The First Day: A Story of Courage

By katherena vermette and Irene Kuziw

Makwa’s family just moved to the city, and it’s his first day at a new school. He doesn’t know anybody, he doesn’t have any friends, and everything is so new and scary. Can Makwa find the courage to overcome his fears and enjoy his first day?

In this relatable story, a young Anishinaabe boy learns that things that seem scary at first are often not so bad after all. A pronunciation guide for the Anishnaabemowin words can be found at the back of the book.

Rich in culture and grounded in traditional knowledge, Katherena Vermette’s The Seven Teachings Stories series features themes of love, wisdom, humility, courage, respect, honesty, and truth. Contemporary Indigenous children explore the Seven Teachings of the Anishinaabe through stories of home and family that will look familiar to all young readers in these books for ages 3–5.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HighWater Press
• Release date: Oct 26, 2018
• ISBN: 9781553798231

katherena vermette

KATHERENA VERMETTE is a Métis writer from Treaty One territory, the heart of the Métis nation, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Her first book, North End Love Songs (The Muses Company), won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry. Her NFB short documentary, this river, won the Coup de Coeur at the Montreal First Peoples Festival and a Canadian Screen Award. Her first novel, The Break, is the winner of three Manitoba Book Awards and the Amazon.ca First Novel Award, and it was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and CBC Canada Reads.

Book preview