Just as lovely as I Wait -- simple, bilingual Cree story, great art, great pacing. ( )

My early/reluctant-reader grandchild enjoyed reading this book. The repetition made reading easy enough to enjoy, yet the detail in the illustrations provided much interest for her very imaginative and creative mind. The story ends with a simple recipe for making Rose Hip Tea (the story shows the progress of the pair in collecting rose hips).
Each 2-page spread shows grandmother doing something on one side and the child on the other. The same phrase is used for both, with the substitution of "I" for "Nokom", and the phrases are written in 3 languages, giving the reader the choice of which they read while exposing young people to the reality of other languages and alphabets existing in our world. There is no pronunciation guide, so if you are not from that culture you may want to also use some of the other available tri-lingual Cree books to help you read the Cree aloud.
I understand there is a series of these simple books, so we'll be looking for more of them. ( )

With its simple, bi-lingual text in English and Cree, and beautiful, full-page acrylic illustrations, Niwechihaw / I Help is a lovely cultural and linguistic introduction to the indigenous Tahltan/Cree peoples of British Columbia. As a young boy assists his kôhkom, or grandmother, in picking berries, simple phrases are repeated in both languages, offering a subtle lesson in Cree culture: "Kôhkom pimohtew / Kôhkom walks. Nipimohtan / I walk. Kôhkom âyamihâw / Kôhkom prays. Niayâmihan / I pray." And so forth... The repetitive nature of the text makes it an excellent language-learning tool, but also emphasizes the bond between grandmother and grandson, in which the young boy learns to do by imitating his kôhkom.

Echoing another reviewer, my sole complaint lies in the fact that there is no accompanying CD to help the reader pronounce the Cree words. Then again, I see on the dust-jacket that Leona Morin-Neilson teaches Cree at the "Power of Friendship" Aboriginal HeadStart program in Prince George, British Columbia, and get the sense that this is a book largely intended for Cree children themselves. Outsiders interested in hearing the sounds of Cree might want to pick up a copy of David Bouchard's recent bilingual English-Cree picture-book, The Drum Calls Softly, which does come with a CD. ( )