• Age: 1 to 3
• Grade: p
• Reading age: 1 to 3

Eating and sleeping are two popular pastimes for babies, but that's not all they do. I See Me provides a tender snapshot of what a child’s day—or hour—might look like. Each adorable image includes an English caption with space below for parents to translate the word into their own language.

Margaret Manuel was born in Kamloops, British Columbia and was raised in Merritt, BC. She is of Okanagan and Shuswap ancestry and comes from a family of traditional knowledge keepers. Along with her siblings, she was taught the Okanagan language, while she is still not fluent she continues to struggle with her grasp of the language her people speak. It is with this fight to retain the little that she knows and her willingness to keep the flame burning that she continues her journey toward fluency in her native tongue. A mother of two, she also tries to teach and encourage her children to follow in her footsteps.

 

Margaret Manuel's profile page

• Commended, American Indian Library Association
• Commended, New York Book Festival

I See Me

This appealing and sturdy board book will provide a useful resource to accompany The Roots of Empathy Program, an expanding Social Responsibility project for studying babies and mothers in early primary classrooms. The simple pattern phrase of “I see me ...” on each page ends with a different verb, highlighted in upper case letters, which clearly describes the action of the baby pictured. A blank line below each sentence in English allows for a different language to be added. The photographs depict the baby playing with an aboriginal drum and rattle as well as displaying typical infant behaviour with verbs such as drink, eat, smile, cry and to conclude, a hug and kiss with Mom.

The author is of Okanagan and Shuswap ancestry. She was born in Kamloops, BC and is the mother of two.