Sylvia Olsen with Ron Martin, illustrated by Kasia Charko,
Which Way Should I Go?
Sono Nis Press, 2007.

Ages 4-8

In Which Way Should I Go? storyteller Sylvia Olsen (The Girl with a Baby) and First Nations traditional historian Ron Martin collaborate to tell a story based on a song Martin’s grandparents taught him as a child. “Waa-yee-seekee aakx kuu” means “Which way should I go?” in the language of the Tla-o-qui-aht people, of whom Martin is a hereditary chief. In an afterword, Martin explains that “this song reminds us that the way we react to everything in life is a choice.”
Joey is a happy child whose grandmother is “his favorite person in the whole world.” When he visits her, everything has options. Would he like his applesauce with cinnamon or with ice cream? Would he like to play inside or outside? Depicted in Kasia Charko’s soft charming illustrations as a hefty energetic woman who wears turquoise clothes and lots of jewelry, Joey’s grandmother also teaches him a song about choices, Which way shall I go? Aah yee ha, aah yee ha.

But Joey’s happiness does not last. “One day Grandma got sick and died.” Now Joey doesn’t want to go to school and he doesn’t want to eat applesauce, no matter how it’s served. “There wasn’t any this way or that way this time. I didn’t get to choose.” But when Joey passes his grandmother’s house, he begins hearing her voice singing Aah yee ha, aah yee ha. Gradually he realizes that “I didn’t choose to have Grandma die… [but] I can choose to stop crying.” He decides to “sing Grandma’s song and dance Grandma’s dance”.

There is a lovely spirit to the relationship between Joey and his grandmother in Which Way Should I Go, although the message feels a bit contrived, perhaps because the word “choice” is such a buzzword in mainstream culture. One wishes Olsen and Martin had found a fresh term to convey more nuances of the word in the original language. It’s an opportunity lost, but young children will nevertheless enjoy Charko’s illustrations and Olsen and Martin’s story of a child who learns an important life lesson under difficult circumstances.

Charlotte Richardson
April 2010