Eva Campbell

Visiting our daughter for her 24th birthday, my wife and I give her a picture book read aloud marathon (Book 9 of 11).

It's getting way too late in this marathon to have to deal with a picture book with this many words. I admit to drifting in and out as my wife read aloud the very dull story of a little girl learning to do beadwork with her Anishinaabe grandmother.

I did perk up in the middle of the story and for the Author's Note when the blatant gender discrimination of Canada's First Nation show more policy was discussed. For more than a century, women lost their First Nation status if they married non-Indigenous men, but men could keep their status if they married non-Indigenous women. I wish the whole book had been about this injustice and the struggle to overturn it instead of sewing crafts. show less

Maggie visits her grandmother for a delicious fry bread lunch and cozy afternoon beading together. Through this relatable personal narrative, kids can learn about Anishinaabe beading and culture, as well as the impact of the Indian Act on First Nations women and families in Canada. This is a fantastic upper elementary picture book—so much to learn and discuss together!

Wonderful story. Funny, in a setting not enough of us in the West know about. Don't miss the preface, in which we learn why not to diss this as not OwnVoices but to value it anyway, or the end note.

Nice storytelling, set in contemporary Africa. A little bit of things that go, a little bit of fable.