Monday, February 26, 2007

Night in a Hunting Camp

We're still reveling in our memories of being part of TD Canadian Children's Book Week, Nov 18-15, 2007. We want to share one more memory from the week, visiting in the Thunder Bay area. Photos of the school below can be found in the Canadian Children's Book News (Winter 2007 issue) on page 25.

Upsala, Ontario, is a village of 200 people, so small that when its one motel was temporarily closed, we stayed overnight in a hunting camp. At the bus depot, Shirley Niemi, the teacher who picked us up, recommended taking food with us as the camp café was closed for the season. Night was falling as she dropped us off. At first the site was spooky. We were alone, overlooking a frozen river. The television had one channel and we quickly tired of it. Instead, we opened the front curtains, turned off the lights and ate our fish and chips by the moonlight.

The next day we visited Upsala Public School with 37 students. The First Nations children shared Ojibway words with us. All the students live an outdoorsy life. They wanted to know why Larry wrote about his traditional First Nations childhood. They understood when he said that storytelling is disappearing because technology is moving so fast. They heartily shared the non-technology part of their world, including stories of moose and bears. What is birch used for? we asked the junior classroom (gr. 3-5). “Birch wood makes a hot fire,” answered one boy. Another said the bark was a good fire-starter. A third had a homemade hockey stick made of birch. All answers fit well with Larry’s new book, When the Spirits Dance. The final chapter is set in a Cree camp in a birch grove. Not many city children would know the uses of birch!