Ishkode: A Story of Fire by Evan Larson (Author), Nisogaabokwe Melonee Montano (Author), and Moira (Miri) Villiard (Illustrator)
This review first appeared on Third Coast Review . Read the Third Coast Review version here . Ishkode: A Story of Fire written by Evan Larson and Nisogaabokwe Melonee Montano and illustrated by Moira (Miri) Villiard is a strikingly illuminating story of a people’s relationship with the natural world including bapakwanagemagoog (red pine trees), aki (land), zaaga’igan (land), aandeg (crow), and ishkode (fire). Ishkode additionally shows how that relationship can be strengthened once more despite cruel actors having taken an axe to it. Ishkode opens with a meaningful foreword from Robin Wall Kimmerer–a botanist and author often best-known for her 2013 book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants . Kimmerer shares that yatsokejek gechwa mnedowiwat (storytellers) are sacred and that it is thanks to them that many people today know their cultures' stories that otherwise may have been lost. One day, a grandmother picking blueberri...
