The genre of this book is folklore, based on a South American indigenous story. There is a forest fire, and while all the animals of the forest are frozen in fright, the smallest of them all, the brave hummingbird, carries one drop of water at time to put out the fire. Brief, yet with a big message that says no matter how small, anyone can make a difference.

Brief story about doing all you can do. ( )

Michael Yahgulanaas (Haida)

A North Pacific retelling of a South American indigenous story about a determined hummingbird who confronts fear in her attempt to save the forest from fire. While all the other animals watch in horror as their home is engulfed in flames, the hummingbird races to a stream to collect as much water as she can to drop on the fire. As each animal speaks of helplessness, the little bird performs the futile attempt of damping the fire by dropping one drop of water at a time. The bear asks why she tries. The hummingbird stops to respond – “I’m doing everything I can”.

Internationally acclaimed Haida artist, Michael Yahgulanaas, creates a beautifully striking book with three colours: black, red, and cream. Yahgulanaas is a master of the drawn line; he employs the more traditional First Nation North West Coast design motifs in his art for this book. Each spread background is either cream or red. The images are outlined in black. If the background is red, the images are black outlined with cream centers. Each creature is fluid yet detailed, there is no need for extra images on the page. That would only clutter and distract the reader.

At the end of the book there is a message from Nobel Peace Price laureate Wangari Maathai. About thirty years ago, she began to plant trees in Kenya after deforestation. In her message, she encourages people to think about what they can do for the earth and the environment.

The book also provides information about the hummingbird, for example, how far they can travel. In this section, we also learn about how the hummingbird is revered in various cultures. ( )

'The Little Hummingbird' is about a forest which catches on fire. The fire drives all of the creatures out except for the hummingbird who drops water on the forest and saves the day. ( )