Leaves and butterflies

Colours are the key to life.
Nokomis shows her grandchildren the empty residential school and tells them that is where she went to school, a school where the desire was to kill the Anishinabe way.
The children want to know more and Nokomis in her wise way uses a story to show the Anishinabe way of learning.
She tells of Nanabosho’s finding of two dependent children who cried rather than learn for themselves. They had siblings who did everything for them and the babies were totally dependent.
In her story Nanabosho uses colours and joy to restore balance to the babies and they learn to crawl, walk and run as they find the joy of finding freedom and self-directed learning.
Butterflies (memengwak) are Nanabosho’s way of teaching life of joy, freedom, colour and on-going learning when it is done the Anishinabe way rather than in a formal setting of a school.
This story reminds children they are capable, as are all Anishinabe.
Nanabosho and the Butterflies -- Joe McLellan and Matrine McLellan, illustrated by Jackie Traverse (Pemmican Publications, Winnipeg, MB; 2010; ISBN 978-1-894717-58-8); 43 pages; $10.95)