Nikosis had been listening to the drum before he was born.

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Introduction

Orca Publishers is knocking it out of the park again with this one, friends. We Belong to the Drum is a delightful picture book written by Sandra Lamouche (Bigstone Cree), illustrated by Azby Whitecalf (Plains Cree), and translated into Plains Cree by Dolores Greyeyes Sand (Plains Cree). Sand has done wonderful translation work before on another favorite of mine from last year, I Hope by Monique Gray Smith! This one is another wonderful family story that I’m happy to see in the world. Let’s dive in to what makes it great below.

The Good Stuff

The Story

In We Belong to the Drum, we follow the story of Nikosis. He’s a little boy being raised by his parents in his culture. He has listened to the drum and been surrounded by his family all his life, but this changes when it’s time for him to go to daycare. Suddenly, he feels as though he doesn’t belong and gets really upset every time his parents have to drop him off. The rest of the book takes us through how Nikosis is reminded of how to be proud of who he is and how many people love him.

As someone who grew up on the powwow trail, I loved this story! Clear care was taken in telling it, and it shows on every page. The story reflects some of the stories I heard growing up about a mother’s heartbeat being the first drum a child hears – it’s a sweet way to begin the book and a nice cultural touchstone for those of us who grew up hearing the same.

It’s also great because it not only shows Indigenous peoples in a modern context doing everyday things, it also illustrates a story that many children can relate to. The text is adult-guided in that it’s designed to be read by a child and their adult together. The situations depicted in the book are funny and cute but might require some prompting, e.g. “does he look happy or sad?”, or “what kind of music might he be listening to?”, etc. Those kinds of conversations will go really well though, as Lamouche’s words are accompanied by Whitecalf’s wonderful art.

The Art

The illustrations are bold and joyful and they accompany the story perfectly! Whitecalf’s lines and color choices are a lot of fun and communicate the liveliness of a little guy so well. I also love that they chose to represent many different ethnicities, body types, and skin tones throughout the book not only in Nikosis’ classroom but at the powwow, too! As more and more children’s books get published by and about Indigenous stories, representing the diversity of Indigenous people is more and more important. As mentioned above, the illustrations in this book will help a lot of adults easily facilitate conversations with their little ones about belonging and identity thanks to Whitecalf’s excellent expressive work. Whitecalf’s art in this book is wonderful and I’m thrilled to show it off in my library.

In Summary

Lamouche’s writing and Whitecalf’s illustrations work together perfectly to tell a sweet story about belonging and being true to yourself. This book is highly recommended.

We Belong to the Drum / mistikwaskihk kitipêyimikonaw is written by Sandra Lamouche (Bigstone Cree), illustrated by Azby Whitecalf (Plains Cree), and translated into Plains Cree by Dolores Greyeyes Sand (Plains Cree). It’s published by Orca Book Publishers and available on their site, which you can find linked here. As always, gichi miigwech for reading!