SkySisters

SkySisters
Written by Jan Bourdeau Waboose
Illustrated by Brian Deines
Kids Can Press, 2000. Picture book.

Two Ojibway sisters head out to check out the Northern Lights, which they call SkySisters.

This book is beautiful! The illustrations are really, really well done, and the story is sweet. I would definitely share this book with children.

Since the characters are Native American, whether or not is culturally accurate is important, but the author is Ojibway, and the book has been praised by scholars of Native American literature, such as Debbie Reese. (Check out her review here.) The fact that the book takes place in the present day is another selling point for me--so much Native American children's literature takes place in the past, and while stories of Native American history are important, it's especially important to find portrayals of contemporary life so that we don't pass along the idea that Native Americans are dead, that they only existed in the past.

Five stars!