Common Sense Media Review
By Sun Cooper
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Delicious tale about Tlingit family living with the land.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 4+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
BERRY SONG opens with a brightly-colored spread of berries in their Tlingit and English names and a note about responsible foraging. Beginning its story with a scene awash in Alaskan nature, each page reveals a grandma and her granddaughter harvesting local foods from the ocean and land where they live. Grandma teaches her granddaughter about ancestral songs, gathering wild foods and berries, cooking their harvest, and acknowledging their relationship to the land and their ancestors. The story concludes with the granddaughter, at an older age, teaching her little sister the same lessons of stewardship. Award-winning author and illustrator, Michaela Goade, shares generously from her Tlingit culture and environmental advocacy in the closing pages.
Is It Any Good?
The numerous awards this book has received is a testament to the bountiful narrative presented in Michaela Goade's pages. Berry Song recalls the same fervent joy and advocacy the author brought to the illustrations in We Are Water Protectors. This book is imbued with a love for the land where she grew up and it gleams in her words and images. Readers will love the intimate kinship and knowledge shared between a grandmother and granddaughter and be inspired to find their own kinship with the people and world they live in.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about identifying and safely foraging for local berries or wild foods. Heeding the safety note to foragers in Berry Song, do you -- or a trusted adult -- know how to identify berries or plants growing in your area?
In the story, over 16 kinds of berries grow in this part of Alaska where they live. What kind of berries grow in your area? Did you learn about any new berries that you'd like to try?
The family makes delicious food from all the berries they've collected from the land. What was your favorite kind of food they made? Would you like to learn how to make something from berries?
Grandma and granddaughter often say the word, Gunalchéesh, which means "thank you." Who or what are they expressing their gratitude to? What do you feel grateful for?
Book Details
- Author: Michaela Goade
- Illustrator: Michaela Goade
- Genre: Picture Book
- Topics: Cooking and Baking , Science and Nature
- Character Strengths: Gratitude
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Little Brown and Company
- Publication date: July 19, 2022
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 4 - 8
- Number of pages: 40
- Available on: Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback
- Awards: Caldecott Medal and Honors , Common Sense Selection
- Last updated: August 22, 2024
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