Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe member Cheryl Minnema [MIN-eh-muh] published her first childrens book in 2014. And her second children’s book is out now. Reporter Melissa Townsend talked with her about her new work.
Transcript
Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe member Cheryl Minnema [MIN-eh-muh] published her first childrens book in 2014. And her second children’s book is out now. Reporter Melissa Townsend talked with her about her new work.
Cheryl Minnema grew up around her Grandmother and her younger brother Johnny in northern Minnesota. And they are both the central characters in her books — Hungry Johnny and Johnny’s Pheasant.
MINNEMA: Yes, Grandma and Johnny are very impressionable people in my life. It’s easy to draw from those memories.
Her brother Johnny passed away a number of years ago but he comes to mind often.
CHERYL: Sometimes I set out to write a particular story that I have in my mind. And then I realize I hear Johnny’s voice in it. (:10)
Cheryl Minnema’s newest book - Johnny’s Pheasant - is an elegantly simple story. She purposefully doesn’t do a lot of explanation or offer a lot of backstory in the book.
MINNEMA: I set out to present situations that are very normal and very natural within the culture. Whether Grandma is visiting or Grandma lives with the nuclear family - it’s just very natural. (:14)
It all starts when Johnny and his Grandma see a pheasant laying motionless on the side of the road. Is he dead or sleeping? You don’t know until the end of the story.
Minnema also writes poetry and it comes through in her writing — like when she describes a feather “zigging and zagging and zigging and zagging ” to the ground.
The story’s Ojibwe Cultural references are clear but also subtle. The Grandmother tells Johnny - if the pheasant is dead - she can use the feathers in her craftwork. And I wonder if this is the only published children’s book where the last lines are “Howah!”
MINNEMA: It’s an expression within the Ojibwe language expression of like Wow, thank you. There is so much in that little word. (:14)
Just like there is so much in this short story. Johnny’s Pheasant is illustrated by Julie Flett who is Cree-Metis and published by the University of Minnesota Press.
For Minnesota Native News, I’m Melissa Townsend.