It is said that when Europeans first arrived in North America they found that the people already knew of Jesus by the name of Deganawideh the Peacemaker. The original version of The Huron Carol, written by a Jesuit missionary 400 years ago relates the birth of Jesus using familiar imagery of the people. Jesus was born in "a lodge of broken bark' and wrapped in "a robe of rabbit skin". Bouchard enlarges upon the lyrics creating more of a complete story.

This book is a collaboration between the three groups that comprise Canada's Aboriginal peoples: First Nations, Mètis and Inuit. Mètis poet David Bouchard's text is accompanied by the Inuktitut translation. Inuk singer Susan Aglukark provides a very pleasing musical translation in Inuktitut on the accompanying CD that also includes a reading in English. Each page is spectacularly illustrated by First Nations artist Moses Beaver. Whether Christian or not, this is a fabulous treasure to be brought out and appreciated every Christmas. ( )

Metis children's author David Bouchard - whose other bilingual picture-books with First Nations content include The Drum Calls Softly (English/Cree), Nokum Is My Teacher (English/Cree), and Long Powwow Nights (English/Mi'kmaq) - teams up here with illustrator Moses Beaver, of the Nibinamik people of northern Ontario, and Inuit musician Susan Aglukark, to produce this beautiful Christmas celebration.

The English text, reworked by Bouchard, is based upon the famous The Huron Carol (Jesous Ahatonhia), written by Jesuit missionary Jean de Brébeuf in 1643, in which the story of the nativity is retold in indigenous idiom - the stable becomes a "lodge of broken bark," the shepherds, hunters. An Inuktitut translation, using the Inuktitut syllabary, is provided by Aglukark, whose narration of the same, together with two musical tracks (the Inuktituk version of the carol), and Bouchard's narration of the English, are included on the accompanying four-track CD.

Although I have read the Iroquois saga of Deganawidah, the Peacemaker, in White Roots of Peace: The Iroquois Book of Life, and am therefore familiar with his story, I was not aware that some people consider him another manifestation of Christ. I'm not sure, all things considered, that Bouchard needed to include that information, in his brief prefatory comments, as he never expands upon it, and the book stands very well on its own. It's fascinating that a carol originally written in Huron, then translated into English, is here presented in English, with Inuktituk translation - from native, to non-native, to native again. ( )