Wanisinwak Iskwesisak: Awasisasinahikanis = Two Little Girls Lost in the Bush: A Cree Story for Children

Joan Sanderson is a professional storyteller doing “Book Talks” for
Minnow Books.

Two Little Girls is a true adventure story. It is told in the first
person—an approach that, in combination with the simple English text
and the strong, uncomplicated, colorful drawings—makes this book
powerful and realistic. The telling of the tale in Cree language on the
first part of each page adds to the realism and should make this very
appealing to Native children as well as to others.

The Cree language and the details about Native life could help broaden
the reader’s understanding of another time, another place, and perhaps
another people. For example, Nкhiyaw tells us how in the old days they
used to wear flour sacking as slips and brassieres and even wrapped it
around their feet. It was Nкhiyaw’s slip that she wrapped around her
sister’s feet when they became swollen and cut.

The caring between the two girls is very real in this story. Lost,
Nкhiyaw, age eleven, carries Gina, age eight, on her back, “walking
and walking.” The caring of the community is also real: the community
came together—even the priest and the manager of the Hudson Bay
Company—with everyone committed to finding the girls. The girls, to
their credit, were instrumental in saving themselves. Instead of being
afraid (as some Cree people were) of a huge, hooting owl, they followed
it; it led them to their rescuers.

The last few sentences of the text are typical of the story. “I
marvel that I did not think of anything, anything at all of which to be
scared. If I were to be lost some place today, I would be scared to
death! We were lost for two days, and were found exactly at noon on the
third day.

“That is all, I guess.”