huksaama t‘uc‘up ?uh?iš naniiqsu = Counting with t‘uc‘up and his Grandmother

If you had difficulty reading the “Excerpt” above, that’s because it’s in the Nuu-Chah-Nulth language, a language that is spoken by some of the Indigenous peoples whose traditional home is on the west coast of Vancouver Island. The work is essentially a beginning counting book, one that deals with the numbers from one to ten. In Mar’s illustrations, readers see a boy and his grandmother spending a day together out walking in nature. On each double page spread, Mar provides something from the natural world that the young reader can count. As the principal text is only in the Nuu-Chah-Nulth language, an English translation of the text is provided at the end of the book, and so nonspeakers of this Indigenous language will learn, for example, that the “Excerpt” meant “three trees”. Unfortunately, there is no pronunciation guide for the Nuu-Chah-Nulth words.

An important criterion in assessing a counting book is how easy it is for the youngster to identify what it is that is to be counted, and, with one exception, Mar’s illustrations are on point as children can readily count the number of birds, trees, flowers, mountains, rocks, butterflies, ants, berries and stars. The only challenging number is “one” which is represented by “day”. Whereas the other things to be counted were concrete nouns, a “day” is an abstract concept that cannot be seen or physically touched. Mar has chosen to represent “day” via what appears to be a sun rendered in a traditional two-dimensional Northwest Coast art style. Mar subtly suggests the passing on of knowledge by elders to a new generation through having the boy’s grandmother wearing a traditional cape and a conical cedar bark hat while her young grandson is outfitted in contemporary clothing.

According to an endnote, Peppermint Toast Publishing is giving 10% of the proceeds from every sale of this book to the Port Alberni Friendship Center.

Though the single language text could potentially pose some problems in settings where English is the only language spoken, huksaama t‘uc‘up ?uh?iš naniiqsu = Counting with t‘uc‘up and his Grandmother could be simply treated as a wordless counting book.

*Note: Because CM does not have access to the fonts for the Nuu-Chah-Nulth language, the title and the “Excerpt” are not an accurate renderings of the actual printed text.