Grand Chief Salamoo Cook Is Coming to Town is a laugh-out-loud riot of a tale written by Tomson Highway. The musical picture book tells the story of a village of rabbits who receive word that an important visitor, Grand Chief Salamoo Cook himself, is coming to run a mysterious contest. The prize? A year’s supply of all-healing waaskee-choos juice!
In addition to introducing young readers to themes about nature and community, Highway wrote the story to create Cree language resources. “All native languages are in danger of dying in Canada,” says Highway. “There were more than 100 at one point, yet they’re dying every year. Many of them are dead already. Those of us who care about these things want them to live.” Read our interview with Highway and listen to his interview on the CBC podcast Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud.
Written in English, the story features several Cree terms and is accompanied by nine jazzy songs performed in Cree. “It’s fun, it’s funny, and it has just enough Cree language to be warm and inviting for young learners, whether or not you speak Cree,” says singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie. Readers can look up words in the glossary at the end of the book and learn how to say them with pronunciation videos recorded by Tomson Highway. Find the videos in the Resources section of our website and on our YouTube channel. The French version of Grand Chief Salamoo Cook Is Coming to Town, published by La montange secrète, is available here.
In collaboration with Arden Ogg from the Cree Literacy Network, The Secret Mountain has also developed a free teaching guide and activity sheets. The teaching guide includes several “bite-size” Cree lessons written in Standard Roman Orthography, which uses letters of the English alphabet to replicate Cree language sounds. Lessons include vocabulary and counting exercises, as well as grammatical ideas like animacy and pluralization. Download the free teaching guide for Grand Chief Salamoo Cook Is Coming to Town here: Teaching Guides. You can also browse and download individual activity sheets here: Activity Sheets.
<div>
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay informed about our new releases and events and for a chance to win our subscriber giveaway. To order books for your library or bookstore, please contact Hornblower Books/University of Toronto Press (Canada, United States) and MMS/BookSource (United Kingdom). For additional information, email info@thesecretmountain.com.
Search
Learn Cree with Grand Chief Salamoo Cook Is Coming to Town!
Grand Chief Salamoo Cook Is Coming to Town is a laugh-out-loud riot of a tale written by Tomson Highway. The musical picture book tells the story of a village of rabbits who receive word that an important visitor, Grand Chief Salamoo Cook himself, is coming to run a mysterious contest. The prize? A year’s supply of all-healing waaskee-choos juice!
In addition to introducing young readers to themes about nature and community, Highway wrote the story to create Cree language resources. “All native languages are in danger of dying in Canada,” says Highway. “There were more than 100 at one point, yet they’re dying every year. Many of them are dead already. Those of us who care about these things want them to live.” Read our interview with Highway and listen to his interview on the CBC podcast Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud.
Story and songs Tomson Highway Illustrations Delphine Renon Featuring performances by Coral Egan, Alexandre Désilets, Moe Clark and Angel Baribeau Narration Jimmy Blais. Find it on Bookshop, Shop Local (Canada), Indigo, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Edelweiss, and Goodreads.
Written in English, the story features several Cree terms and is accompanied by nine jazzy songs performed in Cree. “It’s fun, it’s funny, and it has just enough Cree language to be warm and inviting for young learners, whether or not you speak Cree,” says singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie. Readers can look up words in the glossary at the end of the book and learn how to say them with pronunciation videos recorded by Tomson Highway. Find the videos in the Resources section of our website and on our YouTube channel. The French version of Grand Chief Salamoo Cook Is Coming to Town, published by La montange secrète, is available here.
In collaboration with Arden Ogg from the Cree Literacy Network, The Secret Mountain has also developed a free teaching guide and activity sheets. The teaching guide includes several “bite-size” Cree lessons written in Standard Roman Orthography, which uses letters of the English alphabet to replicate Cree language sounds. Lessons include vocabulary and counting exercises, as well as grammatical ideas like animacy and pluralization. Download the free teaching guide for Grand Chief Salamoo Cook Is Coming to Town here: Teaching Guides. You can also browse and download individual activity sheets here: Activity Sheets.
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay informed about our new releases and events and for a chance to win our subscriber giveaway. To order books for your library or bookstore, please contact Hornblower Books/University of Toronto Press (Canada, United States) and MMS/BookSource (United Kingdom). For additional information, email info@thesecretmountain.com.