Mii maanda ezhi-gkendmaanh: Niibing, dgwaagig, bboong, mnookmig dbaadjigaade maanpii mzin’igning = This Is How I Know: A Book About the Seasons

This is How I Know takes readers on a journey with a young girl and her grandmother as they observe the change in seasons. Their travels begin in water as they canoe and reach a shoreline in the summertime; then there is a transition to fall where they venture from the beach to an open forest; alas, winter arrives, and, while they spend some time in the warmth of an indoor setting, they continue to observe the natural wildlife outside of their window and notice how the various animals, both large and small, adjust their routines along with the change in seasons; lastly, spring arrives, and the story comes full circle as they are back on the same beach and forest setting from the first page in the book.

The author, Brittany Luby, is of Anishinaabe descent and was born in northwestern Ontario. She is an award-winning researcher who seeks to stimulate public discussion of Indigenous issues through her work. In This is How I Know, she incorporates Indigenous translations by providing the short sentences on each page in both English and Anishinaabemowin. While there are too many Anishinaabemowin words in the story to include a pronunciation guide for each one, it would enhance the learning for readers if there were some sort of pronunciation tool at the back of the book to teach some common word sounds or the pronunciation for a few words, such as summer, fall, winter, and spring. Without such a tool, it is easy for those who are unfamiliar with the language to neglect the lengthy and difficult Anishinaabemowin words on each page and not attempt to read them.

The digitally created two-page spread illustrations are the main attraction of this story. Regardless of whether the audience is a beginning reader or fluent, the illustrations beautifully depict what the words state. Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley is a Canadian Ojibwe woodland artist who developed these images. According to the description in the back of the book, his work aims to reclaim and promote traditional Ojibwe stories and teachings in a contemporary woodland style. Although he has produced art in many forms, This is How I Know is his first picture book. There is a unique viewpoint which is uniform in most illustrations throughout the story; readers are primarily positioned in a way which looks at the young girl and her grandmother from behind. For example, the beginning page sets readers at a perspective that is behind trees, looking at the two main book characters sitting at a distance in a canoe. On other pages, the illustrations show a view of their backs, making it feel and appear as though the reader is standing behind them. Perhaps the illustrator’s intention for this may be to provide an opportunity for readers to make their own observations of the natural changes in wildlife and landscapes as the seasons change.

Overall, This is How I Know is highly recommended for being a simple and charming tool to teach and learn about various forms of Indigenous knowledge: language, artwork, and traditional ways of learning and knowing. While it’s a simple story, there is also the option to take on greater complexity by further analyzing the history behind this cultural knowledge.