Does your school or your children's school have a star of the day/week/month, etc. award? Many of Hazel's classes when she was younger had star of the day and our lower school has a student of the month. These are often put in place to help motivate students to behave and work hard. Today we are sharing a picture book being released tomorrow that is created by Indigenous People sharing about being part of a community versus being the shining star. It touches on school, family, community and more. The book is All the Stars in the Sky by Art Coulson and illustrated by Winona Nelson. It is recommended for ages 4 to 8.
About the Book:
Last Stop on Market Street meets We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga in this sweet, bighearted picture book about a young boy who learns the Cherokee lesson of gadugi—how working together and helping each other makes the whole community stronger.When eager Clay asks his elisi (grandmother) for help to be named star of the week at school, he’s surprised by her answer: No one person is more important than his family and his community. But is Clay still important at all?
This contemplative exploration of community, individualism, and responsibility—accentuated with traditional beadwork in the art—is a moving invitation to consider an indigenous perspective of one’s place in the world and how we all light up our sky, together.
About the Author:
Art Coulson is a writer of Cherokee, English, and Dutch descent and comes from a family of storytellers in all three traditions. A Navy brat, Art traveled the world, attending fourteen schools on three continents before graduating high school. Art served as the first executive director of the Wilma Mankiller Foundation in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma after an award-winning twenty-five-year career in journalism. A 2023 McKnight Fellow in Children’s Literature, Art is the author of twenty books, graphic novels, and plays, including Chasing Bigfoot, Bank Street Best Book of 2020 The Reluctant Storyteller, All the Stars in the Sky, and Look, Grandma! Ni, Elisi!, which was named a best STEM children’s book by the National Science Teaching Association. Find out more at ArtCoulson.com.
About the Illustrator:
Winona Nelson is a fine artist and illustrator of comics and children’s books. She’s the illustrator of If You Lived During the Plimoth Thanksgiving by Chris Newell, which was a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, and All the Stars in the Sky by Art Coulson. Her fine art, which often focuses on the stories and history of her tribe, the Ojibwe of Minnesota, as well as on gender and diversity, has been featured in galleries across the country. She lives in Pennsylvania with her artist beau Anthony and their gentleman cats, Diego and Tod.
From Me:
This book is simply beautiful. The illustrations are gorgeous and feature indigenous beading designs throughout the pages. The story is sweet and full of a lesson, wonder, family and community. Clay rushes home one day to talk to his grandmother. He wants to figure out what to do so he will be picked as the class star. His grandmother doesn't understand the idea of a class star. Her first response confuses Clay and makes him wonder if he truly matters. The conversation however continues while cleaning up from dinner and his grandmother talks about how in a constellation all the stars work together to light the sky and tell the story of the constellation. She also tells Clay about how being a part of a community makes each person important to someone. They go through various things people do for another and thus make them important, and it is circular. They all take care of each other and make the community. Clay ponders all of this and teaches his classmates the lesson the next day.
I love the message in this book and love how it shares a bit of the Cherokee culture and more with the artwork as well as the story. The message is about being a good member of a community and how one person shouldn't shine over others because each member matters and contributes. It takes Clay time to process and understand the message from his grandmother, but he does come to understand and appreciate it. It is a wonderful book for any story time as well as for the classroom to teach about community and working together. And of course, it is perfect for Native American Heritage Month in November.
I really love the theme of the beadwork throughout the pages. It is beautiful but also sharing a bit of the culture. I have been a bit of a cyber stalker of Val's Beautiful Beadwork on Facebook. Her work is beautiful! On her Facebook page she sometimes shares tutorial videos too! The illustrations made me think of her work immediately. I absolutely love it! I hope you check out the book as well as Val's work. She is Apache so buying from her will be supporting an indigenous business.
