An authentic Woodlands Cree children's picture book for ages 6-8, focusing on land-based learning and intergenerational knowledge.
My Place-making Cabin is an inspiring Indigenous children's picture book aimed at readers from 6 to 8 years old. Written by Nihithaw author Reanna McKay and set against the rich landscape of Northern Manitoba, this story serves as a resource for land-based learning. Follow a young Woodlands Cree girl and her mooshum (grandfather) as they build a traditional log cabin and explore Indigenous teachings and land-based learning.
In My Place-making Cabin, Mooshum shares each step of the process, from offering thanks, or kinânaskomitin, to the land, to gathering and stripping logs, digging the foundation, and raising the cabin together.
Rooted in the Indigenous practice of place-making, the act of creating homes in reciprocal relationship with nature, this moving story
- highlights the vital care, language, and traditional knowledge passed down from one generation to the next,
- is a pathway to classroom reconciliation and Indigenous STEM teaching,
- is inspired by the author's own life, and
- answers an educational Call to Action by bringing authentic, northern traditions into classrooms.
This book is an exceptional tool for primary classrooms, libraries, and homes looking to celebrate Indigenous resilience, intergenerational storytelling, and sustainable, land-based practices.
