Northwest Territories, with an area of 1.3 million square km, is 35,000 times as big as my town of Newmarket, Ontario. Despite this, my small town has almost double the population of the entire Northwest Territories – 84k people vs. 45k people. One of the things I was looking forward to on my book week tour was experiencing all this beautiful “space”, and I wasn’t disappointed. Here are some highlights of my fantastic trip to Northwest Territories to present to students for TD Canadian Children’s Book Week:
May 6-7, 2018 – Travelling Throughout the Territory
The vast territory and low population density of Northwest Territories means travelling between schools and libraries entails a lot of driving. I was fortunate to have Janine Hoff, Community Library Literacy
Coordinator (NWT Public Library Services, Government of the Northwest Territories) journey those miles with me. Janine was a very pleasant travel companion who shared stories, information and history of the area. She is a wonderful ambassador for Northwest Territories. With Janine at the wheel of a Ford F150 4×4 over often pot-holed, loose-gravelled and largely unmarked roads for almost 25 hours of driving, we did about 1,600 km. Along the way we saw dozens of muskrats, three baby bears, two lynx and one bison.
Because the Ice Road to Fort Simpson was closed for the season, and the ferry not yet in operation, we helicoptered over for the presentations in this town.
While I was scheduled to give ten presentations, my first public presentation in Fort Liard on the evening of Monday, May 7 had to be cancelled due to an hour and a half delay in my Air Canada flight from Toronto to Edmonton on Sunday, May 6 that caused me to miss my connection to Hay River. Janine was originally to pick me up early Monday for the day-long drive to Fort Liard for the Monday evening event. However, with no further flights to NT that day, and no other way of getting there (none of the car rental companies would rent me a car to drive one-way to NT), I was grounded in Edmonton for the night. Shannon Barnes, Janine and the travel agent quickly recalibrated so I ended up flying to Yellowknife the next morning where Janine picked me up at the airport (driving five hours out of her way to do so) so we could drive the ten hours to Fort Liard and get in early enough to enable me to present to students at the school there the next morning.
As an overall comment, I was deeply impressed with how thoughtful, polite, intelligent and respectful the students were in the small communities I presented in. My surface impression is that most of the students I presented to—particularly in Fort Liard and Fort Simpson—embody an innocence and pureness that feels different from the groups of children I’ve presented to in my home province. In this sense, the classes felt similar to the ones I presented to in the small coastal communities of Labrador four years ago. This was a pretty amazing and moving part of the experience.
Echo Dene School, Fort Liard (Tue, May 8, 2018)
While small in size, the two classes at Echo Dene School in Fort Liard were big in heart. The students were attentive and inquisitive, and several of the grade 2-3 students gifted me with elaborate homemade cards.
The grade 4-5 teacher, Amy (who was making the children scrambled eggs and porridge just prior to the presentation), was exceptionally prepared. She and her students had visited the school webpage I’d created and completed several of the activities I developed (including listening to me read one of my books).
John Tsetso Memorial Library, Fort Simpson (Tue, May 8, 2018)
An exceptionally engaged group of parents and their children joined me for this evening presentation. I believe many of the adults were teachers, and their children were clearly well acquainted with the library and in love with books. A great homemade welcome sign promoted the event, created by librarian Roxanna Thompson and some children.
Bompas Elementary School, Fort Simpson (Wed, May 9, 2018)
I recognized some faces from the library event the evening before in these two engaged and fun classes. There’s a part in my presentation where I explain to students how the vet could tell how old the cat protagonist, Merlin (from The Chicken Cat) was by the composition of adult/baby teeth in his mouth, and how I could similarly surmise how old those in my audience were by looking at their smiles and noting whether they had missing teeth. At this point in the presentation, a little boy in the front row proudly held up one of his baby teeth that had apparently fallen out just minutes before!
Deh Gάh Elementary School, Fort Providence (Thu, May 10, 2018)
Our schedule was rearranged on the fly at this school as the younger grades had just embarked on a field trip in the area to learn about the land and their connection to it. We rescheduled to the afternoon and presented first to a slightly older group (up to grade 6—some of whom were perhaps a bit old for my picture books) followed by the grade 2-3’s.
Both groups were a bit rowdier than the students in Fort Liard and Fort Simpson. Being closer to a larger center (two hours from Hay River), these students are less isolated geographically. Janine indicated this hamlet was also the site of one of the residential schools.
The students in the older grades had created a great welcome sign, and the school also had a printout of the poster I’d created. Where perhaps a quarter of each group chatted a bit amongst themselves during the presentation, most of the students paid attention and engaged with questions and their own stories, and were lovely to work with.
Zhahti Koe Community Library Public Event, Fort Providence (Thu, May 10, 2018)
Housed in the same building as the earlier Deh Gáh school presentations, this evening public presentation served up some challenges given the wide age ranges in attendance from young toddlers to teenagers. Some floated in from the college (which also operates out of the building) and, to a large degree, the audience morphed and migrated throughout the room and building throughout. We concluded that my usual, structured presentation wouldn’t work in this setting. Instead, I read from my shorter books and talked one-on-one and in small groups with those there.
NWT Centennial Library Public Event, Hay River (Fri, May 11, 2018)
A grade 4 class from a local school (Princess Alexandra) and some toddlers from a local daycare joined us for this well-organized event. Janine’s mom baked some bannock for those who attended. The students were attentive, and engaged me with great questions and personal connections with my stories.
I am very grateful to Shannon Barnes and the CCBC, the Canada Council, the TD Bank, and Janine Hoff for making such an amazing trip possible. I personally benefited from meeting these students and teachers, and gained a greater appreciation for the culture of these people. I am hopeful that my presentation made a positive impact, and would like to believe that some of the children I presented to will, as I encouraged them, be inspired to write their own stories.
