Caribou Song

Publisher's Description (Fifth House): 
Joe and Cody are young Cree brothers who follow the caribou all year long, tucked into their dog sled with Mama and Papa. To entice the wandering herds, Joe plays his accordion and Cody dances, whirling like a young caribou.

They are so busy playing and dancing, they don't hear the rumble of the caribou. Bursting from the forest, ten thousand animals fill the meadow. Joe is engulfed; he can barely see Cody a few yards away. Their parents seem to have disappeared.

And yet what should be a moment of terror turns into something mystical and magical, as the boys open their arms and their hearts to embrace the caribou spirit.

Written in English with Cree translations

Author and Illustrator Biographies (Fifth House and https://nativecanadianarts.com/artist/john-rombough-2/): 
Tomson Highway, a full-blood Cree,  is a registered member of the Barren Lands First Nation, the village for which is called Brochet. He grew up in the spectacularly beautiful natural landscape that is Canada's sub-Arctic, an un-peopled region of hundreds of lakes, endless forests of spruce and pine, and great herds of caribou. His parents, with no access to books, TV or radio, would tell their children stories, and Tomson fell in love with the oral tradition of storytelling. When he was six, he was taken from his family and placed in residential school in The Pas. Although he resented being taken away from his parent and family, he did learn music, and had plans to become a concert pianist. He traveled to London to study, and earned his music degree in 1975 and a Bachelor’s of Arts in 1976 from the University of Western Ontario. But instead of becoming a professional concert musician, Highway instead decided to dedicate his life to the service of his people.

Subsequently, for seven years, he immersed himself in the field of Native social work, working on reserves and in urban centres across Ontario and, later on, Canada. He then decided it was time to put all this extraordinary artistic training and this extraordinary Native social work experience together – he started writing music, plays, and, later, novels. After years of working in the Toronto theatre industry, he achieved national and international recognition in 1986 with his sixth play, the multi-award-winning The Rez Sisters.

He was made a member of the Order of Canada in 1994 and his latest award is a winner of the 2022 Governor General's Performing Arts Award.

Chipewyan Dene artist John Rombough is nationally recognized for his works. John grew up in Prince Edward Island with adoptive parents Carol and Lyall Rombough, where an early interest in drawing and painting was nurtured in an artistic environment. As a young adult, Rombough began searching for his birth parents and soon found his biological father, Alfred Catholique, living in the small community of LutselK’e on the eastern shore of Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories. Warmly welcomed by the Catholique family, John moved to LutselK’e in order to rediscover his cultural identity.
John’s painting style reflects the harmony of the Dene people, their way of life and the natural world. His distinctive modern aboriginal designs encompass his personal visions and strong connections with his rediscovered roots. Rombough feels that new cultural discoveries continue to provide him with inspiration and an inexhaustible reservoir of ideas to put on canvas. He has been featured in many shows and exhibitions across Canada, including the 2010 Olympic Games, and aspires to inspire other up-and-coming aboriginal artists through creative workshops. A professional artist for over a decade, Rombough’s paintings adorn the walls of corporations, governments, and art patrons all over the world.

Resource format: Picturebook

Age recommendation: Grades 1-7

Keywords: dual language book, Cree, young brothers, northern Canada, Cree language, kinship, north, dog, caribou, husky, mush, sled, accordion, sing, dance, island, whitefish, bannock, meadow, safety, herd, family, love, relief 

Year of publication: 2013

Publisher information: Fifth House