Heart Berry Bling

Synopsis:

On a visit to her granny, Maggie is excited to begin her first-ever beading project: a pair of strawberry earrings. However, beading is much harder than she expected! As they work side by side, Granny shares how beading helped her persevere and stay connected to her Anishinaabe culture when she lost her Indian status, forcing her out of her home community—all because she married someone without status, something the men of her community could do freely.

As she learns about patience and perseverance from her granny’s teachings, Maggie discovers that beading is a journey, and like every journey, it’s easier with a loved one at her side.

In this beautifully illustrated book, children learn about the tradition of Anishinaabe beadwork, strawberry teachings, and gender discrimination in the Indian Act.

Reviews
"Social justice messages lie at the heart of many children’s and YA books with Indigenous authorship. The picture book Heart Berry Bling, written by Jenny Kay Dupuis, a member of the Nipissing First Nation, and illustrated by Ghana-born artist Eva Campbell, shares the tradition of Anishinaabe beadwork and highlights the experiences of women, including the author’s grandmother, who lost their First Nations status due to Canada’s Indian Act."— Publishers Weekly

"A delightful story."— Anishnabek News

"Heart Berry Bling is a soulful children’s story that reminds readers of not only the importance of family and culture, but also the generational harm caused by laws against Indigenous Peoples. In this tale of a young Anishinaabe girl who finds out how her own family was negatively impacted by the Indian Act, Jenny Kay Dupuis has created an important text for anyone learning of the erased ancestral stories from and about Indigenous Peoples." — John P. Broome, Purdue University

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 6 to 8.

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