Children’s love for animals and disguise come together in this award-winning introduction to the Anishinaabe tradition of totem animals.
In this introduction to the Anishinaabe tradition of totem animals, young children explain why they identify with different creatures such as a deer, beaver or moose. Delightful illustrations show the children wearing masks representing their chosen animal, while the few lines of text on each page work as a series of simple poems throughout the book.
In a brief author’s note, Danielle Daniel explains the importance of totem animals in Anishinaabe culture and how they can also act as animal guides for young children seeking to understand themselves and others.
Key Text Features
author’s note
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.7
With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4
Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.4
Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.7
Explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.2
Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.7
Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, poem).
Danielle Daniel, writer, artist and illustrator is Métis. Her first book, Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox, won the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award and was selected as one of New York Public Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing. A schoolteacher for many years, Danielle now writes and paints stories for children and adults and is pursuing her MFA in creative writing through the University of British Columbia. She recently published a nonfiction work, The Dependent: A Memoir of Marriage & the Military. She lives in Northern Ontario.
Winner — Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award
In this introduction to the Anishinaabe tradition of totem animals, young children explain why they identify with different creatures such as a deer, beaver or moose. Delightful illustrations show the children wearing masks representing their chosen animal, while the few lines of text on each page work as a series of simple poems throughout the book.
This book explores different parts of our identity, and invites response in a variety of curriculum areas: Drama (students become an animal of their choice and move and speak in role as that animal); Writing (write a first person account, in role, describing life as an animal); Visual Arts (create a mask or create an illustration to show an animal’s adventure) and Science (What facts do you know about that animal, What questions do you have about that animal characteristics?).
The author is available for school visits.
Source: Association of Canadian Publishers. Top Grade Selection 2016.