Books written in Ojibwemowin

Our goal is to connect you to as many resources for language learners as we can. However, inclusion in this list is not an endorsement of any of these tools, books, materials or websites. Look around at what is available, know yourself and your learning style, and choose what works best for you.

Living Our Language : Ojibwe Tales and Oral Histories
by Anton Truer (translator)
Paperback - 320 pages (May 2001)
Minnesota Historical Society
ISBN: 0873514041

A Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe
by Earl Nyholm, John D. Nichols
Paperback - 288 pages (January 1995)
Univ of Minnesota Press
ISBN: 0816624283

A dictionary of the Ojibwe language using the double vowel writing system.

A Dictionary of the Ojibway Language
by Friedrich Baraga, Frederic Baraga, John D. Nichols
Paperback - 731 pages Reprint edition (October 1992)
Minnesota Historical Society
ISBN: 0873512812

 

Portage Lake: Memories of an Ojibwe Childhood
by Maude Kegg, John D. Nichols (Editor)
Paperback (October 1993)
Univ of Minnesota Pr (Txt)
ISBN: 0816624151

Maude tells many stories of her girlhood in th late 19th century. She grew up among traditional people who had almost no contact with white people. Though there are a few myths and legends here, these are stories she was told, and they are part of some daily event of her life. The stories are on facing pages in English and Ojibwe. Maude's stories are good and cast a new light on Ojibwe history.

Available exclusively at Birchbark Books and Native Arts. Call 612-374-4023 or visit their website at www.birchbarkbooks.com.

Naawigiizis: Memories of the Center of the Moon
Jim Clark
Birchbark Books Press, $13.95

This book would be an important enough document if it only collected the memories and cultural wisdom of one of the most respected of the Anishinaabe elders living in Minnesota, Naawigiizis, Jim Clark. It is even more valuable in that it captures his remarkable impressions not just in English, Jim's second language, but also presents several stories in Ojibwe, his first language - and for good measure, gives us two stories only in Ojibwe. All readers have a first person account of growing up in two cultures in the early decades of the 20th Century as the Ojibwe people struggled to keep their traditions in the face of the mounting pressures to assimilate into White culture. People who know or are learning the Ojibwe language, and want to preserve it, also have a vital record of a way of thinking and speaking that embodies these traditions as no mere artifact can.

Omaa Akiing
Anton Treuer
Birchbark Books Press, $11.00

Omaa Akiing is the second book published on the Birchbark Books Press. It is the stories of five Ojibwe elders collected by Anton Treuer. Omaa Akiing is written entirely in Ojibwe.