Book review: The Tree by the Woodpile

Reviewed by Alex Hebert

The book, The Tree by the Woodpile, has three stories in it that all have teachings from the point of view of Raymond Yakeleya, a Dene man from the Northwest Territories.  The teachings in the stories are from his Granny Elizabeth, Uncle Alfred and Granny Harriet.

The first story, which is the longest, has parts translated into Dene which I found hard to read because it has a lot of punctuation marks that I don’t understand.

Each of the stories have teaching about respecting nature, the elements, animals and ourselves.  The author explains through stories about how the Creator is important and even though we can’t see Him, that He is always with us.

This book features nice illustrations by Deborah Desmarais who is an artist from Calgary, Alberta.

This book is an easy read and I recommend it to people of all ages.

The Tree by the Woodpile by Raymond Yakeleya published by Uproute Books & Media, Durvile Publications, 2018, 64 pages. ISBN 9781988824031

Alex Hebert is a 13 year-old citizen of Dokis First Nation and attends White Woods Public School in Sturgeon Falls.  At age seven, he was the designer of the world’s first Treaty of Niagara LEGO wampum belt.  His story is featured in the book “Alex Shares his Wampum Belt”, which is available through the Anishinabek Nation head office.