Stories from the James Bay Coast

Kelly L. Green is the co-editor of the Children’s Literature edition
of the Canadian Book Review Annual.

These 11 stories from the Cree people of the James Bay Coast were told
by James Wesley, a Cree elder of Kashechewan, Ontario, in 1985. The
stories cover a wide variety of topics, including a frightening tale of
intertribal warfare, a detailed description of the life and work of the
Cree people before contact with Europeans, and several stories that
graphically illustrate the profound changes resulting from the arrival
of white society.

Despite the fact that the translation is sometimes confusing and the
narrative occasionally seems to wander, these stories from the Cree oral
tradition are gripping, exciting, and rich in historical detail; they
ring true. Wesley’s words make us create mental pictures of real
events and real people, like the Hudson’s Bay Company boss with the
uncontrollable temper, and the Cree woman, captured by an enemy tribe,
who is made a slave and tortured.

Gordon Goodwin’s simple but eloquent black-and-white illustrations
add greatly to the text. The subject matter of the stories is probably
inappropriate for younger children, but this book is recommended for
older children and adults with an interest in Canadian history or Native
culture.