The First Blade of Sweetgrass

by Suzanne Greenlaw, Gabriel Frey, Nancy Baker (Illustrator)

Overview

Selected for the Notable Social Studies 2022 List

Named to ALA Notable Children's Books 2022

In this Own Voices Native American picture book story, a modern Wabanaki girl is excited to accompany her grandmother for the first time to harvest sweetgrass for basket making.

Musquon must overcome her impatience while learning to distinguish sweetgrass from other salt marsh grasses, but slowly the spirit and peace of her surroundings speak to her, and she gathers sweetgrass as her ancestors have done for centuries, leaving the first blade she sees to grow for future generations. This sweet, authentic story from a Maliseet mother and her Passamaquoddy husband includes backmatter about traditional basket making and a Wabanaki glossary.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780884487623
Publisher:	Tilbury House Publishers
Publication date:	08/10/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	74 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

Suzanne Greenlaw (Orono, ME) is Maliseet and a citizen of the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians. A PhD candidate in the School of Forest Resources at the University of Maine, she works to restore Wabanaki stewardship practices across various land tenure systems throughout Maine.
Gabriel Frey (Orono, ME) is Passamaquoddy and a citizen of Passamaquoddy at Sipayik. He is an awarded-winning basket maker, artist, and cultural knowledge keeper. His mother and Suzanne and Gabriel’s two daughters, Musqon and Alamossit, helped inspire The First Blade of Sweetgrass.
Nancy Baker (Thomaston, ME) is a Maine artist, illustrator, and muralist whose landscapes, still lifes, and figurative works in oils and pastels are represented by Mars Hall Gallery in Tenants Harbor, Maine. While visiting the sweetgrass meadows of Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park with Suzanne and Gabriel, authors of The First Blade of Sweetgrass, Nancy learned the ecology and cultural importance of sweetgrass and witnessed the majesty of the landscape in which it grows, qualities that she has worked to convey in her illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

PW Starred Review - Emphasizing the importance of conservation and tradition in Native culture, married authors Greenlaw (who is Maliseet) and Frey (who is Passamaquoddy) expertly craft a sweet story that centers a Wabanaki grandmother and granddaughter...Baker’s earth-toned illustrations feature soft edges, subtle colors, and braided sweetgrass borders, while lyrical text renders experience in evocative sensory prose (“the thin whine of mosquitos grew distant”). The result is a deeply personal, thoughtfully detailed account.— PW STARRED REVIEW - PW

While hunting for summer’s

sweetgrass, a young Wabanaki girl learns patience from her grandmother... Greenlaw (Houlton Band

of Maliseet) and Frey (Passamaquoddy), a basket maker himself, pen a tender ode

to a treasured tradition. Muted illustrations rendered in pastels on brown

paper evoke the coastal Maine landscape and fit nicely with the tranquil pace

of this lyrical tale.

Quiet

text shows how careful observation and the respect of nature can provide

unexpected gifts.— The First Blade of Sweetgrass - Kirkus

From the Publisher

2021-06-02
While hunting for summer’s sweetgrass, a young Wabanaki girl learns patience from her grandmother.

It’s Musqon’s first time to gather sweetgrass, and she’s excited. Her grandmother will use what they gather to make the baskets she will sell the following summer. As they walk together through the salt marsh, her grandmother explains, “It’s important to remember that we never pick the first blade of sweet grass we see. If we never pick the first blade, we will never pick the last one,” ensuring the sweetgrass will endure. But in Musqon’s excitement and haste, she pays no attention and grabs the first grasses she finds. With patience and love, Musqon is encouraged to think of how her ancestors had looked for sweetgrass. She learns to slow down and identify the different grasses until she recognizes the “sweet hay smell that was in her grandmother’s basket room.” As she considers what she has learned that day, she realizes that “perhaps next summer she could teach her younger sister…to pick sweetgrass.” Greenlaw (Houlton Band of Maliseet) and Frey (Passamaquoddy), a basket maker himself, pen a tender ode to a treasured tradition. Muted illustrations rendered in pastels on brown paper evoke the coastal Maine landscape and fit nicely with the tranquil pace of this lyrical tale.

Quiet text shows how careful observation and the respect of nature can provide unexpected gifts. (authors' notes, glossary) (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews