Dual or Triple Language

Leonard Moose and Mary Moose tell us our Aadizookaanan or Sacred Stories were passed down for thousands of years, filling the long winter nights with Anishinaabeg Oral Histories, Philosophies, and Ceremonies. Maang, or the Loon, is one of these ancient stories that our Anishinaabeg Ancestors have gifted us. 

There are many stories of the Loon. In this Aadizookaan, we will learn about Maang and the story of how Maang came to look the way this magnificent bird does today. The story of Maang is about how, through good deeds, we are rewarded. Maang is recognized by the good deeds with a necklace around Maang's neck and stars on Maang’s back. These markings on Maang are for all to see from generation to generation. “Maang” means “Grandmother, Keeper of the Lake”. We will also learn why Maang has a special place in the night sky as Giiwedinang, (North Star).

Educator Information
The publisher of this work recommends it for all grade levels.

In Anishinabemowin and English. Includes glossary.

Additional Information
48 Pages | Paperback

Mia and the monsters are looking for colours! Can you help them? In this interactive board book, children can join Mia and her monster friends as they look for different colours on the tundra.

Educator & Series Information
This is an Arvaaq Book. Books in this series are intended for infants and very young children and are designed to help children develop physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and language skills.

Recommended Ages: 3 - 5

Dual-Language: English and Inuktitut

Additional Information
16 pages | 8.50" x 8.50" | Boardbook

"Oof! My hood is not big enough!" said Mother Fox. Who will help her?

Mother Fox loves all her babies so much. But when she tries to carry all eight of her babies on her back, her hood's not big enough! What will she do? See how her family offers to help as Mother Fox learns she does not need to carry all her babies alone.

Snuggle up and enjoy a sweet story about motherhood and family in this sweet bilingual picture book.

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 3 - 5.

This is an Arvaaq Book. Books in this series are intended for infants and very young children and are designed to help children develop physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and language skills.

Includes activities for parents and teachers in a Let's Talk section.

Additional Information
24 pages | 11.00" x 14.00" | Hardcover

One, two, three. Blue, red, orange. I have ten painted fingernails! Count along with me as we learn the name of each different nail colour.

Filled with adorable illustrations packed with splashes of colour, this vibrant bilingual storybook is perfect for practicing counting over and over again!

Educator & Series Information
This is an Arvaaq Book. Books in this series are intended for infants and very young children and are designed to help children develop physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and language skills.

Recommended for ages 3 and under.

Bilingual: English and Inuktitut

Additional Information
26 pages | 8.50" x 8.50" | Board Book

“We need to be careful that we don’t hurt the gifts that are given to us.” Told in Plains Cree, Saulteaux, and English, this simple tale of traditional teachings and values follows a grandparent and grandchild on a visit to a chokecherry patch, where lessons about respect and gratitude for the earth’s gifts are shared.

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 3+

Triple-language format: Plains Cree, Saulteaux, and English.

An afterword includes a Saulteaux and Plains Cree pronunciation guide.

Additional Information
40 pages | 11.00" x 8.50" | Hardcover

In Siksikaitsitapi: Stories of the Blackfoot People, seven authors share their stories that come from both from legend and from their personal experiences, with many of the stories in both Blackfoot and English languages. The book is illustrated with beautiful full-colour pictures and photos which help convey these stories from Blackfoot traditional and contemporary traditions and cultures. The Blackfoot Confederacy is made up of the Siksika, Kainai, Piikani, and Amskapi Piikuni Nations of Southern Alberta and Montana.

Payne Many Guns' story captures the ways the Blackfoot People live in harmony with the land, animals, and stars in their traditional lands.

Crystal Many Fingers tells a delightful, modern story about animals, their gifts, and why they were put on Earth.

Sheena Potts' story beautifully illustrates the many ways love is alive in Blackfoot traditions and culture.

Tim Fox tells a humerous story about mice who are having a celebration that the raven Napi and a group of dogs want to join.

Marlene Yellow Horn shares her personal story of the teachings she learned as a child about the Elders' traditional and sacred knowledge.

DerRic Starlight tells the tale of Morning Star's diverse and loving family life.

Foreword is by Alayna Many Guns.

Educator & Series Information
The publisher recommends this title for grades 6 to 12, but these stories will appeal to children of all ages. 

This book is part of the Indigenous Spirit of Nature series.

"These Blackfoot children’s book chapters share common knowledge stories which have been shared to our authors. Common knowledge includes everyday lessons and norms. The book provides us with an opportunity to reclaim our truths. In the past, sitting with an Elder and listening to traditional stories of the stars, the animals, Napi, and our purpose was a great gift. Today, this is more important than ever. Elders gift us with purpose, strength, knowledge, and love." - Alayna Many Guns, from the foreword 

Additional Information
144 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Colour illustrations | Paperback

Tiri has a secret: he is scared of the dark. He doesn’t want anyone to find out, but as he spends the day with his friends, he learns they are each scared of something too. Tuktu is scared of heights. Ukaliq is scared of swimming in deep water. Will Tiri be able to open up and face his own fear? See how the friends learn to support one another.

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 3 to 5.

This book shows that it is okay to feel afraid.

This is an Arvaaq Book. Books in this series are intended for infants and very young children and are designed to help children develop physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and language skills.

Bilingual: English and Inuktitut

Fountas and Pinnell Level: :

Additional Information
40 pages | 10.00" x 8.00" | Board Book

Niaqualuk and Haugaaq live in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. There is a big blizzard coming! Haugaaq wishes she could play outside more, but Niaqualuk is excited about playing inside. See what fun things the sisters do all day as the blizzard howls outside.

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 3 to 5.

This book is the French and Inuktitut version of The Big Blizzard.

Additional Information
9.00" x 8.00" | Paperback

As they await the birth of a new foal, a man teaches his grandchild about the Ojibwe Horses that used to roam the forests of northwestern Ontario. The horses once ran wild and free, but when Grandfather was a boy, they almost disappeared. Now he is the caretaker of his own small herd, keeping the breed alive for future generations and teaching his grandchild about the loving bond between human and animals.

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 6 to 8.

Translated by Kelvin Morrison.

This is the dual-language version of Runs with the Stars.

Subjects: Character Education; Family & Friendship; History & Social Studies; Canadian History; First Nations & Indigenous Peoples; Science; Environmentalism; Conservation and stewardship; Reflecting Diversity

Additional Information
32 pages | 8.50" x 11.00" | Hardcover 

The beaver is busy...
This delightful children's picture book tells the story of amik, the beaver, who works on his dam throughout the day while nature and the activities of other animals carry on around him. At the end of a long day, amik returns to his den to be with his family.

Along with its beautiful cut-paper illustrations, Amik offers the chance for children to learn words and phrases in the Ojibwe language, as the text appears in both English and Anishinaabemowin. A fun, colourful and engaging book for children ages three through six.

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 3 to 6.

Dual-language: English and Anishinaabemowin

Additional Information
20 pages | 9.00" x 8.00" | Board  Book

A collection of poetry by one of the greatest Indigenous poets of the Americas about the vanished world of his childhood — that of the Maya K’iche’.

Aquí era el paraíso / Here Was Paradise is a selection of poems written by the great Maya poet Humberto Ak’abal. They evoke his childhood in and around the Maya K’iche’ village of Momostenango, Guatemala, and also describe his own role as a poet of the place.

Ak’abal writes about children, and grandfathers, and mothers, and animals, and ghosts, and thwarted love, and fields, and rains, and poetry, and poverty, and death.

The poetry was written for adults but can also be read and loved by young people, especially in this collection, beautifully illustrated by award-winning Guatemalan-American illustrator Amelia Lau Carling.

Ak’abal is famous worldwide as one of the great contemporary poets in the Spanish language, and one of the greatest Indigenous poets of the Americas. Ak’abal created his poems first in K’iche’, then translated them into Spanish.

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 9+.

Dual-language in English and Spanish.

Key Text Features: foreword, biographical information, poems, translation

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.2
Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.5
Explain how a series of chapters, scenes, or stanzas fits together to provide the overall structure of a particular story, drama, or poem.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.7
Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, poem).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.5
Analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the theme, setting, or plot.

Excerpt from the Introduction by Patricia Aldana: "In this book we find poems about children, and grandfathers, and mothers, and animals, and ghosts, and thwarted love, and fields, and rains, and poetry, and poverty, and death. Ak'abal never pretended that life in his world was easy. The history of Guatemala is complex. It has the highest Indigenous population as a percentage of any country in the Americas. And Maya people have suffered terrible discrimination, violence and poverty since the arrival of the Europeans. But Ak'abal's poems convey how all his world's elements also came together to create a deep, rich reality.... Reading these wonderful poems can remind us that it is still possible to fight to protect this beautiful world and the people who live in and on it." 

Additional Information
172 pages | 6.50" x 8.31" | 14 Colour Illustrations | Hardcover | Translated by Hugh Hazelton

"Aadizookaanan or Sacred Stories were passed down for thousands of years, filling the long winter nights with Anishinaabeg oral histories, philosophies, and ceremonies. Bagone-Giizhig is one of the many ancient stories that Anishinaabeg Ancestors have gifted us. The constellations of Wenaboozhoo and Bagone-Giizhig rise in the East during the Winter season. This signifies when it is time to share Aadizookaanan and reminds the Anishinaabeg of where they come from. These cultural Teachings shine bright in the night sky and this is the Anishinaabe way of life." 

Text in English translation and in the original Anishinaabemowin/Ojibwe.

Educator Information
Recommended for grades 4 to 7.

Dual-language: English with the original hand-written Anishinaabemowin version of the story at the back.

Additional Information
61 Pages

In this beautifully illustrated children’s book, readers will experience the world in a new way as they see the seasons through the joyful eyes of Nimkii, a fun, nature-loving dog who will teach them a whole new language: Ojibwemowin, a language spoken by the indigenous tribes in parts of Michigan, Ontario, northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, and Alberta.

Whether hunting for maple trees in the fall, playing in the snow in the winter, enjoying the spring showers, or swimming in the summer, Nimkii seeks out activities that allow her to enjoy her natural surroundings. Fun and inspiring, this bilingual book helps children and adults communicate in new ways while exploring different elements of culture.

Educator Information
Children's Literature

Dual-language: English and Ojibwemowin 

Translated by Margaret Noodin, of the Pine Marten Clan. 

Additional Information
38 pages | 11.00" x 8.50" | Hardcover 

Enookie is learning how to sort things. He has four animals he needs to sort by their size. Can you help Enookie sort the animals from biggest to smallest?

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 3 and under.

This is an Arvaaq Book. Books in this series are intended for infants and very young children and are designed to help children develop physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and language skills.

Dual-language: English and Inuktitut

Keywords / Themes: Math (Concepts: Size and Shape); Inuktitut; Animals 

Additional Information
28 pages | 7.00" x 9.00" | Board Book

The dual-language edition, in English and Mi'gmaq, of the Silver Birch Express-nominated title, The Train.

Ashley meets her great-uncle by the old train tracks near their community in Nova Scotia. Ashley sees his sadness, and Uncle tells her of the day years ago when he and the other children from their community were told to board the train before being taken to residential school where their lives were changed forever. They weren't allowed to speak Mi'gmaq and were punished if they did. There was no one to give them love and hugs and comfort. Uncle also tells Ashley how happy she and her sister make him. They are what give him hope. Ashley promises to wait with her uncle by the train tracks, in remembrance of what was lost.

Educator Information
This is the dual-language (Mi'gmaq and English) version of The Train.

Recommended for ages 6 to 9.

Additional Information
36 pages | 8.50" x 8.50" | Translated by Joe Wilmot | Hardcover