Prolific Saskatchewan author Wilfred Burton’s picture book Ride, Gabe, Ride! was inspired by a story about Gabriel Dumont that he came across while reading historical documents.
- Ride, Gabe, Ride
- Wilfred Burton, Lucille Scott (Illustrator)
- Your Nickel’s Worth Publishing
- $14.95 Paperback, 32 pages
- ISBN: 978-19-88783-68-0
The story takes place in autumn on the Prairies. While hunting with his Métis friends, Dumont shoots a buffalo. With the animal down, Gabe straddles it, planning to slit its throat and allow the buffalo to die quickly.
But this buffalo isn’t ready to give up. He leaps to his feet and Dumont is taken along on a brief but wild ride.
“There have always been oral stories about the hunting prowess of Gabriel Dumont, so it didn’t surprise me when I read about this,” Burton, a long-time educator says.
“My teacher sense in me lit up immediately because I’m always looking at ways to present history in an engaging way for children. I immediately had the hairs on the back of my neck stand up in excitement! What kid wouldn’t want to hear about someone riding a buffalo?”
The story, written completely in verse, describes each step of the hunt from the gathering of the participants to the dispensation of the entire buffalo – not only meat for nourishment, but bones for tools and sinews for sewing – “nothing left for scavengers.”
“The writing process for me is somewhat different for every piece,” says Burton, who has published over 30 books on Métis history and culture. The story of Ride, Gabe, Ride! percolated for about a year after reading about Dumont’s escapade.
Finally, he says, “I was out on my daily walk in my neighbourhood when the refrain for this poem came to me. I immediately took out my phone and recorded it, then rushed home and started writing.
“I was quite surprised because I don’t write poetry, let alone write in rhyme. After that, I worked on it from time to time, adding stanzas and changing words. Sometimes working an hour or two just on one or two lines.”
Lucille Scott illustrated the book, and her dedication reads: “For my grandson Mason Larose, who inspired me to do something special with my artistic talent.”
The self-taught Indigenous artist from Canwood, Saskatchewan, works with acrylics and is known for her paintings on Canada goose feathers, framed in hand-crafted barnboard.
She has been making art since she was a little girl and started selling her work in 2012. “Art has been my passion,” she says. “I put my good energy into my artwork.”
The opportunity to “do something special” with her artistic talent presented itself in February 2019, when she met Burton at a craft sale at Wanuskewin Heritage Park.
The opportunity to “do something special” with her artistic talent presented itself in February 2019, when she met Burton at a craft sale at Wanuskewin Heritage Park.
He asked her if she would be interested in doing the illustrations for Ride, Gabe, Ride!, and after a bit of thought she agreed. “It was the first time that I had ever painted a series of large canvases,” she says.
The pair worked well together, and Scott knows she would like to do more.
“I did my research and felt myself falling back into time,” she says.
“It was exciting!”
