WE ARE WHO WE ARE

A collective biography that sparks further curiosity about the Native heroes it celebrates.

A Canadian musician and member of the Midewin composes his second upbeat assortment of notable Indigenous North Americans, highlighting 13 men and women with a broad array of accomplishments. A companion to the author’s Go Show the World (2018), this collection expansively interprets heroism by introducing readers to actor Chief Dan George, advocates Louis Riel and George Bonga, authors N. Scott Momaday and Tasha Spillett, and Two-Spirit chief Pine Leaf, among others, though without discernible order. While the rhyme scheme occasionally stumbles, awkwardly pairing words like love and does or folk and vote in brief stanzas of verse, an uplifting refrain recenters its inspiring message: “We are who we are. / There’s strength in this too. / We kept this place free, / so you can be you.” Limited information is conveyed in just a few lines per hero while heftier content is saved for the backmatter, a springboard that contains a paragraph of text per person. Every inch of the page is covered in bold swipes of saturated acrylics, and joyful portraiture is surrounded by realistically detailed landscapes and symbolic ancestral imagery including canoes, corn, and regalia. While the individual stories presented here are scant, their presentation brims with admiration and enthusiasm, and it’s the weight of their totality that carries this picture book.

A lively and beautifully illustrated salute to Indigenous achievement.