THE BEAR'S MEDICINE / SUS YOO

In this bilingual story, a mother bear teaches her cubs how to live in relationship to the land.

Emphasizing gratitude, interdependence, and ancestry, Cree/Dakelh author and artist Gauthier conveys the wisdom of growing up and cultural inheritance through the movements of a bear family. Upon waking (perhaps from hibernation), the parent and cubs meet a world rich with the medicine of food, water, and beauty—an orientation that will resonate among many Indigenous readers. English words are placed beneath Alexis and Austin’s Dakelh translation, centering the First Nations language and cultural perspective. Gauthier’s bold images illuminate the mountains, rivers, and fellow creatures that co-create the bears’ world, strong patterns that attest to his background as a carver establishing solidity and also creating harmonious connections among pictorial elements. As the narrative progresses through the seasons, readers are treated to a bear’s-eye view of nature, evoked in a voice that has long been excluded from children’s literature. The salmon that feed the bears, for example, are uplifted as “new family” to be greeted “with honour”; snow is “the white blanket [that] will keep our medicine warm.” Valuable for its rich imagery and simple yet multifaceted storytelling, this stands as a beautifully told, #ownvoices offering that focuses less on plot and more on fascinating concepts.

An accessible, heartwarming book for readers of all lineages.