Wiikwemkoong educator stars in picture book celebrating Anishinaabe traditions

Nimkii Lavell hasplenty of experience reading to kids. He used to work as a school librarianand is now the land-based learning lead for the Wiikwemkoong Board of Educationon Manitoulin Island in northern Ontario.

But after years of reading countless books out loud, he recently had a first involving a picture book where he'sthe title character.

Lavell is the star ofIce Fishing With Nimkii, which was created by literacy non-profit Innovations for Learning Canada, in partnership with the board of education.

"It was a fantastic and wonderful surprise,"Lavell said.

"To see myself and the children that I work with represented in this way, what a joy."

The book depicts a simple story about taking a group of children out on the iceand teaching them Anishinaabe traditions.

"Nimkii is a star at the WiikwemkoongBoard of Education,"said Fabrice Grover,Innovations for Learning Canada's executive director.

"So he was a natural fit for our story collection."

Ice Fishing With Nimkii is one of the first of a series of 14 books the non-profit is publishing thatfocus on Indigenous innovation and land-based learning all part of an effort to provide culturally relevant reading material for students, and celebrate and share Indigenous stories.

Improving reading scores

Wiikwemkoong Junior School was the first school to partner with Innovations for Learning when it expanded into Canada in 2018. The non-profit hassince partnered with a number of other schools on Manitoulin Islandand has expanded throughout much of the country.

The organization works to help at-risk students read at grade level by the end of Grade 3. It offers short, intensive one-on-one daily phonics tutoring, as well as weekly tutoring sessions with volunteers from businesses that partner with the non-profit.

"The combination of those two things means that kids who normally wouldn't complete the year at grade level do,"Grover said.

"When you don't read at grade level by the end of third grade, you're four times less likely to graduate high school. And by the time you're 12, there's a five-year gap that forms. So that's why we're focused on these young kids, because we want to close the gap before it even begins."

Since partnering with Wiikwemkoong Junior School, Grover said, there has been a "dramatic"improvement in reading scores, with roughly 80 per cent of students now reading at grade level, compared with less than half before the partnership.

Celebrating culture, language

As a former librarian, Lavell knows first hand the challenges of finding culturally relevant books to share with students.

"It was next to impossible. Either the representations of First Nations people were just complete stereotypes, you know, and cartoons, with no meaningful content, or they were placed in some sort of historical context that meant our children couldn't see themselves in these stories."

Lavell said he's seen the benefit for students as the school board has put an increased focus on traditional land-based learning in the last few years. Activities like ice fishing, building a canoe and learning about maple syrup production are woven into the school year, and enhance the curriculum.

Lavellhopes having books that depict those activities and stories will make a difference, too.

"Being able to seetheir own faces and stories reflected back to them in a book is so empowering."

The book also includes words in Anishnaabemowin, complementing the school board's focus on incorporating the language as much as possible into the school day.

As Lavell read to a group of Grade 2 students, they began counting in unison with him in Anishinaabewomin.

"When I first came to Wiikwemkoong, I remember hearing from the high school students that they wished that they'd had the language earlier, so that they could pass it on to their kids. And this to me shows that that's happening. So we are just amplifying and supporting the work that the school is already doing,"Grover said.

'Moving away from the stereotypes'

A limited number of hard-copy books have been printedand given to students at the school. Ice Fishing With Nimkii, and the other books in the seriesare being published primarily as e-books, which will be available freearound the world.

Already, feedback is coming in, from both near and far.

"It's the first time I've ever saw someone I knew in a book,"said Daxton Wabano, a Grade 2 Wiikwemkoong Junior School student.

Grover said positive reviews are coming in from students and families in places from Moose Factory, in Ontario's far north, to Florida.

Lavell said it's "fantastic"to think of the book having a reach beyond Wiikwemkoong.

"One of the other sort of benefits of this story is that it represents our people as being real, right. We're moving away from the stereotypes,"Lavell said.

"And I think that if other First Nations across Canada read this story, they'll recognize elements of their own stories in this one. Everybody has an uncle like Mr. Nimkii."