“Tanisi, Nimosom, I found your words.”

‘Stolen Words’ is a touching story written by Melanie Florence and illustrated splendidly by Gabrielle Grimard. This picture book shows the impact of the residential school system that separated Indigenous children from their families. It also recognizes the suffering of the culture and language that was taken from them, and how that pain is passed down through generations.

The story begins with a little girl and her grandfather. When she asks how to say the word ‘grandfather’ in his language, Cree, he tells her that his language had been ‘stolen’ from him when he was a boy. The next day, she skipped out of school, smiling happily. “Tanisi, Nimosom,” she said, “I found your words.” She pulled out a book, and it read: ‘Introduction to Cree’. Her grandfather took the book reading page after page, and slowly but surely, reminded him of his past.

Reading this, I felt most touched from the thoughtfulness of the little girl. It also made me wonder, Why would they do that? Forcing innocent children out of their homes was extremely cruel and heartbreaking. The Canadian government back then didn’t even think about what it would be like without English, without parents at a young age.

In conclusion, this book is short but powerful, and most of all makes you wonder about how devastating residential school was.

“if you were in my position what would you want me to do?”

Originally written as a song in 1992 by Phillip Hoose and his 9-year-old daughter Hannah, ‘Hey, Little Ant’ is a rhyming picture book illustrated magnificently by Debbie Tilley intended for children between ages 4 and 8. The story is about an ant who is about to get stepped on by a so-called “giant”. In order to save his own life, the ant tries to prevent the “giant” from stepping on him by showing the boy the ant’s perspective, to persuade the boy not to step on him. What I think the strongest quote from the story is “if you were in my position, what would you want me to do?”. It shows how people should treat others how they want to be treated. The story was quite interesting because it teaches children not to step on ants as everyone has feelings and a family that depended on them. I also enjoyed looking at the pictures because they were very in sync with the story. However, the story was a cliffhanger that disappointed me since I was looking forward to how the boy will react, and if he will step on the ant or not.

All in all, this picture book is hands-down one of the best ones I have ever read (and also one of the few ones I actually know).