Sharon King, the author and illustrator of the award-winning children’s board book, Amik (2021), is from the Wasauksing First Nation near Parry Sound. She is an author, performer, and producer, and works as an educator at Wausauksing.
In 1999, King was nominated for a Juno Award as part of the Indigenous women’s vocal group, Hearts of the Nations, in the category Best Music of Aboriginal [sic] Canada Recording.
In 2022, King’s bilingual children’s board book, Amik, won the bronze medal in the IPPY Awards for Best Regional Fiction, Canada East. It was also shortlisted for the Indigenous Voices Award and longlisted for the First Nation Communities Read Award.
Amik is the story of a beaver (amik in Ojibwe / Anishinaabemowin) who is busy building a dam, while numerous other creatures go about their business around him. It is a story about nature and the environment and the interconnections between living beings. The story is told in both image and text. King’s cut-paper collage work is vibrantly colourful, and the use of tissue paper in the collage provides a unique transparency to some of the images. The words of the story appear first in Anishinaabemowin, followed by the English translation. In addition to being an engaging and educational book for young children—in board-book format for young hands to play with—it can also be a valuable language-learning resource for older readers as well.
As part of Kegedonce Press’s 30th anniversary celebrations in 2023, Amik is our July Indigenous Languages feature title, and is on sale until July 31.
Read more about Sharon King’s book, Amik in these great online articles: