Description
From United States Poet Laureate Joy Harjo and Pura Belpré Award–winning illustrator Adriana Garcia: a luminous benediction for a girl’s journey through life, and a celebration of our connections to the world around us.
A baby girl is welcomed to the breathing world by generations of her family and set on the magnificent journey of becoming. As she grows, she is reminded of her connections to the natural world; to her family, her ancestors, her neighbors; to the source of all magic and sorrow—and of her responsibility to uphold and honor those connections.
With US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo’s transcendent verse and Pura Belpré Award winner Adriana Garcia’s monumental illustrations, For a Girl Becoming acts as a blessing and a harbinger for a young girl’s life—and reminds those of us who still stand at the door of becoming that it is our relationships with nature and with each other that carry us through it.
Reviews
"Visualizing Indigenous traditions and underlining values of family and interdependence, it’s a profoundly loving blessing of a book for anyone in a place of becoming." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"An empowering and fiercely affectionate blessing… Fluid and impassioned… Dynamic and richly layered portraits deftly echo the poem’s movement… A standout among affirming picture books, this beatitude-inducing work will quickly become the new go-to baby present. A stunningly illustrated, tender, and tenacious message—a boon to any bookshelf." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"The swirling linework feels like connective tissue unifying the illustrations and accentuating the poetic text. Each spread celebrates Native cultural identity and brings form to the metaphysical. VERDICT A stunningly written and illustrated work of children’s literature, and an essential purchase for school and public library collections." — School Library Journal (starred review)
"The book provides authentic depictions of contemporary family and tribal life and reflects the Indigenous value of being in harmony with human and nonhuman relatives; it also connects to the value of being a thoughtful contributor, both at home and in the wider world. Harjo’s detail-rich verse and Garcia’s lush, mural-like illustrations are steeped in tradition but firmly grounded in today. Details in the illustrations allow readers to immerse themselves in the girl’s world, from the Three Sisters in the garden to the rusted-out truck in the yard to the purposefully chosen objects in a teenager’s bedroom. Adding even more meaning is the repeated use of rainbow imagery, a symbol widely regarded in Indigenous communities as representing unity and hope." — The Horn Book Magazine
Standalone Ebook
9781324052258
COMING SOON