New Children’s Book Expands Availability of Cree Language for Kids

Patricia Deiter McArthur has held many roles as a Saskatchewan creative. She’s been a writer, a translator, an editor, an academic writer, and—perhaps most foundationally—an educator. With the support of Creative Saskatchewan’s book publishing grant she was able to bring her latest project, Nēhiyawēwin awāsi-masinahikanis: A Little Plains Cree Language Book for Children, to life.

Partnering with Regina’s Your Nickel’s Worth Publishing, Deiter has also brought on two elders and an illustrator from the Peepeekisis Cree Nation to edit the book and support the project. The book, which is primarily intended for use in educational settings, allows young readers to understand basic words, grammatical rules, and phrases in Plains Cree. The goal is to make the path to fluency a little bit easier while including illustrations alongside multiple formats for the book. For Deiter, it’s all about giving children the tools to succeed in preserving their language and culture.

“Following the themes of the Saskatchewan Curriculum Guide for Kindergarten to Grade 12 on Aboriginal Languages, the content focuses on terms familiar to the First Nations Cree people of Saskatchewan…Our hope is to encourage a basic understanding of the language so that learners are able to converse with Plains Cree speakers. The best path to fluency in the Plains Cree language is immersion, but learning one word at a time is a good place to start!”

Deiter, who teaches on Peepeekisis, originally chose to pursue creating the book because she needed a resource in her own classroom. Alongside her many published works, which include two books published by the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre, she is the executor of her aunt, Eleanor Brass’, literary work. Bringing Brass’ stories, originally published by the Glenbow Museum in 1978, back to print has been the focus of another grant Dieter received from Creative Saskatchewan in 2021.

Nēhiyawēwin awāsi-masinahikanis: A Little Plains Cree Language Book for Children has experienced immediate success with its initial print run close to selling out within a month. Deiter attributes this success to it being the only Plains Cree textbook available for those of elementary school age and also points to the fact that it has been ordered in the hundreds by schools and their districts since its release in late 2022. The book is available in an enhanced ebook format as well as a more traditional printed version. The main selling point of the ebook is that it allows those with access to a computer (no internet required once you have the file) to hear the words spoken, bringing the language to life and off the page.

By John Loeppky

Nēhiyawēwin awāsi-masinahikanis: A Little Plains Cree Language Book for Children is available via the publisher, Your Nickel’s Worth Publishing and Sask Books.