![]() ![]() “Before I held you in my arms, I sang you down from the stars.” When she finds a white eagle plume, it becomes “the first gift in a bundle that will be yours.” The young mother finds more items for her child’s bundle: cedar, sage, a “star blanket,” and a special river stone “so that you always remember that you belong to this place.” The baby arrives in the spring, “with the waters that come when the ice breaks and the rivers flow again.” Goade uses a white “swoosh” of stars throughout the illustrations to intertwine traditional origin stories with a family’s experience of “love and joy” upon the arrival of the new baby, in scenes that pulse with both emotions. ![]() Spillett-Sumner’s lyrical text begins as an Indigenous mother plans the journey with her unborn child. These items will keep the growing child’s connection to their identity strong. Sacred items are collected and placed in a medicine bundle to be given to the baby at birth. When a baby chooses its mother, special gatherings of family and community are held to prepare for the child’s arrival. ![]() Anticipation, pregnancy, and the birth of a baby are celebrated in this story from Spillett-Sumner (Inniniwak) and Caldecott medalist Goade (Tlingit). ![]()
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