Review - kimotinâniwiw itwêwina / Stolen Words

kimotinâniwiw itwêwina / Stolen Words
by Melanie Florence
illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard
Date: 2019
Publisher: Second Story Press
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 24
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

This is the story of the beautiful relationship between a little girl and her grandfather. When she asks her grandfather how to say something in his language, Cree, he admits that his language was stolen from him when he was a boy. The little girl then sets out to help her grandfather find his language again. This sensitive and warmly illustrated picture book explores the intergenerational impact of the residential school system that separated young Indigenous children from their families. The story recognizes the pain of those whose culture and language were taken from them, how that pain is passed down and how healing can also be shared.

Dual-language edition in English and Cree.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

This is a difficult book for me to rate. It has one glaring problem. It's not the lovely, heart-warming story. It's not the warm, pretty illustrations. It's not the interesting glossary/pronunciation guide for the Plains Cree words. Actually, it's the English text... and in a book that's all about the importance of language and tradition, I found the writing choices rather appalling.

Each page features a section of the story written in Plains Cree and then one in English. The problem is that, in the English version, there are no quotation marks at all. In a book that heavily features a conversation between a grandfather and granddaughter, this is a really weird choice. I had trouble at times figuring out what was speech and what was straight narrative... until I realized that the Plains Cree text was properly punctuated! It also used italics to set off the foreign words, making the Plains Cree text clearer and more technically correct than the English text. It's just too bad I don't speak Plains Cree, or I could've read that version!

The illustrations are wonderful, and the story is both sad and ultimately hopeful. It gently introduces young children to the history of residential schools without getting too graphic or scary. The story is simply about recovering something that was lost (in this case, language), and the little girl gives her grandfather a wonderful gift.

I really wish I could've rated this one higher. But picture books that try to get artsy with the English language are one of my pet peeves. You don't go messing with grammar and punctuation when your audience is still learning the conventions of the language. Leave that stuff for YA and adult books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Second Story Press for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 4/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 4/5

Enjoyment: 3/5

Overall: 3.33 out of 5