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It was a case of necessity being the Mother of Invention.
Darrell W. Pelletier was a student teacher preparing lesson plans for his Wednesday practice teaching. He wanted to include a story for the pre-kindergarten class, and since the bulk of the children were of First Nations ancestry, he was looking for something with contemporary Aboriginal content.
Tuesday evening arrived and Pelletier still hadn't found an appropriate storybook - so he wrote his own.
Armed with markers, wax crayons, and a handful of Xerox paper, he set to work. The result was Alfred's First Day At School, the story of a five-year-old Aboriginal boy who has to cope with the first day of school and the fear of being separated from home for the first time.
According to Peggy Adamack, the supervising classroom teacher, the children were totally immersed in the story and the storyteller.
Pelletier created four more stories during his student teaching year: Alfred's Summer, The Big Storm, The Pow-wow, and Lisa And Sam. They came to the attention of a faculty professor with the University of Regina who showed them to her editor husband. The result was a publishing contract for the 26-year-old Cree man.
Writing each book initially took about an hour. Rewriting and editing for publication was another story. It was a year before the revisions met everyone's approval.
"A lot of it was changing the pictures - making them more consistent with one another and getting the coloring right," he said.
Drawing has always been part of Pelletier's life. He worked as an editorial cartoonist for the Moose Jaw Times Herald.
Ironically, though, he didn't particularly like reading as a child. He thinks it may have been because books back then tended to stereotype Native people.
"If Dick and Jane ever met a Native, he was a savage with a headdress and tomahawk. It was always hard for me because I was often the only Native child in the classroom."
Pelletier was born on the Cowesses Reserve near Broadview, Sask. Because his father was in the Armed Forces, the family moved around a good deal.
"Alfred in the storybook is really me," he admits.
"I remember being five years old. I remember going to school for the first day. I was scared of the bigger kids. And I didn't like being separated from home."
Pelletier finished school and went on to earn two degrees: a B.A. in Psychology from the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College and a B.Ed. from Gabriel Dumont Institute, both in affiliation with the University of Regina.
"I couldn't get a job after the B.A., so I decided to try education. I really didn't know that much about education even though my father is a teacher. I just assumed a male teacher would teach high school, so I applied for high school. accident I ended up student teaching in an Early Childhood Services classroom in Regina."
It was there the children's books were written.
Pelletier sees his stories as offering a contemporary perspective on Native lifestyles and at the same time incorporating traditional beliefs. If you look deeper, he says, there are underlying themes, too.
"For example, in Alfred's First Day At School, the kindergarten teacher is a male. I wanted to show the children in my classroom that it was all right to have a male kinder-garten teacher."
The Big Storm is about a family that lives in the city. The boy is frightened by a thunderstorm so the father comforts him by brining out the sweetgrass, which is part of
a traditional ceremony. Sweetgrass symbolizes respect for nature - in this case, the thunderstorm. In this book the father is doing the comforting rather than the mother.
The theme in Alfred's Summer is the importance of the Elders.
"I think there's still a respect for Elders today, but it needs to be emphasized.
"My books are kind of multi-purpose," he goes on. "You could use Alfred's Summer to discuss life on a reserve, to talk about summer activities, even history."
One book, Lisa and Sam, was written with a urpose.
"Lisa is Alfred's sister and Sam is her pet snake. I wrote this book with a science theme to teach the importance of keeping animals in their natural environment and about having a healthy outlook on the environment and science. You'll notice the main character is a girl. Traditionally, girls aren't thought to be interested in science and math."
Pelletier says the students have responded very positively.
"I hope it's because the stories validate Aboriginal culture, and show Native children that their own experiences are as important as anyone else's - that they have a culture to be proud of.
(The Alfred Reading Series is published and distributed by the Gabriel Dumont Institute of Native Studies and Applied Research in Regina, Saskatchewan, 121 Broadway Avenue East, Regina, Sask. S4N 0Z6. Telephone (306) 522-5691. They sell for $5.95 each or $27.50 for the set of five.)
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