This collaborative effort by writer Anne Cameron and native Sliammon storyteller Sue Pielle is the tale of a terrifying giant who preys on children who disobey their parents by staying out after dark. The One takes its victims, stuffed in a basket made of live snakes, to a holding pen where it fattens them up before eating them. But one night The One snatches a brother and sister, good children who are out in the dark only to get help for their mother. When The One puts them in the pen, the two children put their quick wits to work on their captor’s undoing. They succeed in slaying the giant and freeing all the captive children, though The One gets the last laugh: the ashes of its burning body produce the world’s first mosquitoes.

The One Who Takes Bad Children is the latest in Harbour Press’s successful series of B.C. First Nations tales by Anne Cameron. Sue Pielle brings a much more oral quality to this book than the series’ other books. Pielle’s storytelling uses many techniques familiar to listeners of oral narratives: repetition, emphasis, and generic markers such as “long, long ago.” Because Pielle and Cameron have been faithful to the story’s oral origin, the book is meant to be read aloud; a silent reader may find it unpolished. Unfortunately, Greta Guzek’s black-and-white illustrations fail to captivate, though her depictions of Sliammon village life are evocative.

Most six- to eight-year-olds will find this story too long; children over the age of nine are better suited to sit through it. This book helps fill a need for Canadian First Nations writing for children and is an excellent classroom resource.