Where Courage Is Like a Wild Horse The World of an Indian Orphanage By Sharon Skolnick (Okee-Chee) and Manny Skolnick Published by University of Nebraska Press 1997 I started reading this one way back and put it down for a while. Since I have a pile of books to read at times it kind of got lost in die shuffle. That was unfortunate but because of die haunting quality of die writing when I picked it up again it was like I had set it down yesterday.

The writing had made such an impact on me it made it into my long tenu memory. There’s not many books diat can make diat claim diese days.

file story is a simple one of hope, rebellion, being scared, lieing yourself and trying to keep your roots among a group of kids cooping widi die same diings.

Sharon is a Apache cliild, who along widi her sister, are put up for adoption. The story tells of die time in die orphanage and touches on die types of foster homes Native cliildren were housed in during die 1950’s in Oklahoma.

Historical value aside diis is a story diat you’ll want to read. It is short and bittersweet until die end when they are finally adopted. It is a journey of childhood diat is in itself amazing for the memories and stories that seem to clear as the day they happened.

Recommended for all ages.

Long Shadows Walking Poems, Facts, and Lore from Muslikegowuk By Mark Storey Your Scrivener Press 2001 A while back I received a letter from Mary Jane Storey, a Cree working in Moosonee promoting her “hub’s” book. It was a book diat was a family effort with her Mom and Dad assisting with the translations and lore. It was a delightful surprise and I’m sorry it took so long to tell you about it It isn’t a long book with only 57 pages but it is an interesting book that Crees can take pride in. I particularly liked the facts and lore. An example of this was the “Did You Know?” tidbits scattered throughout the book. One of them reads,“In 1631, seeking a northwest passage, English navigator Thomas James, sailing on the Henrietta Maria, became the first European to explore the west coast of the James Bay (named in his honour). His harrowing account of the voyage discouraged for a century any further attempt to locate a northwest passage to Asia.” Now, this might be a example of a run-on sentence but it tells me everything I want to know and didn’t before. The book is full of tilings like this and Storey should be commended for his book.

The Pregnant Male Or Eight Steps to a Flat Stomach By Jack H. McQuaig T. H. Best Printing Company Ltd. 1982 A must for all Cree men. It doesn’t matter who you are, at some point you will be adding on the pounds if you don’t watch it and the hardest place to take it off’ is the stomach. Fortunately,

McQuaig approaches this problem of the pregnant male with a sense of humour and some concrete solutions. In his forward he writes, “I have met many men who claim to be in good condition through their activities in sports, yet complain about their potbellies.” He says other diets and exercise but have been unable to reduce the love handles. Yea brother, I hear you. One of my co-workers said he had heard there’s about 20 pounds per year waiting for you alter a certain age in the belly region. No matter what it is you have to admit that might be true for some of us.

Of course there is the looming spectre of diabetes waiting for First Nations people to spur us on. Get this book or one like it because it’s definitely time for the pregnant male to practice some birth control.

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