Like the sacred items in a medicine bundle, these entries reverberate powerfully, both individually and as a whole.
A collection of letters and art from a constellation of renowned Indigenous creators, addressed to Native youth.
Acknowledging that many Native people have “grown up at some distance from their ancestors’ stories,” editors Stephanie and Sara Sinclair (who are of Cree, Ojibwe, and German/Jewish heritage) celebrate the ways that “being Indigenous is a journey toward reclamation and continuance of language, knowledge and nationhood.” They structure their work like a “medicine bundle, with each letter representing a traditional medicine—water, tobacco, cedar, sweetgrass or sage.” Deeply personal, eloquent, and insightful entries explore topics such as ancestral pride, political advocacy, connection to land, and healing from colonial trauma. Tasha Spillett, who describes herself as “an Afro-Indigenous person with mixed European ancestry,” confides that when she was younger, she saw her identity as a “mosaic of fragmented pieces” but that she now views herself as “a complete person, formed by all those I came from.” Métis artist Christi Belcourt contributes an intricate painting of beadwork—just one example of the striking images paired with each letter, illustrating the beauty of Native traditions and expression. Young readers will gravitate toward this collection for its wide range of voices and perspectives on Indigenous identity, fortitude, and creativity.
Like the sacred items in a medicine bundle, these entries reverberate powerfully, both individually and as a whole. (contributor bios, artist note on cover art, credits) (Anthology. 8-12)Pub Date: July 29, 2025
ISBN: 9781774882566
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
With young readers diagnosed with anxiety in ever increasing numbers, this book offers a necessary mirror to many.
Young Raina is 9 when she throws up for the first time that she remembers, due to a stomach bug. Even a year later, when she is in fifth grade, she fears getting sick.
Raina begins having regular stomachaches that keep her home from school. She worries about sharing food with her friends and eating certain kinds of foods, afraid of getting sick or food poisoning. Raina’s mother enrolls her in therapy. At first Raina isn’t sure about seeing a therapist, but over time she develops healthy coping mechanisms to deal with her stress and anxiety. Her therapist helps her learn to ground herself and relax, and in turn she teaches her classmates for a school project. Amping up the green, wavy lines to evoke Raina’s nausea, Telgemeier brilliantly produces extremely accurate visual representations of stress and anxiety. Thought bubbles surround Raina in some panels, crowding her with anxious “what if”s, while in others her negative self-talk appears to be literally crushing her. Even as she copes with anxiety disorder and what is eventually diagnosed as mild irritable bowel syndrome, she experiences the typical stresses of school life, going from cheer to panic in the blink of an eye. Raina is white, and her classmates are diverse; one best friend is Korean American.
With young readers diagnosed with anxiety in ever increasing numbers, this book offers a necessary mirror to many. (Graphic memoir. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-545-85251-7
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share.
A multiaward–winning author recalls her childhood and the joy of becoming a writer.
Writing in free verse, Woodson starts with her 1963 birth in Ohio during the civil rights movement, when America is “a country caught / / between Black and White.” But while evoking names such as Malcolm, Martin, James, Rosa and Ruby, her story is also one of family: her father’s people in Ohio and her mother’s people in South Carolina. Moving south to live with her maternal grandmother, she is in a world of sweet peas and collards, getting her hair straightened and avoiding segregated stores with her grandmother. As the writer inside slowly grows, she listens to family stories and fills her days and evenings as a Jehovah’s Witness, activities that continue after a move to Brooklyn to reunite with her mother. The gift of a composition notebook, the experience of reading John Steptoe’s Stevieand Langston Hughes’ poetry, and seeing letters turn into words and words into thoughts all reinforce her conviction that “[W]ords are my brilliance.” Woodson cherishes her memories and shares them with a graceful lyricism; her lovingly wrought vignettes of country and city streets will linger long after the page is turned.
For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share. (Memoir/poetry. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-25251-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
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