Gretchen Sands-Gamble turns family language lessons into a counting book

The Bkejwanong author and educator drew on her children’s time with their grandparents to create a board book in English and Anishinaabemowin.

When Gretchen Sands-Gamble heard her son asking his older sister to speak Ojibwe to him, she saw the beginning of a story.

Sunny had been learning Anishinaabemowin at school and bringing songs home to her brother, Colton. For their mother, an Anishinaabe author and educator from Bkejwanong, or Walpole Island First Nation, that exchange became the inspiration for Counting Bugs / Aambe Gindaasdaa Mnidooshag.

The board book, published by Second Story Press and illustrated by Storm Angeconeb, introduces young readers to counting and insects in English and Anishinaabemowin.

In written responses to the Journal, Sands-Gamble said the story grew from her children’s time at their grandparents’ home in Bkejwanong. She and her brother had heard Ojibwe with family and in daycare, but did not learn it while attending an LKDSB elementary school.

Seeing her daughter learn the language and share it with her younger brother gave Sands-Gamble a different experience to write about.

“I wrote a sweet story about Colton asking Sunny to ‘talk Ojibwe’ to him, as they count bugs in their Mishoomis and Nokomis’ (Grandpa and Grandma’s) yard,” she wrote.

She entered the story in an Indigenous writing competition run by Second Story Press. Although she did not win, the publisher asked to adapt it as a board book for babies. Sands-Gamble said the writing was simplified for younger readers and she worked with the publisher’s Ojibwe language knowledge keeper.

Angeconeb, an artist from Lac Seul First Nation in Treaty Three Territory, created the illustrations.

Sands-Gamble also brings the language into her classroom at AA Wright in Wallaceburg. She described hearing Anishinaabemowin in school video announcements and being greeted by students in the community.

Her hope, she said, is for students to feel that they belong and that the language has a valuable place in their school community.

Her creative work extends to painting, sewing and music. She encourages students to draw on their own experiences, relationships and surroundings.

“We all have stories within us,” she wrote. “These stories are what make us who we are.”

Counting Bugs / Aambe Gindaasdaa Mnidooshag was published Oct. 6, according to Second Story Press. The 24-page board book is intended for children up to age two. Copies are available at The Book Keeper in Sarnia.