Brand new from Orca Books: Dorothy Thunder’s Plains Cree (y-dialect) translation of Tonya Simpson’s This Land is a Lullaby, illustrated by Delreé Dumont. The Cree is carefully prepared in SRO, and the whole book looks just luscious.
The book is so new, the website still says “pre-order” but since Dorothy and I both received our copies last week, we know general orders will be shipping very soon. Check in with your favourite seller of children’s books, or place your order directly with Orca by following this link:
This Land is a Lullaby / cistomâwasowin ôma askiy
As an added bonus, the Orca Books website includes previews of six of the book’s stunning two-page spreads. Here’s Orca’s own description:
★“In warm, soothing language, a mother speaks to her infant, poetically describing their ancestral surroundings and reflecting on traditional Cree knowledge…Luxuriantly alive with glowing colors and textured patterns, Dumont’s (Onion Lake Cree Nation) exquisite pointillist illustrations resemble three-dimensional beadwork. This eloquent and insightful picture book (…) honors the enduring relationship between a child, their ancestors, and the land.” — Booklist, starred review
As daylight fades to dusk and slips into darkness, this gentle lullaby celebrates the sounds of the Prairies and the Plains on a stormy summer’s night.
From the hum of dragonflies to the drumming of thunder, with grasses swirling and the northern lights glimmering, This Land Is a Lullaby shares a song and dance—a gift from the ancestors that soothes children to sleep and reminds them of their deeply rooted connections to the land.
Written as a lullaby for the author’s daughter and featuring striking pointillism artwork, this lush lullaby of the land honors the beauty of the Prairies and the Plains and the spiritual connection between Indigenous children, ancestors and their Traditional Territories.
This bilingual book includes full text in both English and Plains Cree.
