Snow day, p.1
Snow Day, page 1
Dedication
To Gabrielle and Maria, my favorite little snow bears
—DQ
To all Indigenous little girls who never got to see themselves in storybooks
—TA
About This Story
Jo Jo lives on a fictional Native American Ojibwe reservation, the Pembina Ojibwe Reservation. A reservation is land under the care of a Native Nation that calls it home. The land now called the United States is home to more than three hundred reservations and over five hundred Tribal Nations. There are many reservations in the United States, but Jo Jo’s is not an actual one. Every reservation has unique and special elements, and Jo Jo’s reservation incorporates many of those found in Ojibwe (and many other Native American) communities.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Dedication
About This Story
1: VitaMimi
2: Jo Jo’s Journal
3: Thirsty Grape
4: No Yellow Snow
5: Zippers, Frybread, and Car Repairs
6: Winner Olympics
7: Tuna and Tears
8: Let the Games Begin!
9: Heart Healthy
Jo Jo’s Glossary
Author’s Note
Editor’s Note
About the Author, Illustrator, and Editor
Back Ad
Books by Dawn Quigley
Copyright
About the Publisher
VitaMimi
“Mimi, you need to eat your treat.”
Mimi is not answering me. Or looking at me. Again.
“Remember, they help your teeth be nice and clean?”
Sometimes I do not like stinky kitty breath. Well, I do not like stinky kitty breath ever. It is not very fresh.
Sniff sniff. “Mimi, this smells so good! It is a very tiny kitty vitamin.”
Hmm, Mama always says to be helpful to little ones.
“See, Mimi, look at me! I’ll show you how yummy the vitamin is.” But I just pretend to eat it because this medicine is not for human kids. Just cat kids.
Sometimes I wish I could take a vitamin that’s just for kids. ’Cept Mama always says it’s better to get my vitamins from the food I eat. Vitamins have letter names like the alphabet: B, C, and D. But I’ve never seen the alphabet of vitamins in my food.
Wait, I know! Alphabet soup must be very healthy! ABCs all into me!
Mama and my kokum always talk about being healthy. Kokum has something called die-beeties. She has to eat healthy all the time. But Kokum sneaks little things like cherry Life Savers when Mama isn’t looking. Kokum is in love with sugar.
Kokum gives me a winky-blink when she sneaks her treat. That means it’s our little secret. But I want her to be a healthy grandma, so I say, “And tonight at dinner you will eat extra alphabet soup, my girl!”
My name is Jo Jo. You can call me Jo Jo. I am seven years old and in the first grade. My real big name is Josephine Makoons Azure. My middle name is Makoons. You say Makoons like this: ma-KOONS. It is a very good middle name because it means little bear cub. And my hungry tummy growls loud just like a little bear cub’s, too!
But I will not bite you. I promise.
I live on the Pembina Ojibwe Nation. We speak Michif and Ojibwe and English. Michif is a language made from words that are Cree, French, and Ojibwe.
It is good to have many languages here because we talk a lot. Sometimes my Auntie Anne talks so much I stare at her stomach to make sure she remembers to suck in air.
My Elders say that we are citizens of this Ojibwe Nation. Teacher told us you get to vote if you’re a citizen. But if I’m a citizen, when do I get to vote? I would vote for more Saturdays. And more ice cream. And less school.
I stand by the kitchen sink and watch until Mimi takes her kitty vitamin. It’s the one that cures stinky kitty breath.
“Oh, good job, Mimi!”
Meooow.
Yay! Now I can take her into my blanket fort in my room to play rummage sale. I always play the cashier and Mimi is the shopper. Well, she’s the only shopper, but she finds the best deals!
Mimi is just about to pay (she uses kitten kisses to pay) when Mama pops her head in our rummage-sale fort. “Jo Jo, do you have my measuring cups?”
“Well, hello, ma’am. Why, yes, we have a lovely set right here,” I say in my best cashier voice.
She puts her hand out. “Okay, I need them, my girl.”
“Righty-o. That’ll be twenty-five cents, please,” I say, tilting my head. Tilting your head means you are being helpful.
“But they’re mine.”
“Eya, and for only twenty-five cents you can have them! We take cash or check, ma’am. Or cookies.”
Mama looks at me and sighs. She must think it’s a very good price!
After eating my cookie, I clean up my rummage sale and go to set the table for dinner. Setting the table means grown-ups want you to use your fancy manners. I learned all about being fancy from my Auntie Anne’s wedding. Fancy manners are like not using your sleeve for a napkin, putting your pinky finger up when you write, swallowing your burps, and not spitting your peas in the milk to hide them. Although making green polka dot milk is very pretty.
“Mama, can Mimi sit with us at dinner tonight?”
“No, Jo Jo. Mimi is a cat, not a person.”
“But, Mama, Mimi is family. You always say, ‘family first,’” I say with fast blinking eyes. That means I am being very serious and full of truth.
Mama does not say anything (which means she did not say no!). She lip-points to Kokum’s room.
“Okay, I’ll go get her,” I say.
I skip down to Kokum’s room. Her door is open, and she is taking her medicine. Hmm, she is being very healthy. Our tribal chair is always reminding us to stay healthy in every season. Our Elders are very important, and it is good to check on them.
We hold hands and walk back to the kitchen (because Kokum’s skip is a little slower lately).
Hmm, there are Mama’s running shoes by the door. She is being very healthy when she runs. Sometimes when she leaves the house for a run, Kokum says, “Are you planning on coming back?” But she always says it with a giggle laugh. I love Kokum’s giggle laugh. It sounds like a mermaid blowing bubbles.
Hmm, Kokum is being healthy, Mama is, too, and even Mimi was also being very healthy when she ate her kitty vitamin. And she only spit it out three times!
I want to be healthy, too! But I think I should try to be neighborly to make sure everyone is staying healthy. The tribal chair says we need to check on our neighbors to make sure they are okay. And very important to do it in the winter!
I will be a very neighborly neighbor. Even to Brie (who is not a best friend). Maybe. Or maybe not.
“Make way for the chef!” Mama says, bringing dishes to the table.
When grown-ups say chef it means they think they are very good cooks. Sometimes they are wrong.
We all sit down to eat. Mimi, too.
“Jo Jo, I said Mimi can’t sit at the table.”
“But she’s not! She’s sitting in my sweatshirt hood. See? She’s not sitting at the table—she’s sitting in my hood!”
Mama and Kokum look at each other quietly. For a long time. That means they’re proud of me!
“Eya, family first!” I say.
Meeoooow.
Even Mimi agrees.
Jo Jo’s Journal
Today is a school day. That means I have to leave Mimi at my house.
“Mimi, now be a good girl today, and listen to Kokum,” I say, waving to Mimi on the way out the front door.
“At least that makes one of you,” Kokum says on our walk to the bus stop.
Kokum’s way of thinking is funny sometimes. But she is a very good kokum. And she is my very best friend. After Fern. And Mimi. And even a better friend than my bear blanket. And . . .
Ferris, my bus friend, is saving my seat again. He even scrapes the frost off the windows for us in winter.
“Boozhoo, Ferris!” I say.
“Jo Jo, aaniin ezhi-ayaayan?” Ferris asks.
“I’m cold, but good! And I would be even more good if you gave me some of your donut.”
He gives me a piece of the very delicious donut.
Ferris is a very good bus friend.
“Bus driver! Jo Jo is eating on the bus! Tell her that’s not allowed!” Brie says.
Brie is not a good bus friend. That Brie has eyes all over. I bet she even has them in her very fluffy pigtails.
I peek out in the aisle and look at Brie. I chew my donut very slowly and lick my lips. And look and look at her.
She stares back at me. Staring means you agree! It is a very pleasant donut.
At school I walk past the office and right to the drinking fountain. That is where I meet my best friend Fern every morning! It is a very happy drinking fountain place. We hold hands and skip down to our classroom and through the door. Fern has not lost her quick skip.
Before we sit down, I help Fern hang up her jacket in our coatroom.
“Miigwech, Jo Jo,” Fern says. Fern has a very quiet voice but a very big smile.
This month I sit at the yellow table. The yellow table is far away from Teacher’s desk. It is the Teacher-just-needs-some-space-from-you place to sit.
Up-Chuck sits here, too. And Brie. Teacher needs some space from a lot of us.
“Class, today we will begin discussing a very exciting topic, and one I know you will all like,” Teacher says.
“Is it com
“No, and next time please put your hand up, Chuck,” Teacher answers, but he looks at me when he says Up-Chuck’s name.
Actually, Up-Chuck’s real name is just Chuck. I call him that because he upchucked his lunch in kindergarten. Teacher doesn’t like when I call him that (Up-Chuck always does a big belly laugh when I do). But then why does Teacher keep calling him that, too?
Teachers are confusing.
“No, children, today we will begin to study how to eat healthy foods. And how we can check in to make sure our Elders are healthy, too.”
Our Elders teach us to eat more of our good Ojibwe food. I love to eat fish and wild rice! Wild rice is always very calm when I eat it.
Healthy food sometimes means grown-ups have to bribe you to eat it. But yay! Mama, Kokum, and Mimi are all healthy, so I want to be healthy, too.
“So let’s all open our new Healthy Journals and begin filling in our answers,” Teacher says.
Journals! I love journal notebooks! I have a fancy purple one with a unicorn. I wonder what this journal will look like.
Susan passes out the journals. They are blue. Blue is okay. But I hope there are glittery unicorns inside!
I hold the journal very softly and open it. Guess what? It is not fancy. It does not have any unicorns. Or glitter. My eyes are very disappointed.
“Makwa, can you please read us the first page?” Teacher asks.
“Eya, page one: ‘Let’s all be healthy! Fill out the rest of the sentence and draw pictures to show how you know how to be healthy,’” Makwa reads. He is the best reader I know. After me. And Mimi.
Mama always says to give something a try before giving up. So I will try. I pick up my pencil to begin.
1. A fruit is something you put in a pie.
2. We eat healthy so we can get dessert after the meal.
3. We can check on our Elders by refilling their BINGO daubers.
Okay, maybe learning to be healthy will be fun! I will be very good at being healthy!
My Elders and neighbors will be so happy when I help them be healthy, too! It is very neighborly of me to do this.
Thirsty Grape
At lunch I sit between Fern and Susan. I never know what Mama will pack in my bag. Sometimes she packs a tuna-fish sandwich, which means she mixes up my lunch with Mimi’s. Today it looks like I have crunchy nuggets in a baggie.
Hmm, is this Jo Jo food or Mimi food? It looks like Mimi’s kibble cat food.
I look up at the ceiling, where I find many good ideas.
“Oh, who would like to try this?” I ask the kids at the table.
Joe says, “Eya, I will!”
I watch him eat it. Will he grow whiskers if it’s Mimi’s kibble?
“Mmmm, good granola, Jo Jo! Miigwech for sharing,” Joe says.
Oh, it’s not kibble! But it is good to let your friends taste-test first. It is healthy for me.
Whew. Oh, well, at least he didn’t grow cat whiskers. It would not be a good look on him.
Back in our classroom I sit down at the yellow Teacher-just-needs-some-space-from-you table.
“Okay, children, let’s put our math work away and begin sharing our Healthy Journal homework!” Teacher says with many enthusiasm.
I don’t know what they teach at teacher school, but there must be a class on pretending to be excited about giving out homework. I bet Teacher got an A.
“Who would like to read their page-two work?” he asks.
Oh, I really think my answer is good. I shoot my hand up quickly. And use a pointy-finger tipi. Pointy-finger tipis are when you make a home with your fingers. That means your fingers know the answer.
Teacher calls on me. I read my journal page aloud and show my picture.
Raisins are just very thirsty grapes.
Teacher looks at me with 11 forehead. That 11 forehead means grown-ups scrunch their eyes together and make an 11 between their eyebrows. They are confused.
I wonder why grown-ups are confused so much. Must be because they stopped believing in unicorns.
“No, Jo Jo. The answer is ‘Raisins are a fruit,’” Teacher says.
“But how do you make a raisin?” I ask.
“Well,” Teacher answers, “water is taken from grapes to make raisins. They’re dehydrated.”
I look at Teacher. Then at the kids. “So, if raisins don’t get water, wouldn’t they be thirsty?” I ask, tilting my head. That means I am being helpful. I try to help Teacher every day. It is another way to be neighborly.
“I’m thirsty,” Up-Chuck says.
“Me, too! I’m thirsty!” Susan says.
“Teacher, water is healthy, right?” I ask.
“I’m thirsty! Let’s take a water break!” the class yells.
Teacher rolls his eyes. Rolling his eyes means he believes us that water is healthy! And that a raisin is a very thirsty grape.
“Line up, students. We’ll take a water break,” Teacher says with a very big, slow sigh. Yay, water!
It is so good to be healthy!
We get ready for the end of the day. It starts to snow at bus time! Yay, snow!
We all put our snow pants, boots, hats, and mittens on.
This means we are bundling up. Bundling also means you are hiding from the cold.
Snow means fun outside time. I hope there is enough snow to make snow bears on the ground. My grandpa and I used to make snow bears. It is like making snow art about my middle name. Snow bears are very Makoons. Just like me!
Teacher walks us to our buses. He walks me to mine, looks at me, and says, “Goodbye, Jo Jo. I don’t know how your family does it.”
“Well, good thing I like to help them!”
Teacher looks very tired. Maybe he should take a nap. Naps always perk up Mimi and Kokum.
Mama tucks me in that night.
“Mama, will it keep snowing?” I ask.
“Well, yes, I think so. Right now, there is moisture in the air. If it’s cold enough, the water droplets freeze into snow crystals.”
I look out the window.
Hmm, everyone knows snow is when unicorns fly too close to clouds. They sneeze and it makes snow. Everyone knows that. But not Mama, I guess.
I think grown-ups learned too much and forget about how important unicorns are.
No Yellow Snow
Mama wakes me up early the next morning. Too early. Kokum says I am not a morning person.
My pillow drool is still wet. And clingy to my cheek.
I am a very good sleeper.
“Jo Jo,” Mama whispers. “Today is a snow day. There is no school. It’s canceled.”
“What? But Teacher said they won’t cancel school ’cause now we would go online.”
“Jo Jo, all the snow and ice last night caused the reservation’s internet to go down. It will be out for at least a day. I heard it on the tribal radio station just now. Now go back to bed, my girl.” Mama kisses my bear-ear PJ hood.
No school! Oh my!
I did not know what a snow day was. I never had one last year in kindergarten.
A snow day must be when the teachers do not want to shovel their driveways to go to school.
Then they call the principal to tell her.
I have very much love for my teachers this morning. They must have hoped for a very lot of ice and snow!
“Mimi, let’s get up! I’m too excited to sleep in!”
Meow.
Mimi gets up and moves to the end of my bed. Away from me and my excitement.
“Mimi, come on, my girl, let’s play rummage sale! There will be lots of new things for sale ’cause Mama’s not up. I happen to have a lovely new pair of running shoes you might like.”
Rrrow.
I don’t think Mimi is a morning kitty either.
I’m hungry for breakfast.
Hmm, I’m not allowed to pour a big milk container in my cereal bowl ’cause last time it rained milk all down the table.
Teacher says it’s healthy to eat a good breakfast. I will make my own breakfast the Jo Jo way! (Yay, yay, for the Jo Jo way!)
Mama and Kokum always write down their special recipe. I will, too.
1. Check to make sure everyone is still asleep.
2. Wash hands with special soap for silky smooth hands.
