Julie FlettBesprekingen

This book is about how all of nature is connected through what we do in our day-to-day lives. There is an index in the back that translates English to Cree and shares the authors language with the reader. This book could be used to show primary/intermediate students a new language, and how different people view the relationship between humans and nature.

This book has a limited amount of text per page with fun illustrations of animals and children playing. Has a few Cree phrases with translation and more translated words in back of book. Definitely for younger readers(primary). Great language resource.

This book does a good job of connecting children to the world of nature. It goes through different animals and how they move and play and then how children do the same. Another important aspect of the book is the language. The author utilizes her heritage as a Cree Metis and includes the word kimêtawânaw (we all play). She then includes an in depth explanation at the end. this book would be suitable for children up to around the age of 6 or 7 due to its simplicity and pictures and for the ability for students to follow along without much reading knowledge.

I love this book! The art is so pretty.

Animals and kids love to play! This book celebrates diversity and the interconnectedness of nature through an Indigenous perspective, complete with a glossary of Cree words for wild animals at the back of the book, and children repeating a Cree phrase throughout the book and it is WONDERFUL. The illustrations are charming too!

I just love the work of Julie Flett. Her illustrations and simple nature based stories, that also focus on the Cree language are a joy to behold. Wild Berries focuses on a boy named Clarence and his grandmother as they forage wild berries in the woods. There, Clarence gets to meet ant, spider, and fox and explore the beautiful woodland landscape. This book is written in both English and Cree, in particular the n-dialect, also known as Swampy Cree from the Cumberland House area. The book also includes a recipe for making blueberry jam!

5/5

53

After moving to a new home with her mother, a young girl befriends an old woman named Agnes. They make art together with clay and the girl paints birds. Agnes grows weak and the young girl and Agnes' daughter surprises her by decorating her room with her paintings of birds.
3-8 years old
Bibliotherapy-crisis
Fort Steilacoom ECE shelves

A beautiful homage to friendship growing over seasons. Of making someone's fading seasons be beautiful. Frankly, of finding beauty in the newness of a move and everything! I wish there was more Cree influence (considering the author's background). Still, I enjoyed this book a great deal!

This book would be a great read aloud for primary aged students.
This book is about a young girl, Katherena, who has to move to a new home with her mother. They both move in with a woman named Agnes, who slowly becomes a friend to Katherena and shows her the joys of nature and art. At the end of the book, Agnes passes away, and Katherena learns to find beauty in the grief that she feels over the loss of her friend Agnes.
I would use this book in my classroom as a read aloud and as a way to discuss the topic of grief and loss of those that we love. This book also has indigenous peoples representation and uses different native words to talk about things in nature.

I would recommend this book to middle or upper elementary school students because it is mainly a picture book, but also uses higher level vocabulary and deals with death. This book is about a Native American little girl going through the four seasons and describes what takes place with her family and life through them. She moved to a new town and became friends with an elderly woman who passes away at the end of the story. This would be good to use in a classroom because it shows the different seasons of life we have and goes through hard real life situations like moving away and death.

This is a really sweet book about a young girl that moves from the sea to a new place. She makes a connection with her neighbor and we get to see their relationship grow through the seasons. This book is probably best for 3rd-4th grade and would be great to include in a classroom library.

Everyone loves to play! Award-winning author/illustrator Flett shares the joyful antics of young animals as they romp in much the same way as human children.

The rhythmic text offers both rich vocabulary and a page-turning chant. Woodland animals “hide and hop / and sniff and sneak” while Indigenous children, depicted in differing shades of brown, run, skip, jump, and hunt for butterflies. “We play too! kimêtawânaw mîna,” they proclaim in the refrain. Aquatic animals “swim and squirt / and bubble and bend” while children swim under the water and float on its surface, in inner tubes. On the prairie, snakes “slip and slide” through the grass while buffalo “rumble and roll.” And bears “wiggle and wobble” as both they and children play (in separate double-page spreads) in the snow. At last, “side by side, animals fall asleep,” and after a day full of fun, “we do too. nîstanân mîna.” The animals are not named within the primary text, leaving it to readers to identify the hopping bunnies, the spouting beluga whale calves, and the yawning wolf pups. Flett’s characteristically minimalist compositions are deceptively simple. Readers who slow down to look will be charmed by the cricket that hops in tandem with a rabbit and the fox that stares in bemusement at a turtle. This celebration of nature is sprinkled with words from the Cree language, and a closing glossary provides both Cree and English names of the animals depicted; a note provides guidance on Cree pronunciation for readers not familiar with the language.

Simple text and bold, graphic illustrations celebrate our interconnection with the creatures who share our world. (author's note) (Picture book. 3-7)

-Kirkus Review

Cassia likes berries. She liked to point at them. I thought it was cute that you can find the moccasins on another page being worn. Learning Cree is also nice.

Cassia likes berries. She liked to point at them. I thought it was cute that you can find the moccasins on another page being worn. Learning Cree is also nice.

I don’t speak Cree, but I did like that the beginning of this book has a pronunciation chart. 😊

This book works really well for teaching young kids how to count in Cree. The illustrations are appealing, the concepts are ones they understand, and the pronunciation is provided on each page so the reader doesn't have to keep flipping back and forth to figure out how to pronounce the words. Some of the numbers (like nine and ten) are a bit difficult for toddlers to say, but my 1.5-2.5 year-old crowd enjoyed trying to say each number with me.

Beautiful and meaningful. Though I’m not sure it’s really for children, it’s definitely for me!

Lovely in language, and astonishingly beautiful in illustration. I hope this book helps keep the Michif language alive.

Cree pronunciation videos! https://greystonebooks.com/blogs/news/we-all-play-cree-glossary

A beautiful story about the relationship between a young girl and her elderly neighbor that explores the idea of compassion, companionship, and the lasting impact of both.