Suzanne Greenlaw

This book is about a young Native American girl and her grandmother, from whom she learns how to pick a special plant of sweetgrass. Sweetgrass is what her grandmother uses to weave baskets, as the tradition within their culture has been done for decades, if not centuries, longer. One thing that I appreciate is in the back of the book, the author also includes some historical context as well as a small glossary for the vocabulary used that may be unknown to readers. I would recommend this to 2nd-4th graders (possibly 5th too), as it does have some tricky pronunciations. I feel this age group would be most appropriate because of the traditional content of the book as well as I think that this age group could appreciate the story better than younger students.… (more)

Musquon goes with her grandmother ("Uhkomi") to learn how to pick sweetgrass for baskets and ceremonies. Musquon's grandmother corrects her first overenthusiastic attempts, and Musquon remembers her grandmother's words: "It's important to remember that we never pick the first blade of sweetgrass we see. If we never pick the first blade, we will never pick the last one. We must make sure there will be sweetgrass here for the next generation."

Illustrations appear to be pastels and/or colored pencil on textured brown paper; some illustrations are full-bleed, while others are framed in braided sweetgrass borders.

Back matter includes a note from the authors and a glossary of Passamaquoddy-Maliseet words, as well as a link to an online dictionary.

See also: Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey; When We Are Kind by Monique Gray Smith… (more)