From the Minnesota Children's Press - May 11, 2026

Students at Oshki Ogimaag Community School have published their first book on Ojibwe culture and traditional foodways. Mentored by school staff and Grand Portage Community elders and members, they presented it on May 6 as part of a Parent Appreciation event at the school. 

The book is published by Minnesota Children’s Press of Grand Marais, supported by generous grants from the Blandin Foundation of Grand Rapids, MN, and individual donors. It is a 26-page, full-color, illustrated paperback entitled “How to Snare Waabooz; Waaboozo-Nagwaagan.” In the Ojibwe language (Ojibwemowin), a snowshoe hare is called waabooz.  

The book documents the winter food sovereignty tradition of the Lake Superior Band of Chippewa of snaring  snowshoe hare. Through text, drawings, and photos, 20 child authors and illustrators in grades K-5 explain how to locate and set a wire snare in the woods; how to skin and process the hare; how to prepare rabbit meat for stew, and why a community shared meal of wild food is vital to Native values and identity. A glossary of Ojibwe vocabulary supports multicultural teaching and learning. 

Photo: An Oshki Ogimaag Parent Appreciation gifting last week, in which the kids gave school and community members a copy of the book kids wrote and illustrated about traditional Ojibwe foodways and snaring a snowshoe hare. Minnesota Children’s Press helped edit, integrate words and images, and publish the book.

Why They Did It 

“Historically, self-sufficiency in feeding our community was an Ojibwe tradition,” explains Cherie  James, Director and Ojibwe Language and Culture Instructor at Oshki Ogimaag Community School. “We want to emphasize this cultural value by teaching and showing kids the practice still can sustain us as a community, even in modern life where most of us get our food from stores and restaurants. We still know how to care for ourselves through food sovereignty. It’s a community value we need to celebrate and preserve,  and this book helps us do it while furthering our school’s literacy goals.” 

How They Did It 

After a field trip into the winter woods to place a sage offering to honor the life of animals that become food, the students followed waabooz tracks and set snares. They retrieved caught animals the next day. Then they wrote, drew and dictated the knowledge they learned from staff and elder to mentors who transcribed children’s words into text about the winter food provisioning tradition of snaring waabooz.