"I loved you before I met you./ Before I held you in my arms,/ I sang you down from the stars." As she waits for the arrival of her new baby, a mother-to-be gathers gifts to create a sacred bundle. A white feather, cedar and sage, a stone from the river... Each addition to the bundle will offer the new baby strength and connection to tradition, family, and community. As they grow together, mother and baby will each have gifts to offer each other.
Tasha Spillett-Sumner and bestselling illustrator and Caldecott Medalist Michaela Goade, two Indigenous creators, bring beautiful words and luminous art together in a resonant celebration of the bond between mother and child. This unique baby book sings with Native cultural detail, while striking a universal chord in its celebration of the blossoming of love that comes with expecting and welcoming a new baby.
"Spillett-Sumner’s gentle tale... shares, per an author’s note, 'the traditional understanding of my Nation, the Inniniwak, and many other Indigenous peoples globally: that babies choose their parents'.... A tender celebration of parenthood that will resonate with Native and non-Native readers alike." — Publishers Weekly
Recommended Age | 4 - 8 |
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Author | Tasha Spillett-Sumner |
Illustrator | Michaela Goade |
ISBN | 0316493163 |
Publication Date | Apr 6, 2021 |
Publisher | Little, Brown Books for Young Readers |
Language | English |