A contemporary Anishinaabe grandmother answers her grandchild’s questions about the four seasons by sharing observations about the natural world in this striking picture book. “How do I know summer is here? … When blueberries drop readily, and the sand is hot enough to sting. When Insects billow black from the trees, and the sun slips into an orange dream.” The stunning digitally-created illustration shows the two at the water’s edge after berry-picking, with saturated sunset hues and bold black outlines. As the seasons pass, grandmother and grandchild’s activities include foraging for orange mushrooms in fall, feeding red-capped woodpeckers in winter, and hearing brown peepers sing in spring. Brittany Luby’s (Anishinaabe) exceptional text is perfectly complemented by Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley’s (Ojibwe) gorgeous art in this bilingual (Anishinaabemowin-Ojibwe and English) story. (Ages 3-6)

An Anishinaabe child and her grandmother explore the natural wonders of each season in this lyrical, bilingual story-poem.

In this lyrical story-poem, written in Anishinaabemowin and English, a child and grandmother explore their surroundings, taking pleasure in the familiar sights that each new season brings.

We accompany them through warm summer days full of wildflowers, bees and blueberries, then fall, when bears feast before hibernation and forest mushrooms are ripe for harvest. Winter mornings begin in darkness as deer, mice and other animals search for food, while spring brings green shoots poking through melting snow and the chirping of peepers.

Brittany Luby and Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley have created a book inspired by childhood memories of time spent with Knowledge Keepers, observing and living in relationship with the natural world in the place they call home -- the northern reaches of Anishinaabewaking, around the Great Lakes.

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4
Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.1
Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.5
Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.