kâ-pî-isi-kiskisiyân / The Way I Rememberby Solomon RattPublished by University of Regina PressReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$25.95 ISBN 9780889779143 I went to school with a relative of educator, writer, storyteller and keeper of the Woods Cree language, Solomon Ratt, so when his memoir kâ-pî-isi-kiskisiyân / The Way I Remember became available for review, I requested it. Blurbs from Buffy Sainte-Marie (“Sol is an international treasure …”) and Maria Campbell (“This is an important book …”) demonstrate that Ratt’s highly lauded for his work in restoring Woods Cree and preserving the traditional stories he heard near his home community “on the banks on the Churchill River just north of … Stanley Mission”. Ratt’s 340-page autobiography is uniquely and significantly presented in Cree th-dialect Standard Roman Orthography, syllabics and English. The cover features a photo of the smiling author, and this joviality’s evident in many of his autobiographical stories. Between ages six and sixteen, Ratt was “Torn from his family” for ten months each year to attend All Saints Indian Student Residential School in Prince Albert, SK. The abuse that several thousands of residential school survivors endured has been documented via the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2007-2015), and the multi-generational legacy…

Woods Cree Stories by Solomon Ratt Illustrated by Holly Martin Published by University of Regina Press Review by Keith Foster $24.95 ISBN 978-0-88977-345-5 Woods Cree Stories is a collection of nine Cree folkloric tales related in three versions – syllabic, Cree, and the English translation. Author Solomon Ratt embellishes his stories with humour as an aid to learning the Cree language. If they seem a little weird, it’s probably because Ratt describes himself as having “a weird sense of humour.” Some of the tales may seem far-fetched. In “Buffalo Wings,” Ratt takes readers on a fanciful flight of fantasy going back to olden days when buffalo had wings. According to Ratt’s mythology, buffalo were hunted just for their wings, which were a delicious delicacy. Shaking-Spear, a character in another story, talks to animals, and they talk back to him. In the end, he makes a talking tree very happy. Another amusing tale involves a mouse who tries to form a friendship pact with a rabbit, a man, a cat, and a porcupine, all of whom are quite conversational in both Cree and English. Inevitably their alliance starts to break up. The last straw is when man gets ravenously hungry and…