“Canoeing to Killarney” is an indigenous children’s book about a canoeing trip and a chance encounter with an eagle. illustrated by me and written by Jacob Pitawanakwat (images and text © Chapter One)
Today is a special day I am going canoeing to Killarney.
Killarney is a town on a big lake. There’s a lighthouse and a shop that sells fish and chips. Yum! I am so excited. It’s my first time canoeing so far.
We load up our canoe. It is a wiigwaas jiimaan. It’s made of birch bark. Dad tells me that it has been in our family for many years. My whole family can fit in it and paddle together!
We drive on a long, windy dirt road to get to the lake. Mom tells me that canoeing connects us to the water, land and each other. We put our canoe in the water, it is COLD. Everyone hops in and we are off to Killarney.
We paddle hard. We work together. We put our paddles in the water at the same time. I’m getting hungry, but I keep paddling.
We see beautiful hills and lots of animals. “Look in the sky,” my dad says, “There’s an eagle.”
The eagle dives into the water. He comes back up with a fish in his beak! “Looks like a yummy lunch,” Dad says.
“Look!” My mom says. “We can see the Killarney lighthouse! We must be close!” Everyone paddles their hardest.
We make it to the docks! We get out of the boat and look around. Killarney is beautiful. We see big boats and small boats. Dad tells me that Killarney was called Shebahonaning before the settlers came.
We go to the fish and chip shop. I order fish and chips for everyone. They smell sooooo good. My mouth is watering! We eat our lunch. It tastes so good! I tell my dad, “I had yummy fish just like the eagle!”
We finish lunch and hike around the lighthouse. Then we get in our boat and paddle home. Today was a great day.
Character design