Tasha Spillett-Sumner

Dez and Miikwan’s stories continue in this sequel to Surviving the City.

Dez’s grandmother has passed away. Grieving, and with nowhere else to go, she’s living in a group home. On top of everything else, Dez is navigating a new relationship and coming into her identity as a Two-Spirit person.

Miikwan is crushing on the school’s new kid Riel, but doesn’t really understand what Dez is going through. Will she learn how to be a supportive ally to her best friend?

Elder Geraldine is doing her best to be supportive, but she doesn’t know how to respond when the gendered protocols she’s grown up with that are being thrown into question.

Will Dez be comfortable expressing her full identity? And will her community relearn the teachings and overcome prejudice to celebrate her for who she is?

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 12 to 18.

This is the second volume in the Surviving the City graphic novel series, which is also part of the Debwe Series. 

Surviving the City is a contemporary graphic novel series about young Indigenous women navigating their way in an urban environment. It includes these books:

Surviving the City
From the Roots Up
We Are the Medicine

A Teacher Guide is available: Surviving the City Teacher Guide: Exploring Identity, Allyship, and Social Action for Meaningful Change in Grades 7-12 

Additional Information
64 pages | 6.50" x 10.00"

Tasha Spillett’s graphic novel debut, Surviving the City, is a story about womanhood, friendship, colonialism, and the anguish of a missing loved one.

Miikwan and Dez are best friends. Miikwan is Anishinaabe; Dez is Inninew. Together, the teens navigate the challenges of growing up in an urban landscape – they’re so close, they even completed their Berry Fast together. However, when Dez’s grandmother becomes too sick, Dez is told she can’t stay with her anymore. With the threat of a group home looming, Dez can’t bring herself to go home and disappears. Miikwan is devastated, and the wound of her missing mother resurfaces. Will Dez’s community find her before it’s too late? Will Miikwan be able to cope if they don’t?

Awards

• Winner of the 2019 Indigenous Voices Award for Works in an Alternative Format
• Co-winner of the Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book by a Manitoba Author
• Winner of the Manuela Dias Design and Illustration Award, Graphic Novel category

Educator & Series Information
Recommended Grades: 7-12.

This graphic novel is part of the Surviving the City series, which is also part of the Debwe Series.

The Surviving the City series includes these titles:

• Surviving the City
• From the Roots Up
• We Are the Medicine

Recommended in the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools 2019-2020 resource list for grades 10 to 12 for English Language Arts and Social Studies.

This book could be triggering for some readers as it contains mature content and focuses on issues such as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

A Teacher Guide is available: Surviving the City Teacher Guide: Exploring Identity, Allyship, and Social Action for Meaningful Change in Grades 7-12 

Additional Information
56 pages | 6.50" x 10.00" 

Miikwan and Dez are in their final year of high school. Poised at the edge of the rest of their lives, they have a lot to decide on. Miikwan and her boyfriend, Riel, are preparing for university, but Dez isn’t sure if that’s what they want for their future.

Grief and anger take precedence over their plans after the remains of 215 children are found at a former residential school in British Columbia. The teens struggle with feelings of helplessness in the face of injustice. Can they find the strength to channel their frustration into action towards a more hopeful future?

We Are the Medicine is the moving final volume of the best-selling Surviving the City series.

Reviews
"Tasha's graphic novel gives us an unflinching view of youth sovereignty and the reclamation of Indigenous philosophy and sacred spaces in Winnipeg's core. Guided by an Elder, the friends at the centre of the story confront uncomfortable truths that have sustained our colonial past, riding on the edge of emotions and activism to uphold the integrity of their ancestors. A must-read for all youth who want to build an equitable, just society." — Elder Albert McLeod, author of Between the Pipes

“A fantastic read for teens to learn about Indigenous issues through a clear and accurate representation.” — Youth Services Book Review

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 12 to 18.

This is the third volume in the Surviving the City graphic novel series, which is also part of the Debwe Series. 

Surviving the City is a contemporary graphic novel series about young Indigenous women navigating their way in an urban environment. It includes:

Surviving the City
From the Roots Up
We Are the Medicine 

A Teacher Guide is available: Surviving the City Teacher Guide: Exploring Identity, Allyship, and Social Action for Meaningful Change in Grades 7-12 

Recommended in the Indigenous Books for Schools catalogue as a valuable resource for English Language Arts and Social Studies in grades 8 to 12. 

Caution: This work's topics include residential schools, death, violence, police brutality, and racism.

Themes: Coming of Age, Community, Connection to Culture, Healing, Residential Schools.

Additional Information
64 pages | 6.50" x 10.00" | Paperback

A child who looks different from her mother finds beauty and belonging in this new book from the creator of the New York Times bestseller I Sang You Down from the Stars

Izzy’s favorite place to be is in Mama’s arms—skin to skin, safe and warm. One night, cuddled up on Mama’s lap, Izzy notices something she’s never noticed before: her skin is the color of chocolate, but Mama’s skin is the color of sand.

When Izzy realizes she’s different from Mama in other ways, too, she feels sad and confused. She wants to be beautiful like Mama! But Mama addresses Izzy’s disappointment with a gentle, loving refrain: You’re part of me, and I’m part of you. I’m beautiful like me, and you’re beautiful like you. Finding lessons from nature and repeating her affirming message, Mama encourages Izzy to see her own unique beauty.

This story about a multiracial child navigating identity and belonging draws from author Tasha Spillett-Sumner’s own experience growing up as an Afro-Indigenous girl. Lyrical text and warm, lively illustrations show Izzy’s journey as she learns to celebrate the differences that make her uniquely beautiful, and the connection to her mother that transcends physical traits.  

Reviews
"Spillett-Sumner’s quiet text strikes a steady rhythm of call and response: Izzy’s uncertainties and her mother’s answering refrain that celebrates rather than dismisses the pair’s differences ... A lovely accompaniment to any cuddle."— Kirkus Reviews - STARRED REVIEW

"This could give rise to story hour discussions of differences that matter and those that do not ... [A] sweet portrait of a mother-daughter relationship."— School Library Journal

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 3 to 7.

This book is available in French: Belle comme toi, belle comme moi 

Additional Information
32 pages | 8.25" x 11.00" | Hardcover

Une enfant différente de sa mère découvre la beauté et un sentiment d’appartenance, dans ce nouveau livre de la créatrice de Les étoiles m’ont chanté ton nom, un livre à succès du New York Times.

L’endroit préféré d’Izzy est dans les bras de sa maman, peau contre peau, en sécurité et au chaud. Un soir, blottie sur les genoux de sa mère, Izzy constate une chose qu’elle n’avait jamais remarquée auparavant : sa peau est de la couleur du chocolat, alors que celle de sa mère est de la couleur du sable.

Quand Izzy se rend compte qu’elle est aussi différente de sa mère sur d’autres plans, elle se sent triste et confuse. Elle souhaite tant être jolie comme sa maman!

En tirant des leçons de la nature et en répétant sa douce berceuse, la maman d’Izzy l’encourage à reconnaître sa propre beauté, tout à fait unique. Cette histoire d’une enfant née de parents d’origines différentes, qui navigue entre identité et appartenance, s’inspire de l’expérience personnelle de l’autrice, Tasha Spillett-Sumner, qui est afro-autochtone. Un texte lyrique et des illustrations chaleureuses et vivantes illustrent le parcours d’Izzy, qui apprend à célébrer les différences qui rendent sa beauté unique, et le lien avec sa mère qui transcende les traits physiques.

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 3 to 7.

This book is available in English: Beautiful You, Beautiful Me

Additional Information
32 pages | 8.32" x 10.97"

La naissance d’un enfant est un grand moment, et chacun à sa façon prépare sa venue, avec amour, patience et fébrilité. Les étoiles m’ont chanté ton nom partage un concept traditionnel de nombreux peuples autochtones. Tandis que l’enfant grandit dans le ventre de sa mère, des objets sont recueillis pour constituer son petit sac de médecine, comme un cadeau d’accueil. Chacun de ces objets sacrés permettra à l’enfant de rester en contact avec son identité profonde. Ce récit touchant sur la parentalité et la maternité donne envie de rassembler à sa façon un cadeau d’accueil pour les enfants à naître, et propose un moment tendre à partager avec son enfant, avant et après sa naissance.

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 2 to 5.

This book is available in English: I Sang You Down from the Stars

Additional Information
36 Pages | Hardcover

A joyous celebration of gender expression through an Indigenous lens, by New York Times bestselling author Tasha Spillett and Ojibwe elder Daniel Ramirez

Raven loves round dances. The drums sing to the people, and the people dance to their songs. Raven especially loves dancing with his grandma, sidestepping to the rhythm of the drums. His favourite part of all is watching the ribbon skirts swirl like rainbows.

"Nohkum, do you think a boy could wear a ribbon skirt?" Raven asks his grandmother one day. She tells him she has lived for a long time, but she has never seen it. That evening, she sews late into the night, and Raven awakes to a rainbow skirt of his own. "I've lived for a long time," his grandma says, "and I'm lucky to see beautiful things that I've never seen before." At the next dance, Raven wears the swirl of unique ribbons with pride.

With illustrations infused with joy and colour, this moving intergenerational story celebrates self-expression, honouring traditions, and finding room for reinvention.

Reviews
"Weaves Two-Spirit self-expression and collective belonging into a beautiful tribute to Indigenous heritage." — Kirkus Reviews - STARRED REVIEW

"Cree author Spillett (I Sang You Down from the Stars) captures the joy of the round dance, and a feeling of belonging and connection offered in intergenerational Indigenous community." — Publishers Weekly - STARRED REVIEW

"[A] welcome story about an Indigenous child's gender expression." — The Horn Book

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 4 to 7.

Additional Information
32 pages | 9.00" x 9.00" | Hardcover