The Sockeye Mother

Written by Hetxw'ms Gyetxw (Brett David Huson)

Illustrated by Natasha Donovan

Winnipeg, Manitoba: Highwater Press, 2017. Informational.

This nonfiction picture book intertwines the life cycle of the sockeye salmon with cultural beliefs of the Gitxsan Nation, an Indigenous people of British Columbia. Huson's lyrical prose describes salmon in both an ecological and a symbolic sense. Donovan's illustrations are dynamic. Together, word and image show how the animals, water, soil, and seasons all relate to each other in a fascinating process of birth, migration, and death.

I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. The salmon life cycle is part of everyone's fourth grade curriculum there, so it was fun to revisit some of those ideas in this different context. The Sockeye Mother is an interesting, sophisticated nonfiction picture book that is both scientifically and culturally driven, making it a good choice for older children.

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