Nicola I. Campbell

Nicola I. Campbell, an immensely talented children's author of Interior Salish and Métis ancestry, whose picture-book explorations of the trauma of the forced residential (boarding) school experience for Canada's First Nations people - Shi-shi-etko and Shinchi's Canoe - were so immensely poignant and powerful, turns to a happier subject in this, her third offering. I'm glad of that, because although I feel it's incredibly important to explore traumatic realities in children's books - show more children live in the world, after all, and traumatic things happen to them, and to the people around them - and think Campbell did an excellent job detailing a terrible injustice visited upon the indigenous peoples of this continent (the USA too, has a shameful record in this regard), it's also important to depict the good things about contemporary native life - the warmth of family, the happiness of summer days spent outdoors - and Grandpa's Girls does just that!

Following a group of cousins as they spend the day at their grandfather's place - exploring the root cellar, swinging on ropes in the big red barn, petting Grandpa's Appaloosa - the story emphasizes the bonds of love and laughter that tie this extended family together. The artwork, done by Kim LaFave - the same artist who worked with Campbell on her two previous books - is fun and carefree, in a sweet cartoon-like style. Especially appealing as a story about contemporary First Nations people that doesn't revolve around an "issue" of some kind - this is something that is often in short supply - Grandpa's Girls also has broader relevance, as a general story of family, and love between the generations. show less

In this follow-up to her earlier Shi-shi-etko, children's author Nicola I. Campbell, who is of Interior Salish and Metis descent, returns to the residential school experience of Canada's First Nations peoples - a heartbreaking process in which native children were forcibly removed from their homes and families, and placed in abusive church-run boarding schools. As Shi-Shi-etko prepares to return to school for her second year, her younger brother Shinchi must confront his own first year away, show more and his impending separation from his family. Riding to school in a dusty cattle truck, he is reminded by his elder sister of the things he "must always remember," and, once at school (where they are not permitted to speak to one another) given a little canoe to remind him of home, and of their people's traditions...

Unlike the previous title, which confined itself to Shi-shi-etko's experiences leading up to her removal from home, Shin-chi's Canoe actually follows the children to school itself, gently setting out some very un-gentle realities. The inhumane practices of such institutions - the fact that the children were punished for speaking their own language, were forbidden from communicating with their families at home, or even with family members also at school; the insufficient food they were given, while the adults in charge feasted on the produce of the farms run on the children's labor - is set out in the story. So too is the students' effort to hold onto what was good and comforting, in the face of what can only be called abuse.

Although it addresses some painful aspects of history - and, although set in Canada, it is a history that also has relevance here in the USA, where similar institutions flourished - Shinchi's Canoe is not unremittingly dark. True, it is a record of hardship and cruelty visited upon children, but it is also a story of surviving such experiences. I recommend it to anyone, teacher or parent, trying to introduce this difficult topic to younger readers. show less

Yayah (grandmother) and her scmém'iʔt (children) go foraging for certain foods in this sweetly educational picture-book from Nicola I. Campbell, a Canadian children's author of Interior Salish and Métis ancestry, and Cree-Métis illustrator Julie Flett. In each scene, various words from the Nłeʔkepmxcín language - also known as the Thompson language, Nłeʔkepmxcín is an Interior Salishan tongue spoken in the Nicola Valley of British Columbia - are introduced and used in context in show more the story, together with a pronunciation guide provided by the characters themselves. This works quite well with the storytelling structure of the book, as Yayah is teaching her grandchildren their language, in addition to teaching them how to identify and harvest various edible plants...

Having greatly enjoyed Campbell's previous picture-books, from the deeply moving Shi-shi-etko to the sweet Grandpa's Girls, I was quite excited to pick up A Day with Yayah, especially after an online friend particularly recommended it to me. I was even more eager once I realized that it was illustrated by Flett, whose Lii Yiiboo Nayaapiwak lii Swer: L'alfabet di Michif / Owls See Clearly at Night: A Michif Alphabet is a personal favorite, and whose work is always beautiful to behold. I was not disappointed, finding this one both educational and engaging, not to mention absolutely beautiful. I don't know that it really touched me emotionally, the way some of Campbell's other stories have done, but it was nevertheless lovely. Flett's artwork is gorgeous (as always), and I particularly appreciated the decorative end-papers, both front and rear, which appear to be of a different kind of paper than the other pages, and which feature beautiful plants, and a eye-catching yellow bird. There is a clear didactic purpose here - to teach some basic Nłeʔkepmxcín vocabulary - but that's more than fine, given the nature of that purpose, and the way it is integrated into a fun story. Recommended to anyone interested in the Nłeʔkepmxcín language, and fellow fans of Campbell and Flett. show less

A heart-breaking picture book, lyrically told and beautifully illustrated, Shi-shi-etko relates the story of a young girl's last four days at home, before her enforced separation from her family at one of Canada's residential schools for Native children. Rather than focusing on the residential school experience itself, Campbell (who is of Interior Salish & Metis ancestry) chooses to locate her narrative in the days leading up to the departure, emphasizing the family love and warmth that show more surround Shi-Shi-etko ("She loves to play in the water"), and the truly violent and traumatic nature of her separation from all that she knows.

Accompanied by LaFave's luminous, dream-like illustrations, Campbell's poignant narrative would make an excellent springboard for elementary teachers looking to explain this very disturbing aspect of the indigenous experience to young students. Although set in Canada, it has just as much relevance for students of U.S. history, where similar institutions flourished. show less