Blue Bearies

In this follow-up to the bestselling Bowwow Powwow, Windy Girl and her classmates learn to appreciate our bear relatives and the wisdom that comes from observing their actions and antics in various northland scenes.

"Bears are our teachers!" exclaims Mrs. Mukwa at the end of a field trip with Windy Girl's class. Indeed, beyond an intertwined history that includes a woman "as fierce as a bear" during a long-ago battle and a cub that traveled on the shoulders of an Ojibwe man, these animal relatives have much to teach us. Stop by stop, the students learn about habitats and habits, landscapes and lore--the assorted ways that bears seek out the gifts of their environment. Windy Girl and her classmates marvel as they witness bears digging medicinal herbs, munching on berries, and playing with their families. The ultimate lesson is to respect our bear relatives. Will Windy Girl remember this advice later in the summer as she prepares for a berrying trip with Uncle?

In Blue Bearies Brenda J. Child reprises the adventures of Windy Girl and her dog Itchy Boy with a focus on history and ecology, while Jonathan Thunder's lively illustrations teem with playful humor. Anishinaabe educator Gordon Jourdain retells the story in Ojibwemowin. This much-anticipated sequel to the award-winning Bowwow Powwow celebrates the wonders of a time when, as Mrs. Mukwa shares, "we lived closely with our animal relatives"--to our mutual benefit.

Brenda J. Child (Bíne) (Red Lake Ojibwe) is Northrop Professor of American Studies at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. She is the author of award-winning books of American Indian history, including Boarding School Seasons: American Indian Families, 1900-1940, which won the North American Indian Prose Award; Holding Our World Together: Ojibwe Women and the Survival of Community; and My Grandfather's Knocking Sticks: Ojibwe Family Life and Labor on the Reservation, which won the American Indian Book Award and the Best Book in Midwestern History accolade. Her Bowwow Powwow won the American Indian Youth Literature Award for best picture book.

Jonathan Thunder (Red Lake Ojibwe) is an award-winning painter and digital media artist residing in Duluth. He attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe and studied visual effects and motion graphics at the Art Institutes International in Minneapolis. His work has been featured in many state, regional, and national exhibitions, as well as in local and international publications. Thunder is the recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award for his painting. Since his first solo exhibit in 2004, he has won several awards for his short films in national and international competitions. His work is in the permanent collections of museums and universities.

Maajiigoneyaash, Gordon Jourdain, is a respected Anishinaabe elder, educator, and first-language Ojibwemowin speaker from Gakijiwanong Anishinaabe Nation in Ontario. He holds a doctorate of education in teaching and learning from the University of Minnesota Duluth and has dedicated his life to language revitalization, immersion education, and traditional Anishinaabe teachings across Minnesota and Wisconsin. In November 2025 he helped make history as part of the first all-Ojibwe-language National Hockey League broadcast. He continues to serve Anishinaabe communities as an Ojibwemowin consultant and resides on the Lac Courte Oreilles reservation with his family.