Buffalo Spirit: To help you along the way

Teachings from the Longhouse

By Chief Jacob Thomas with Terry Boyle

Stoddart Publishing Co. Limited

151 pages (sc) $17.95

The late Jacob Thomas was hereditary chief of the Six Nations and one of North America's leading Native traditionalists. In Teachings from the Longhouse, he both shares and preserves the teachings of Handsome Lake, a Seneca Indian born in 1735 who developed a code of conduct for his people to live by to help them survive the changes brought about by European contact. That code has survived to the present, handed down orally and delivered twice a year in traditional longhouses.

The Good Path: Ojibwe Learning and Activity Book for Kids

By Thomas Peacock and Marlene Wisuri Afton

Historical Society Press

127 pages (sc) $17.95 (U.S.)

The Good Path introduces children, Native and non-Native, to the history, stories and beliefs of the Ojibwe people. The book looks at the lessons of co-operation, courage and honor that make up the Good Path, and gives young readers activities that make them think about what they have read, and to encourage them to learn more.

Returning to the Teachings: Exploring Aboriginal Justice

By Rupert Ross

Penguin Books

287 pages (sc) $19.99

As an assistant Crown attorney in northwest Ontario, Rupert Ross has been responsible for criminal prosecutions on more than 20 Cree and Ojibway First Nations.In his first book, Dancing with a Ghost, Ross looked at Aboriginal approaches to justice. In this second book, Returning to the Teachings, published in 1996, Ross looks at the role that traditional teachings and healing have within Aboriginal communities across the country, where the approach to justice is not to punish, but to heal.