Bonnie Shemie (born May 10, 1949) is an author and illustrator who has written educational books for children including a series about Native American dwellings. [1] [2] She was born in the U.S. and lives in Canada.
Her writing focuses on different cultures' pre-modern construction techniques, as well as their belief systems. [3]
Shemie (née Brenner) was born on May 10, 1949, in Cleveland, Ohio to parents William and Louise Brenner. [1] She studied architecture in the United States before moving to Montreal, Canada, in 1972. [4] In 1974, she married Milo Shemie. [1] From 1973 to 1976, she worked as a graphic designer and illustrator for advertising agencies in Montreal. She went on to pursue a career as a freelance illustrator, and later as an author and illustrator of children's books. [1]
Shemie's Native Dwellings series started with the book, Houses of Snow, Skin and Bones: Native Dwellings, the Far North, published in 1989. [1] The book was aimed at children and contained detailed descriptions of the homes built by Inuit tribes in Alaska. [1] The work was praised and Noel McDermott in Canadian Children's Literature called it "a well-written and beautifully illustrated book, in which carefully researched information is presented, clearly and accurately and without any tendency to eulogize or romanticize." [1]
Shemie's book Houses of China was described as "excellent". [3] Her book Houses of Hide and Earth was described as accessible and appealing while Shemie's research for her books was lauded. [5]
A tipi or tepee is a conical lodge tent that is distinguished from other conical tents by the smoke flaps at the top of the structure, and historically made of animal hides or pelts or, in more recent generations, of canvas stretched on a framework of wooden poles. The loanword came into English usage from the Dakota language and Lakota language.
Lodge is originally a term for a relatively small building, often associated with a larger one.
Meg Tilly is a Canadian-American actress and writer.
A longhouse or long house is a type of long, proportionately narrow, single-room building for communal dwelling. It has been built in various parts of the world including Asia, Europe, and North America.
A wigwam, wickiup, wetu (Wampanoag), or wiigiwaam is a semi-permanent domed dwelling formerly used by certain Native American tribes and First Nations people and still used for ceremonial events. The term wickiup is generally used to refer to these kinds of dwellings in the Southwestern United States and Western United States and Northwest Alberta, Canada, while wigwam is usually applied to these structures in the Northeastern United States as well as Ontario and Quebec in central Canada. The names can refer to many distinct types of Indigenous structures regardless of location or cultural group. The wigwam is not to be confused with the Native Plains tipi, which has a different construction, structure, and use.
Longhouses were a style of residential dwelling built by Native American and First Nations peoples in various parts of North America. Sometimes separate longhouses were built for community meetings.
William Kurelek, was a Canadian artist and writer. His work was influenced by his childhood on the prairies, his Ukrainian-Canadian roots, his struggles with mental illness, and his conversion to Roman Catholicism.
A hogan is the primary, traditional dwelling of the Navajo people. Other traditional structures include the summer shelter, the underground home, and the sweat house. A hogan can be round, cone-shaped, multi-sided, or square; with or without internal posts; with walls and roof of timber, packed earth, and stone in varying amounts, and a bark roof for a summer house. The door traditionally faced east to welcome the rising sun, believed to bring good fortune.
A smoke hole is a hole in a roof for the smoke from a fire to vent. Before the invention of the smoke hood or chimney, many dwellings had smoke holes to allow the smoke from the hearth to escape. Pre-modern English homes with unglazed windows or thatch roofs required no special vent for smoke. These structures typically had only one story for living spaces, and inhabitants made do with a band of relatively clear air near the ground.
Marie-Louise Gay is a Canadian children's writer and illustrator. She has received numerous awards for her written and illustrated works in both French and English, including the 2005 Vicky Metcalf Award, multiple Governor General's Awards, and multiple Janet Savage Blachford Prizes, among others.
Squamish culture is the customs, arts, music, lifestyle, food, painting and sculpture, moral systems and social institutions of the Squamish indigenous people, located in the southwestern part of British Columbia, Canada. They refer to themselves as Sḵwx̱wú7mesh. They are a part of the Coast Salish cultural group. Their culture and social life is based on the abundant natural resource of the Pacific Northwest coast, rich in cedar trees, salmon, and other resources. They have complex kinship ties that connect their social life and cultural events to different families and neighboring nations.
Richard Scrimger is a Canadian writer who has published fourteen books since 1996. He is best known for his children's literature, but has also written three books for adults: Crosstown, Still Life With Children and Mystical Rose. A winner of the Mr. Christie Award and recipient of dozens of award nominations, Scrimger is a favourite with many children and adults. All of his novels except The Boy From Earth and Still Life With Children have been short-listed for readers' choice awards. Several of his books have been named to Best-of, or Top-ten, or Notable lists by various libraries and publications, including Young Adult Library Services Association, Chicago Public Library, American Library Association, Time Out New York Kids, The Globe and Mail, Quill & Quire. His books have been translated into Dutch, French, German, Thai, Korean, Portuguese, Slovenian, Italian, and Polish.
Tundra Books is the oldest children's book publisher in Canada.
The Christie Harris Illustrated Children's Literature Prize is awarded annually as the BC Book Prize for Canadian authors and illustrator of picture books, picture story books, and illustrated non-fiction books. The prize is shared by the author and the illustrator, who must be a resident of British Columbia or Yukon. It was announced in 2002 and first awarded in 2003. A handful of finalists are also selected for another award: participation in the expenses-paid BC Book Prizes on Tour, a week-long tour across the province to present their books at schools and libraries each April.
Qarmaq is an Inuktitut term for a type of inter-seasonal, single-room family dwelling used by Inuit. To the Central Inuit of Northern Canada, it refers to a hybrid of a tent and igloo, or tent and sod house. Depending on the season, the lower portion was constructed of snow blocks or stone, while the upper portion used skins or canvas. To the Kalaallit of Greenland, qarmaq refers to the dwelling's wall. Qarmaq were built in the transitional seasons of fall and spring with a circular wall of stone, sod, or blocks of snow, a framework usually made from animal bones, which were covered with a skin.
Leo Yerxa is a Canadian visual artist, medallist, and writer. As an illustrator of children's picture books he won the Governor General's Award in 2006. He lived in Ottawa, Ontario, then. He died on September 1, 2017.
Linda Holeman is a Canadian author of fiction.
An Island in the Soup is a children's book written and illustrated by French-Canadian author Mireille Levert, intended for children ages 3–5. It was first published on May 1, 2001, by Douglas & McIntyre/Groundwood Books. An Island in the Soup is an intriguing tale that provides a fun and imaginative twist on children playing with and in their food and tells a story of fantasy and imagination incorporating both mother and child through a grand dinner time adventure. Mireille Levert won the Governor General's Literary Award for English Illustration for An Island in the Soup in 2001. It is "a wonderful book [...] full of illustrations that delight and stimulate. What sets it apart is the clever and creative journey, which appeals to children of all ages."
Joanne Fitzgerald was a Canadian artist, illustrator and writer. Twice-shortlisted for the Canadian Governor General's Award for Children's Illustration, her book Dr. Kiss Says Yes won the award in 1991.
Grace A. Paull (1898–1990) was an American artist, illustrator, and author. She designed greeting cards, illustrated children's books, and painted people, landscapes and flowers.