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Native American Language resources

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Achimoona means stories in the Cree language. This collection of 10 stories for children ages 8 and up were written by eight Native authors during a workshop in 1985. Metis author Maria Campbell has written an introduction that explains the importance of storytellers in Native cultures and their changing role. She describes the process undertaken by Jordan Wheeler, Bernalda Wheeler, Pricilla Settee, Wes Fineday, Harvey Knight, Peter Deranger, Darlene Frenette and John Cuthand to tell their stories for today's children. In The Hockey Game, a young Native boy boarding with a non-native family tries to make sense of his new surroundings. Naska is a powerful story written from the point of view of a northern pike as she hunts in the Saskatchewan River. Each story combines the wisdom of traditional values with contemporary situations. The book includes 16 colour reproductions of art by well-known Native artists. Achimoona represents one of the first literary collections for children by First Nations authors.
Fifth House

$14.00

Ararapikva: Traditional Karuk Indian Literature from Northwestern California (Paperback)

Folklorist Julian Lang, himself a Karuk Indian, has packed more than a tantalizing collection of myths into this slim volume. In his introduction, he also provides the history of the tribe, a description of its way of life and details of its religion--all of which help the reader understand the stories that follow. For the Karuk, their stories, like everything in their universe, were living entities with power all their own. An account of why the yellowjacket wasp stings humans doubles as a healing story, helping children forget the pain of the injury as they listen. Another tale explains the origins of angelica root, the tribe's most powerful medicine, which was ordained to help people get over the grief of loss and death. The final piece records the ruminations of Karuk elders early in this century as they ponder what will become of their people and their ways. According to Lang, this myth still asks a pertinent question: ``What does it mean to be a traditional Indian in the last decade of the 20th century?'' Includes, line-by-line presentation of Karuk with literal and modern English translations. Several archival photographs of Karuk life add to the volume's allure.
Heyday Books

$10.95

By Canoe and Moccasin Some Native Place Names of the Great Lakes

Basil Johnston (Ojibway)
Nine traditional tales about the Ojibway hero, Nanabush, recount his travels throughout the Great Lakes region defending his people from such enemies as the giant beaver, the giant skunk, and the giant sturgeon. Origins of place names such as Winnipeg, Milwaukee, and Chicago are integrated into the stories with brief descriptive phrases, in accordance with Ojibway practice of naming a place for its physical features. In addition to providing engaging stories about Nanabush's adventures, this collection also conveys a sense of the long, rich history of places familiar to contemporary North American children. A pronunciation key for Ojibway words is included.
Whetung Ojibwa Crafts

$10.95

Out of stock

Byron Through the Seasons: A Dene-English Story Book (Paperback)

This Dene-English story book was produced by the students and teachers of Ducharme Elementary School in La Loche, Saskatchewan, with assistance from local advisors and elders. Together, they wrote the story, translated it, and worked on the pictures. Their goal was to highlight some aspects of Dene culture that were vital in the past and are still important today. They wanted to show the continuity of a genuine and successful way of life, and emphasize culturally-significant events and attitudes. To produce the book, over 400 hundred students provided ideas for the story line and art samples for the illustrations. Two hundred letters went out to the community families, asking for ideas and information with regard to story content. A dozen elders were consulted to provide accurate and culturally-correct information. A teacher committee of six worked on the project for two years.

Byron Through the Seasons is a story told by Grandfather Jonas and imagined by his grandson, Byron. The balloon diagram in each picture represents the symbolic journey taken by Byron as he listens to stories of what Dene life is like during the four seasons of the year.
Fifth House Books

$9.95

Out of stock

New Familiar Abenakis and English Dialogues: The first ever published on the grammatical system (Paperback)

Joseph Laurent (Abenaki)
The original edition of this important grammar of the Abenaki language was first published in 1884 by Joseph Laurent (Sozap Lolô), chief of the Indian village of St. Francis, P.Q., Canada. Its full original title was "New familiar Abenakis and English dialogues, the first vocabulary ever published in the Abenakis language, comprising: the Abenakis alphabet, the key to the pronunciation and many grammatical explanations, also synoptical illustrations showing the numerous modifications of the Abenakis verb: to which is added the etymology of Indian names of certain localities, rivers, and lakes. Today the Abenaki language is seriously endangered and is only spoken by a few elders in Southern Quebec, although there is an active interest in its revitalization. It is a member of the Algonquin family of First Nations (Native American) Languages and is related to a number of languages spoken, or once spoken, in New England and Eastern Canadian.
Global Language Press

$20.00

The Gospel of Mark translated into the Abenaki Indian, English and French Languages

Pial Pol Wzôkhilain (Saint Francis Abenaki)
This book contains the translation of The Gospel of Mark by Pial Pol Wzôkhilian into the Abenaki language presented here lightly edited, reformatted and for the first time with the inclusion of line-by-line translations in both English and French. Also included is a brief biography of this extremely influential minister, schoolmaster and interpreter of the Saint Francis Abenaki tribe. The Abenaki translation contained within is one of the richest resources and earliest recordings of the Eastern-Algonquin languages and should be of great value to students of the language, linguistics, anthropology and early New England history.
Bowman Books

$19.95

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