Mii maanda ezhi-gkendmaahn / This Is How I Know
Follow a young child and their grandmother as they explore the world around them through the seasons and the changes they bring.
Season:
About the Author and the Illustrator and Honored Guest
Author
Brittany Luby
Professor Luby is author of “Drowned: Anishinabek Economies and Activism during the Post-War Hydroelectric Boom, 1950 – 1975,” a dissertation funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, which she completed at York University. This dissertation was placed into the category for awards. Professor Luby’s critical and creative work can be found in periodicals such as the Canadian Bulletin of Medical History, Ontario History, Canadian Journal of Native Studies, Native Studies Review, Feathertale Review, Native Literatures: Generations, and Red Ink Magazine. Professor Luby’s poetry has also appeared in Walk Myself Home.
Bio from University of Guelph, College of Arts.
Illustrator and Honored guest
Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley
Our honored guest is illustrator Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley, an Anishinaabe artist from Barrie, ON. He’s a member of Wasauksing, FN. He currently resides in the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsliel-Waututh people.
Discussion Questions
- What changes do you see as the seasons change?
- Take a walk with a grown-up in your life. What are their observations about the changing seasons?
- What animals do you observe in spring?
- Do animals change their behavior during the different seasons?
- How do you feel as the seasons change? Do you feel more or less energy during the summer? The winter?
Learning Activities
- Keep a journal and write or draw what you observe as the seasons change.
- Take a walk and use your senses to observe the season. Can you observe spring by listening? What do you hear?
- Listen to an excerpt of the book, read by by Jeannette McQuabbie, who speaks the Odawa dialect of the Ojibwe language and is a proud member of the Sagamok Anishnawbek First Nation in Northeastern Ontario.
- Check out the the Ojibwe Giizhig Anung Masinaaigan – Ojibwe Sky Star Map, a Native Skywatchers star map created by Annette S. Lee, William Wilson, Carl Gawboy, © 2012. Visit her website to see more of her work.
Explore More
- The beautiful illustrations in the book are by Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley, an Anishinaabe artist from Barrie, Ontario. He’s a member of Wasauksing, First Nation. Visit his website to see his other works.