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Book helps teach Cree dialects

An author reading at Yorkton Public Library Saturday was also an opportunity to learn a few words.
Cree Dialects

An author reading at Yorkton Public Library Saturday was also an opportunity to learn a few words.

When the Trees Crackle with Cold: A Cree Calendar, winner of a Saskatchewan Book Awards Children’s Literature Award, is a beautifully written and illustrated narrative of the author’s Cree childhood in northern Saskatchewan. The book has been printed in English and is now available in three Cree dialects through audiobook form.

The book is by Bernice Johnson-Laxdal and Miriam Körner, who were both at the YPL presentation.

Johnson-Laxdal is a Cree language and culture teacher with more than 20 years of teaching experience. Originally from Ile-a-la-Crosse, Saskatchewan, she now lives at Potato Lake and teaches in La Ronge.

Körner is a writer, illustrator and arts educator.

From the Saskatchewan Book Awards website it notes “Miriam enjoys spending time with her sled dogs along the old trapline trails, talking to Elders about the times when they still had dogs, and writing for children and young adults about her northern adventures. Originally from Germany, she now lives at Potato Lake, SK., just down the road from Bernice.”

Körner said their “respect of the Cree language” was certainly part of the impetus “right at the beginning” in terms of working on the book. Once written broadening the audience by producing written and audio versions of various Cree dialects was a rather natural step.

It has been an initiative that has been well-received, said Körner, adding there has been increased interest in First Nations communities to learn their traditional languages and the book can be a tool in that process.

As a result the book has been popular with educators, said Johnson-Laxdal. But the book was also the top selling book at McNally Robinson in Saskatoon, so the audience is beyond the classroom, she added.

As for the contents of the book; “a bear sleeping safely in her den, Kohkom telling a story by the fire, the trees crackling with cold—we are all connected to the seasons and the cycle of nature,” detailed the publisher website (Your Nickle’s Worth Publishing). “The calming rhythm of the words echoes the rhythm of the land in this timeless picture book about the moon calendar of the northern Cree, and its warmly rendered watercolour illustrations bring Saskatchewan’s north to life.”

The calendar aspect of the book is one of its most interesting. While the traditional Gregorian calendar which we are generally most familiar with as well as having the most widespread use today, it is not the only way of structuring a year.

Another approach is that of the lunar year, the period of 12 lunar months.

In When the Trees Crackle With Cold, the co-authors present a traditional Cree moon calendar, supported by Körner’s full-colour illustrations, and of course text of explanation.

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