"Wild Berries" by Julie Flett is truly a treasure of children's literature. The story is simple and sweet: a young child named Clarence goes blueberry picking with his grandmother. The book includes gorgeous illustrations by Flett that depict the loving and serene relationship that Clarence has both with this grandmother and the land. The book also includes Cree words that accompany particular highlighted English terms in the story. This gives children and parents alike an opportunity to be introduced to the Cree language in a beautiful and uncomplicated way. Lastly, the book ends with a little tasty surprise - a recipe for blueberry jam!
Julie Flett comes from a mixed background of Canadian Cree-Metis heritage and is recognized as having special talents in both storytelling and visual arts. This book in particular has won numerous awards and comes highly recommended by many Indigenous organizations. To begin with, "Wild Berries" is on the First Nations Community Reads Honor list, a definitive guide for excellent Aboriginal literature. When explaining the reasons that "Wild Berries" was chosen for the honor, the jury explained that Julie Flett was able to capture extremely important themes of intergenerational relationships and teaching, respect for Mother Earth, and a recognition and preservation of specific Aboriginal dialects (FNCR, 2015)
The book has also been named one of the "Best Multicultural Children's Books of 2013" by the Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature. Furthermore, popular magazine "Today's Parent" has named this title one of the "Top 10 Canadian Kids' Books of All Time". To conclude, I want to leave you with a quote that summarizes just how authentic this book is and how well Julie Flett has been able to represent the language and culture of her people (review linked to by the First Nation Community Reads website) :
"The author has been very diligent in her translation of the Cree language. Following the story is a pronunciation guide, a vowel and consonant guide, and details on the variations of Cree the language. As always, Flett’s book is well-researched and presented in a thoughtful and respectful manner." (CM Magazine from Simply Read Books, 2014)
References:
Flett, J. (2013). Wild berries. Vancouver: Simply Read Books.
First Nations Community Read., & Periodical Marketers of Canada. (2014). Julie Flett Scores
First Nation Communities READ 2014-2015 honour and $5,000 Aboriginal literature award. Available online at http://www.sols.org/files/docs/develop/professionalinfo/firstnations/fncr/2014-05-23_ReleaseFNCRTitleAbLit_Award.pdf
Simply Read Books. (2014). Wild Berries: CM magazine review. Available online at http://www.simplyreadbooks.com/book.php?book_id=108&image_num=1&page=reviews
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