• Age: 3 to 5
• Grade: p to k

In this warm and joyful picture book highly recommended by Debbie Reese, children learn Cree from Nimoshom, their school bus driver.

Based on the author’s memories of her grandfather, Nimoshom is not your average bus driver. He loves to drive the school bus, tell silly stories, and share his language with the kids who ride his bus.

Nimoshom and His Bus introduces readers to common Cree words and phrases alongside the common childhood experience of riding the school bus. A Cree word list is included in the back of the book.

Penny M. Thomas, of Cree-Ojibway background, believes in approaching healing from all directions, with storytelling key to this purpose. She is an advocate for First Nations people and works in the field of psychology and therapy. Her first book for children, Powwow Counting in Cree,  is the winner of the McNally Robinson Book for Young People Award.

@ThomasMPenny

Penny M. Thomas' profile page

Karen Hibbard (she/her/hers) is a freelance illustrator who lives and works in Victoria, BC. Karen loved being read to when she was a child, and she hopes to recreate those magical experiences for families through her art. Drawing on a long career as a visual artist, Karen has illustrated picture books for Planète Rebelle, Les Éditions du Soleil de Minuit, and Annick Press as well as several activity books with Éditions Mango on behalf of the Musée d’Orsay.

In her free time, Karen enjoys watching hummingbirds and makes sure her feeder is always full of sugar water!

Karen Hibbard's profile page

A sweet introduction to some simple Cree words in the context of a common-place activity for many children. Karen Hibbard, who uses watercolours and pastels to create a gentle background for Nimoshom's day on his bus, gives the story a grassroots mood, highly appropriate for a routine day of activity and interaction for this bus driver and his charges. It's very relatable.

CanLit for Little Canadians

...a rhythmic pacing and a conversational quality that makes for an enjoyable read-aloud experience...loose, expressive mixed-media illustrations capture the warm relationship between nimoshom and the children...

The Horn Book Magazine

We’re always delighted by books by Native writers—especially ones set in the present. The straightforward text is terrific. Hibbard’s illustrations perfectly capture the warmth and joy of the kids on that bus, and the guy who drives their bus. I highly recommend Nimoshom and His Bus! It’d be a simple thing to use other Native words in addition to–or instead of–the Cree words in the book.

American Indians in Children’s Literature

A simple but endearing glimpse of Cree language and life.

Kirkus Reviews

Through accessible language and engaging visual resources, readers are introduced to basic Cree as Nimoshom responds in this language to the children who ride his bus. Amidst a rural fall setting, with woodland animals, children, and the school bus, Nimoshom’s humorous nature shines through these gentle illustrations.

CM: Canadian Review of Materials

Part language primer, part loving tribute, this picture book adds up to a lovely addition for most library collections.

School Library Journal