Forthcoming! Nenookaasi Mawadishiwe: Hummingbird Visits

If you love Bebikaan-ezhiwebiziwinan Nimkii: The Adventures of Nimkii by Stacie Sheldon, you'll love our newest bilingual children's book by debut author, Erin Leary.

Feb 23

Nenookaasi Mawadishiwe: Hummingbird Visits is a vibrant, beautiful bilingual children’s book written in both Ojibwemowin and English. While readers learn about hummingbirds and their yearly migratory patterns, they are also exposed to Ojibwemowin, a beautiful language spoken by the indigenous tribes in parts of Michigan, Ontario, northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, and Alberta.

From summer to spring, readers will follow a single male hummingbird as he transforms from a nestling to a fully grown male ready to welcome his own nestlings to the world. Read, learn, and make some of your own sugar water to help feed the hummingbirds!

Author Erin Leary (below) wrote and illustrated this story of a young hummingbird as a final project in an Ojibwemowin language course. With encouragement from Margaret Noodin, translator of Bebikaan-ezhiwebiziwinan and now of Nenookaasi Mawadishiwe, Erin continued to work on this story. Her love of the language, of the wildlife around her, and her art come together in harmony in her debut children’s book.

To get your hands on first copies of Nenookaasi Mawadishiwe and a coloring book full of beautiful line drawings that all budding artists, young and old, will enjoy, watch for PRE-ORDERS, coming soon!

four images: author Erin Leary in bottom left image, light brown hair, white shirt, smiling, with a background of green foliage and daisies; other images are artwork from her debut book, hummingbird in flight, sitting above a feeder, drinking from flowers

To view more of Erin’s art, visit her on Instagram.

Consider donating to support our work.