Lovely in language, and astonishingly beautiful in illustration. I hope this book helps keep the Michif language alive. ( )

I liked the Anishinaabemowin book, Pakwa che menisu, better because it was an actual story, but really I could read an infinite number of these with my Emmett, the great and disappearing linguistic heritage of lest-we-forget-not-really-our-land, although the very cool features of Michif, a kind of sort of creole spoken by Métis who were both fluent Anishinaabemowin and French speakers, are testimony to the flourishing and fecundity of cultures that can also accompany historic tragedy. Halkomelem next pls.! ( )

An alphabet book with a difference, Lii Tiiboo Nayaapiwak lii Swer - haha, try to say that, my friends, without the handy pronunciation guide contained at the rear of Julie Flett's book!** - is a bilingual Michif/English title, introducing readers young and old to the language of the Metis people, with its mixture of Cree, French and Salteaux Ojibwe elements. It is also a phenomenally beautiful book, elegantly laid out, and containing some of the most strikingly gorgeous illustrations I have seen for a good long while! Yes, Julie Flett - who, I am sorry to say, appears only to have worked on two titles thus far - is an artist to watch, and I will lose no time in tracking down Zoe and the Fawn, which she illustrated.

Each two-page spread of this title - part of a resurgence of interest in the Michif language, which was once spoken by thousands of people on Canada's prairies, and is now listed as endangered - pairs a word in Michif (and its English equivalent) on the left, with a full page illustration on the right. The letters (in larger type) and the Michif words are in color, either red or greenish-blue, and the English words in black, with plenty of white space around. The effect might, in another book, be somewhat blank, but here, paired with Flett's illustrations, it serves to foreground the word in question, and to accentuate the simple beauty of the images. Flett's illustrations are difficult to describe: they seem to be mixed media (some drawing, some painting, some collage elements), and have a unique sensibility, and a winsome (almost sly) sense of humor that is most appealing. They are simple, but expressive, with animals peeking around trees (the bear, lurking in the "Bannock" scene!), sniffing roses, or taking flight (the image in my book has the text off to the left). The color scheme here is subtle - poorly captured by online images - with a sense of contrast that is perhaps best appreciated up close and personal. The sense of movement is breathtaking, and the human figures seem delightfully at home in their world. The image for "Yootin" (or 'windy'), for instance, shows a girl whose wind-blown hair seems to mimic the leaves.

Picked up mostly on a whim, Lii Tiiboo Nayaapiwak lii Swer is a book that I am most glad to have discovered, not only because endangered languages are an interest of mine, and I therefore heartily approve of its aim, but also because it has introduced me to an artist whose work speaks to me on a very personal level. Simply beautiful!

**As the pronunciation guide elaborates, a double 'ii' sounds like a long E ("ee"), while a double 'oo' (which you might imagine sounded like the double 'oo' in moon - which is actually produced by using a double 'uu') sounds like a long O (as in 'coat'). If you want to know more, you'll have to read the book! ( )

A beautiful alphabet book with award winning graphics by Métis artist Julie Fleet is sure to delight and inform the reader. This little book is a capsule on Métis culture and Michif language. Besides the alphabet, there are notes about the language: until more recently, it has been an oral language; there are no q or x sounds therefore those letters are not in the book; and guides on pronunciation.

Each spread has a letter with a Michif word and an English translation. If the reader knows some French, they can try to guess the translation. For example, “B” is for “Li Bafloo” or buffalo and “P” is for “la pwii” or rain. However, some letters have only one word that translates to an entire expression, for example, “A” is for “Atayookee!” or “Tell a story!” and “M” is for “Manishow” or “He/she is picking berries”.

The page is mostly white with the letter and Michif word in colour while the English word is in black. The font choice is fine and elegant. The Michif text colour changes to compliments the artwork. The artwork can bleed off the page and sometimes takes a strip of the other page too. On other occasions, the background is white and some of the images float on the page. Many images are taken from nature or people out in nature. The artist uses a limited colour palette – organic tones with darker colours catching your eye on the neutral foregrounds. She creates these beautiful images by mixing traditional and digital mediums.

Themes: First Nations Peoples, Social Studies, and Art.
Grade level: K-7 ( )