Kwantlen

Award-winning storyteller and poet Joseph Dandurand captures the delightful relationship between bears and the Kwantlen people in his fourth book for children ages 6–8.

For a long time, the Kwantlen and the bears have lived side by side. When the master carver falls into the river, the bears rescue him. In thanks, the master carver gives the bears animal masks. But the bears don’t know that these masks are magical.

The Bears and the Magic Masks is the fourth in the Kwantlen Stories Then and Now series by award-winning author Joseph Dandurand, following The Girl Who Loved the Birds, A Magical Sturgeon and The Sasquatch, the Fire and the Cedar Baskets.

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 6 to 8.

This is the fourth book in a series of Kwantlen legends, the Kwantlen Stories Then and Now series, by award-winning author Joseph Dandurand. 

Additional Information
32 pages | 7.00" x 8.50" | Paperback

A story for children by Kwantlen storyteller and award-winning poet Joseph Dandurand.

The Girl Who Loved the Birds is the third in a series of Kwantlen legends by award-winning author Joseph Dandurand, following The Sasquatch, the Fire and the Cedar Baskets and A Magical Sturgeon.

Accompanied by beautiful watercolour illustrations by Kwantlen artist Elinor Atkins, this tender children’s story follows a young Kwantlen girl who shares her life with the birds of the island she calls home. Collecting piles of sticks and moss for the builders of nests, sharing meals with the eagles and owls, the girl forms a lifelong bond with her feathered friends, and soon they begin to return her kindness.

Written with Dandurand’s familiar simplicity and grace, The Girl Who Loved the Birds is a striking story of kinship and connection.

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 6 to 8.

The Girl Who Loved the Birds is the third in a series of Kwantlen legends, the Kwantlen Stories Then and Now series, by award-winning author Joseph Dandurand, following The Sasquatch, the Fire and the Cedar Baskets and A Magical Sturgeon.

Additional Information
24 pages | 7.00" x 8.50" | Paperback

Written and illustrated in the tradition of the Kwantlen people, Joseph Dandurand's second book is an endearing tale of two sisters and their connection with nature.

In the water sat a sturgeon, born there, so they say, thousands of years ago, though the sturgeon themselves have been here for two hundred million years. It was at first a little egg, a big egg, born into the river. Now the sturgeon is back but how did it get here? How did the first sturgeon come to be? Earth and the river, moons and suns and clouds. Time, thousands of years and the Skwó:wech has seen it all. But what gift does the sturgeon have for us?

So begins this second charming story for children by Kwantlen storyteller Joseph Dandurand. The sturgeon, spirit of the great river, eludes human fishers until two young sisters neglect to follow their mother’s instructions. What follows provides a moving exploration of the importance of sharing and kinship with all other living things.

The story is told with grace and simplicity by a master storyteller in the great tradition of the Kwantlen people. Accompanied by Elinor Atkins’s illustrations, A Magical Sturgeon is a touching follow-up to Dandurand’s bestselling children’s book The Sasquatch, the Fire and the Cedar Baskets.

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 6 to 8.

This is the second book in the Kwantlen Stories Then and Now series.

Additional Information
32 pages | 7.00" x 8.50" | Paperback

“Deep in the thickest part of a cedar forest there lived a young Sasquatch. He was over nine feet tall and his feet were about size twenty. He had long brown hair that covered all of his body. His hands were so big and his arms so long he could wrap them around the biggest of the cedar trees. He had been born here many years ago and he did not know his parents, as they had been scared away by a great fire. He was left on his own and he had survived by eating berries and he had grown into the Sasquatch he now was...”

So begins this charming story for children by Kwantlen storyteller Joseph Dandurand. The Sasquatch, spirit of the great cedar forest, eludes human hunters, falls in love, fathers a lovely daughter and saves his little family from a forest fire by dousing the flames with water stored in baskets carefully woven by his mate.

The story is told with grace and simplicity by a master storyteller in the great tradition of the Kwantlen people. Accompanied by whimsical illustrations from Kwakwaka’wakw artist Simon Daniel James, The Sasquatch, the Fire and the Cedar Baskets follows a similar style to popular titles such as Salmon Boy, Mayuk the Grizzly Bear and How the Robin Got Its Red Breast.

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 6 to 8.

This is the first book in the Kwantlen Stories Then and Now series. 

Additional Information
32 pages | 7.00" x 8.50"

"Do not eat too much of the earth. Save some."

When you take something from the earth you must always give something back.

From the Kwantlen First Nation village of Squa’lets comes the tale of Th’owxiya, an old and powerful spirit that inhabits a feast dish of tempting, beautiful foods from around the world. But even surrounded by this delicious food, Th’owxiya herself craves only the taste of children. When she catches a hungry mouse named Kw’atel stealing a piece of cheese from her dish, she threatens to devour Kw’atel’s whole family, unless she can bring Th’owxiya two child spirits. Ignorant but desperate, Kw’atel sets out on an epic journey to fulfill the spirit’s demands. With the help of a sqeweqs, two spa:th, and a sasq’ets, Kw’atel endeavours to find gifts that would appease Th’owxiya and save her family.

Similar to “Hansel and Gretel” and the northwest First Nations story “The Wild Woman of the Woods,” Th’owxiya—which integrates masks, song, and dance—is a tale of understanding boundaries, being responsible for one’s actions, forgiving mistakes, and finding the courage to stand up for what’s right.

Reviews
“What makes Th’owxiya: The Hungry Feast Dish truly unforgettable is in its engaging story steeped in tradition.” —Mark Robins, Vancouver Presents

"This play about Th’owxiya, the basket ogress, allows students to engage with storytelling from his own Kwantlen perspective. This story includes several animal characters, including Kw’at’el (a mouse character) who must bring her some hungry children or his family will be eaten. With themes centering on Kwantlen language, culture, and relationships to the land, this play can engage a wide range of learners. This book also includes a Kwantlen terminology guide, links to pronunciation and language resources, and a teacher's resource guide which gives specific information on Dandurand’s own Kwantlen perspectives on storytelling." -Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2020/2021

Educator Information
Recommended theatre/play for young audiences ages 5 to 15 (96 pages, in a play/novel format).

For Kwantlen people, Th'owxiya is a mythological being used to teach children to listen and not to venture off alone lest she take them and eat them. Joseph began writing this play over twenty-five years ago, when he was an intern in a pilot program to study museology at the Canadian Museum of History.

Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2020/2021 resource list for Grades K to 6 in the areas of Drama, English Language Arts, and Music.

Additional Information
96 pages | 5.12" x 7.62"