When Molly learns a talent competition is coming to town, her friend Murphy (A Different Game, Murphy and Mousetrap) becomes her manager. Molly is certain she is a good singer—she has been singing in her head for as long as she can remember. She doesn't sing out loud because of a promise she made to herself. Years ago, Molly vowed that her mom would be the first one to hear her sing. The only problem is, Molly knows nothing about her mom, who left when Molly was a baby. With the talent competition only weeks away, she has to decide whether to break her promise to herself and let her voice out into the world, or wait for her mother's uncertain return before singing for anyone else.
Themes: singing, competition, friendship, family, absent parent.
Telling stories has been a Métis tradition for generations. Papayrs or Mooshums and Mamayrs or Kookhums share stories with their grandchildren, parents share stories with their children, and friends share stories with one another! Some stories are for fun while other stories teach lessons to young ones, and some do both. The favoured stories of many are those about tricksters like Chi-Jean or about Roogaroos, the Métis werewolf. In Roogaroo Mickey, Mamayr tells Louis and Charlie a Roogaroo story from when she was a little girl. But Roogaroos aren't real …, right?
John C. Courchene was born in Sagkeeng First Nation in 1914, where he attended the Fort Alexander Indian Residential School. Courchene's time in the residential school was short; his brothers, "Joejay" and Louis, took John out of school so he could help them cut wood in the bush. While this helped John make a lifetime commitment to hard work, it also resulted in John being "illiterate" in the European sense of the word. In the ways of the forest and his native language, Anishanabemowin, however, John was far from illiterate. Sagkeeng Legends is a testament to John's cultural literacy and a monument in the face of eroding Indigenous language and culture caused by centuries of colonization.
Originally recorded by John's wife, Josephine Courchene, in the early 1980s and reprinted here in both English and Anishanabemowin by Craig Fontaine, the stories in Sagkeeng Legends represent two pebbles where a mountain of knowledge once stood. Nonetheless, this book is an important act of preserving and reintroducing Indigenous language and culture to a new generation.
Leah Marie Dorion's The Diamond Willow Walking Stick: A Traditional Métis Story About Generosity focuses on a Métis Elder's remembrances of traditional teachings about generosity that were taught to him by his grandparents during his childhood. These lifelong lessons imparted on him "how to live in a good Métis way," and taught him how to live with respect within the circle of life. In this charming children's book, the third in an ongoing series on traditional Métis culture, author and illustrator Leah Marie Dorion takes the reader on another enchanting journey while once again honouring the special bond between Métis children and their grandparents. With breathtaking artwork and an elegant Michif translation by Norman Fleury, this heartfelt, coming of age story will resonate with both young and old. This book also includes a chart on the uses of the willow tree and an accompanying narration CD in English and Michif-Cree. This retelling of a traditional Métis story is most suitable for younger children.
One day as the great Eagle flew high above the forest he came upon a small bundle containing seven teachings, teachings that will bring balance, harmony and peace to all who practice them. But the teachings come with a simple warning: beware of envy and greed.
As Eagle spreads the seven teachings throughout the forest, he forgets to heed their warning and soon the forest is lost to jealousy, greed and selfishness. Eagle must save the forest, and he soon learns the most important teaching of all: truth.
This engaging story, with beautiful illustrations by Dozay (Arlene) Christmas, allows the reader to reconnect to and understand the seven teachings and their meaning in relation to themselves and society as a whole. The Lost Teachings is a story about the importance of the seven teachings — wisdom, respect, love, honesty, humility, courage and truth — and how interconnected they are in achieving balance, harmony and peace for individuals and society as a whole.
On a fresh spring day, young Yetsa, her mother and her grand-mother gather to prepare the sheep fleeces piled in Grandma's yard. As they clean, wash and dry the fleece, laughter and hard work connect the three generations. The reader joins this family in an old, but vibrant tradition: the creation of a Cowichan sweater.