Highly Recommended: I'M FINDING MY TALK, by Rebecca Thomas, illustrated by Pauline Young

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I'm Finding My Talk

by Rebecca Thomas (Mi'kmaw)

Illustrations by Pauline Young

Published in 2019

Publisher: Nimbus Publishing

Reviewer: Debbie Reese

Review Status: Highly Recommended

****

A reader wrote to ask me about I'm Finding My Talk. I did not know about the book prior to being asked about it. I was able to get a copy and deeply touched by it. The author's father was in a residential school in Canada. Because of his experience at the school, he was not able to teach Thomas about their language or culture. In the US those schools -- designed to 'kill the Indian and save the man' -- are called boarding schools. 

When I started reading it, I saw that Nimbus (the publisher) dedicated it to Gregory Younging. He was a leading figure in publishing of Native people in Canada. He was Cree. I saw that Thomas dedicated it to her father. So did Young. Her "I will do my best, Dad" embody so much of the emotion and tenacity Native people in the US and Canada carry as we move forward on our homelands. We work to preserve what we have and we work to recover what was taken from us.

Here's the words Thomas gives us on the first page: 

I'm finding my talk.

The one I never had.

The one that the schools

Took away from my dad.

Young's illustration shows us Thomas's father, eyes closed and head down as he stands in front of the residential school he was at when his talk was taken from him. Together, Thomas's words and Young's illustrations give us facts. 

I deeply appreciate the page because these facts are often rendered in overly dramatic ways that take the dignity from the persons being depicted. That dignified presentation continues throughout the book. We see Thomas learning words and getting to know people in her family and community, and their cultural ways. 

This picture book is outstanding. It leaves room for readers to see, and to come to understandings of what those schools did to Native people. Because it is a picture book, some may think it belongs in an elementary school classroom, but I encourage you to read and talk about it in classrooms at every grade level. It touches me, personally. Our cultural ways were always part of me but language? Not so much. My parents were at boarding school. So--Thomas is speaking to any Native people who are learning their language, and she's speaking to non-Native people who don't know about residential or boarding schools. 

In interviews, Thomas tells us that she read Rita Joe's poem (also a book illustrated by Young), I Lost My Talk and was inspired to write I'm Finding My Talk. I'll look for Rita Joe's book and review it here. In the meantime I'll be thinking about this book as I go through my day. 

Highly Recommended: THIS LAND: THE HISTORY OF THE LAND WE'RE ON by Ashley Fairbanks; illustrations by Bridget George

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

This Land: The History of the Land We're On

Written by Ashley Fairbanks (White Earth Anishinaabe)

Illustration by Bridget George (Anishinaabe from Kettle and Stony Point First Nation)

Published in 2024

Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers

Reviewer: Debbie Reese

Review Status: Highly Recommended

****

Wow! I love how this book starts! The words on the first double-paged spread say "This is my house." Behind it is a river. Beside the house is a tall pine tree. We see a family by the tree. 

Turn the page and see "Before us, another family lived here." On that page, the illustrations are family portrait style. Four different families are shown, each family unique, each clad in modern clothes. 

Turn the page again and we read the words "Before our house was here, there was another family, with a different kind of house." On that page we see see wigwams in a village and the families who lived in them. The people in that village are wearing clothes with Anishinaabe designs. Behind that village is the river we saw earlier, and that tree? It is a small, young tree.

All the faces and families up to that point are cheery, happy. With the words and illustrations on these pages, Fairbanks and George take us from the present into the past, helping readers see, learn, and feel that the land they're on was someone else's before. 

Another page turn and we get hard history. That phrase is used a lot in social justice networks and curriculum, where educators choose to share truths about history that are often omitted. It is a fact that Europeans who came onto Native homelands wanted that land, and the government helped them get it by removing Native peoples from their homelands. We see that on the next page turn. Here's a portion of that page: 

(Image from my copy of the book)

It is followed by another page of hard history. 

But then, we turn the page again and see the little girl from the very first page, running down the street to her friend's house. That friend, TJ, is Anishinaabe. We see him and his grandma standing in a doorway, smiling and waving at the little girl. 

With another page turn we see the little girl, TJ, and his grandmother making bread. The little girl tells us that TJ's grandmother told her about other Native people. At the top of the page, we see nine different people in traditional clothing. 

Picture me, smiling! One of them is a Native woman who is dressed the way I dress when I'm home for one of our ceremonies. That 'wow' I felt when I first read the book continues! The little girl is on a road trip. Here's a sentence you'll get to: 

At the Grand Canyon, I learned that eight tribes call it home: the Havasupai, Yavapai, Paiute, Hopi, Zuni, Hualapai, Apache, and Diné.

Note: Eight tribes call it home. Present tense verbs! In workshops and professional development, I push very hard to encourage educators to use present tense verbs to talk about us. Again, picture me smiling! 

This book is going to be featured in my work, for sure! Another page spread tells us that Disney World is on Seminole land, the White House is on Nacotchtank and Piscataway land, and that Mount Rushmore is on Oceti Sakowin land. There's a link to a database to see what land you (reader) are on, and that page is followed by a page of discussion questions and suggestions to learn more about the people of that land. Illustrations on that page show Native people holding up signs with their tribal nation's name. 

Can you feel and understand why I highly recommend this book? Get more than one copy if you can, and if you'd like to support Native-owned bookstores, go there (in person or on line). One option is Birchbark Books. This could be an illustration of me. GET THE BOOK! 

(Image from my copy of the book)