Lately I have been really enjoying dual language books, ones that share Indigenous languages with readers. In This is What I’ve Been Told/Mii Yi Gaa-Bi-Wiindmaagooyaan by Juliana Armstrong readers are treated to a beautiful book filled with Anishinaabemowin words along with their meanings and their connections to the Ojibway.

There is important knowledge within the pages of this book, perfect for young language learners. Many indigenous languages are threatened due to the historical and ongoing genocide of Indigenous peoples in North America. Juliana Armstrong is an Anishinaabemowin language teacher and is preserving the language and sharing it through this beautiful book with not only other Anishinaabeg but also settlers so we can learn and understand the beauty of this language. Wouldn’t it be incredible if instead of mandatory french learning in public schools, it could be replaced with the learning of the traditional language of the territory the school occupies? Or at the very least give families the option? As Perry McLeod-Shabogesic puts it in the blurb on the back cover, “[this book] is truly full of good Mshkiki (medicine)”. As a settler reading through the text, I felt it as well, the medicine of the words.

The illustrations in the book are gorgeous. Simple lines and muted colours fill the pages with community and love. This is What I’ve Been Told/Mii Yi Gaa-Bi-Wiindmaagooyaan is a book any reader should be able to access to learn more about the history of the people who have been the caretakers of this land for thousands of years.

You can purchase this book and the accompanying lesson plan by heading to Medicine Wheel Education HERE.