A pair of Mayne Island authors hope their new children’s book — a collaboration set in a familiar-feeling small island town — will help readers build a bridge across sometimes-troubling cultural differences, through the example set by two seemingly unlikely role models: the authors themselves, reimagined as they might’ve been in Grade 4.
Jess Willows and Johnny Aitken will be at the library on Salt Spring Island at 1 p.m. Friday, Aug. 1 as part of their Southern Gulf Islands book launch tour for Two Tricksters Find Friendship. That book’s themes of friendship and strength of character have resonated with readers, telling the story of a young girl named Jessie who moves to the small coastal community and becomes fast friends with Johnny — a local Indigenous boy from the nearby reserve.
And while Willows and Aitken said the small community where the story is set may remind readers of Mayne Island — or Cortes, or Alert Bay, or even Salt Spring, they said — and familiar tales of beachcombing or coveted cinnamon buns notwithstanding, Two Tricksters Find Friendship could be seen as happening anywhere Coast Salish culture intersects with that of non-Indigenous settlers, and wherever ties to the land are felt and differences spark misunderstanding.
In the new chapter book, illustrated by Alyssa Koski, the young protagonists face outside pressures and prejudices, but with guidance from Raven — the wise trickster from many Indigenous stories — a Two-Spirit spiritual teacher named Steven and other community members, the pair learn to celebrate and lean on one another. Telling the story through younger versions of themselves helped make the story’s lessons simpler, the authors said; Aitken called it a delightful way to “live a sort of fantasy life of what could have been.”
“Growing up I didn’t get to spend too much time on the reserve,” said Aitken. “Just because of circumstances in my life, I wasn’t brought up in that way. So it’s been a great experience to be able to fantasize about it. I come from a theatre background, so we did some role playing, saying, ‘OK, well, this is what we’re doing — and what would Johnny say? What would Jessie say?’ And we had fun with it.”
Other events in the book are based upon life experiences the pair had when they were kids in their respective Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities — some fact and fiction mixed together, they said.
“There’s lots to draw upon,” chuckled Aitken, who identifies as Two-Spirit. “I’m a bit of an activist in my community.”
With Aitken’s background as an Indigenous artist and activist, and Willows’ as an educator with the Gulf Islands School District, the duo’s initial focus was to create something for teachers to use in the classroom — exploring entry points for integrating Indigenous content into the curriculum.
“The book talks a lot about reconciliation through friendship,” said Willows. “And here Johnny and I are writing together and as such good friends there are so many overlapping parallels between this book and real life.”
The collaboration has quickly found footing; Two Tricksters Find Friendship has been added to the 2025 Telling Tales and Festival of Literary Diversity Kids summer reading lists, and has been shortlisted for the Children’s/YA Book Award for B.C. authors through the Sunshine Coast Writers and Editors Society.
Willows said a draft has been accepted for a second book in what is now a series, and the third is sketched out with writing underway. Two Tricksters is a “gentle” vehicle for storytelling, she said, and bringing that world to life through the fictional eyes of younger versions of themselves has been a joy.
“We wanted the Jessie character to have that curiosity as a way to navigate things that can be a little tricky in our world,” said Willows. “Coming at things like kids do — maybe not with as much judgment as we adults have, but with respect and curiosity.”
“In this friendship, between Johnny who is First Nations and Jessie who’s a settler, they don’t face obstacles between themselves — those challenges come from the adults,” said Aitken. “But it’s also the adults — and Raven — that bring mentorship through conflict.”
Not to spoil the story, said Aitken, but a “bona fide reconciliation” takes place between the friends.
“Johnny and Jessie stand together and support each other in a really good way,” said Aitken. “And they become role models in their community.”
After Friday’s visit to the Salt Spring Island Public Library, Willows and Aitken — and, of course, Raven — will be at the Saturna Island Community Hall from 2 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 2.
For more information about the book visit orcabook.com/Two-Tricksters-Find-Friendship.