still Nokomis prays and sings to Nibi and hopes everyone will help protect Nibi.

From The Water Walker by Joanne Robertson

The Water Walker in the story of a grassroots crusade to demonstrate respect and inform people about the importance and potential destiny for Nibi if we continue as we have.  With water rights being given away for pennies and contamination through industry and pollution, Nibi is at risk.  It is no longer the limitless commodity generations before us believed it to be.  Nokomis Josephine Mandamin did not wait around for disaster to compel her to act.  She let her heart drive her into action.  Now Joanne Robertson, a member of Atikameksheng Anishnawbek and founder of the Empty Glass for Water campaign, is sharing that story through her invigorating illustrations, bold in line and colour.  Though most of her characters are seemingly lacking in detail, with their similarly rounded heads, expressionless faces and stiff walking postures, Joanne Robertson fashions them to be unique and distinct in dress and hair.  The illustration of the parade of Mother Earth Water Walkers with the sun blazing behind them is simple but powerful, as is the collage of memories of places and people visited on their walks.

From The Water Walker by Joanne Robertson

The Water Walker may be an illustrated biography of Nokomis Josephine Mandamin's walking for Nibi but it is also a tale of action, both accomplished and endless, to do for Nibi as it has always done for us.

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The book launch for the book will take place on Tuesday, September 26, 2017 at A Different Booklist in Toronto.  Both Grandmother Josephine Mandamin and author/illustrator Joanne Robertson will be in attendance to speak from 12:30 -2:30 p.m. with a book signing and reception fro 5-7 p.m. The events are posted here

My Life Before Me

by Norah McClintock

Orca Book Publishers

978-1459806627

248 pp.

Ages 12+

September 29, 2015

Cady Andrews has dreamed of being a newspaper reporter and when her home, the Benevolent Home for Necessitous Girls, burns down, the story she is going to pursue is her own.  Just like the other six older girls–Toni, Sara, Betty, Tess, Malou and Dot–from the Home who must set out on their own, Cady is given clues to her identity or heritage.  Though she wants to reject it at first, hopeful of a new and exciting life, totally different than the pathetic one of twice-orphaned Cady Andrews, she takes that single clue–a yellowed newspaper clipping of a photo of the vandalized tombstone of Thomas Jefferson who died in 1948 in Orrenstown, Indiana–as the means to grab the attention of the Toronto newspaper editor who thinks the newspaper office is no place for young women.  

But it’s 1964 and it’s a time of the growing civil rights movement and a time of anger by those who can’t abide change.  Not surprising Cady’s questions in Orrenstown and then in Freemount where the grave is located draw a lot of attention. From the  three old men whom she meets at the diner, one of whom becomes her go-to person for local info, Sheriff Bradley Hicks who keeps popping up, a black youth named Daniel and his mother Lila Jefferson, and Maggie Nearing, who runs the local newspaper and the rooming house where Cady stays, Cady gets everyone gossipping and sometimes answering her questions.  Though she learns that Thomas Jefferson had been imprisoned for killing a white man and died while trying to escape, the story details seem to take on different perspectives depending on with whom she is speaking.  And his status as a war hero seemed to rub some people the wrong way.

What Thomas Jefferson, a black man, has to do with blond, blue-eyed Cady is not readily evident, but as with any crime story, a little bit of digging goes a long way to uncovering a few bones and ultimately some skeletons that many would have preferred left hidden.  In fact, some locals are threatened by Cady’s interest in the story as evident by threats she endures because of her enquiries.  Luckily she’s a determined and clever young woman and follows her single clue from one lead to another, meeting more and more people, and revealing an overwhelming racial discrimination and a story of murder, lies and corruption.  That clue may have been given to her to help find her family, but it’s probably more important in what she learns about herself.

But I promised myself that I would never commit the same sin.  I would never be afraid to do the right thing.  I didn’t want to go through life hating myself or regretting decisions. (pg. 242)

There’s a great reason that Norah McClintock is the queen of YA crime writing and I’m so impressed with the story she was able to create within the premise of the Secrets series and still accommodate a plot involving murder, mystery, and civil rights.  My Life Before Me demonstrates that our lives are more than the total of our own experiences; they are also shaped by experiences before our own births.  That single newspaper clipping clue about a man of no relation to Cady is able to open the doors to her past and her origin, though never obvious or confusing.  She will learn from whence she came, though her birth is neither a happy nor a horrific story.  But the story in which her birth is embedded is greater than her own, because it tells of a society that was hurtful and dishonest and prejudiced, and in 1964 still only starting to change for the better.  Moreover,  Norah McClintock easily places the reader in a different time–a time in which skin colour sadly mattered and justice was not always so.  And yet, readers will be impressed by Cady’s strength of character, regardless of the roadblocks constantly placed in her way, and the way she faced adversity with wisdom and poise.

Never spit into a well you may need to drink from. (pg. 7)

And even though much of the mystery regarding Thomas Jefferson skirts Cady’s own story, she makes it into a story that was important to tell and share, for a good greater than her own need.  I truly hope that Cady will continue to be given voice by  Norah McClintock as I think they both have lots more important ideas and stories to share, whether about being given to the orphanage for a second time or about the new life she makes for herself as a newspaper reporter.  Lots for more stories to be told, I’m sure.

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Something special as part of the Secrets blog tour!

Read my interview with author Norah McClintock about her writing and her new book My Life Before Me in my next post today.