Monique Gray Smith is an award-winning, best-selling author and sought-after consultant. Her first published novel, Tilly: A Story of Hope and Resilience, won the 2014 Burt Award for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Literature. Since then, Smith has published nine books for a broad spectrum of ages that cover a range of topics and emotions, including Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults, an adaptation of the acclaimed bestseller by botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer, and Tilly and the Crazy Eights, which was longlisted for the 2021 Canada Reads. Smith is Cree and Scottish and has been sober and involved in her healing journey for over 34 years. Well known for her storytelling, spirit of generosity, and focus on resilience, woven into all of Smith’s work is the teaching that love is medicine. She lives in Victoria.
An inclusive must-buy for all upper elementary collections and for any institution serving an Indigenous community.” –School Library Journal
A joyful, proud and groundbreaking collection of letters and art for young people, You Were Made for This World brings together celebrated Indigenous voices from across Turtle Island.
Every young person deserves the chance to feel like they belong, that they are recognized, that they matter. In the spirit of A Velocity of Being: Letters to a Young Reader, You Were Made for This World brings together forty Indigenous writers, artists, activists, athletes, scholars and thinkers with a joint purpose: to celebrate the potential of young people, to share a sense of joy and pride in language, traditional and personal stories and teachings, and shared experiences, and to honor young people for who they are and what they dream of.
Including contributions from activist Autumn Peltier, singer/songwriter Tanya Tagaq, hockey player Ethan Bear, Governor General’s Award–winning author David A. Robertson, artists Chief Lady Bird and Christi Belcourt, illustrator Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley, and dozens of others, this beautifully collaborative collection urges readers to think about who they are, where they come from and where they’re going, with a warm familiarity that will inspire you to see yourself and your community with proud eyes.
“This beautiful, imaginative revisioning is a gift to our children that teaches them how to follow the path of our ancestors.”–Traci Sorell (We are Grateful: Otsaliheliga)
Drawing from her experiences as an Indigenous scientist, botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer demonstrated how all living things – from strawberries and witch hazel to water lilies and lichen – provide us with gifts and lessons every day in her best-selling book Braiding Sweetgrass. Adapted for young adults by Monique Gray Smith, this new edition reinforces how wider ecological understanding stems from listening to the earth’s oldest teachers: the plants around us. With informative sidebars, reflection questions, and art from illustrator Nicole Neidhardt, Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults brings Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the lessons of plant life to a new generation.
Starring Monique Gray Smith. Hosted by Shelagh Rogers
In the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge that we live, work and play on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksika, Kainai, Piikani), the Tsuut’ina, the Iyarhe Nakoda Nations, the Otipemisiwak Métis Government of the Métis Nation within Alberta District 6, and all people who make their homes in the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta.
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