Berry Song

Follow a young girl, her grandmother, and the kinships they form as they harvest gifts from the Earth.

Themes: Family, traditional knowledge, environment, cooking, kinship 

The cover of Berry Song has two people in a berry bush

About the Author

Michaela Goade is a Caldecott Medalist and #1 New York Times Bestselling illustrator of “We Are Water Protectors,” also a 2020 Kirkus Prize Finalist. Other books include the New York Times Bestselling “I Sang You Down from the Stars,” “Encounter” and “Shanyaak’utlaax: Salmon Boy,” winner of the 2018 American Indian Youth Literature Award for Best Picture Book.

Over the last few years, Michaela’s work has focused on Indigenous KidLit. She is honored to work with Indigenous authors and tribal organizations in the creation of beautiful and much-needed books. An enrolled member of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, Michaela’s Tlingit name is Sheiteen and she is of the Kiks.ádi Clan (Raven/Frog) from Sheet’ká.

Michaela was raised in the rainforest and on the beaches of Southeast Alaska, traditional Lingít Aaní (Tlingit land). Today she lives in Sheet’ká (Sitka), Alaska, a magical island on the edge of a wide, wild sea.

Bio from the author’s website.

Headshot portrait of Michaela Goade
Photo Source: Author's Website

About Our Honored Guest

Marisa Lee, the creator behind MyWildWisconsin focuses on the traditional uses and names of plant beings around Ojibwe Country. A descendant of the Red Lake Nation and Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. Lee is a lawyer, seed keeper, and medicinal herb farmer.

Bio provided by Marisa Lee.

Headshot portrait of Marisa Lee
Photo provided by Marisa Lee

Discussion Questions

  1. In the book, the grandmother and granddaughter reaffirm the connection between them and the land, and how they speak to one another. What are ways you communicate with the land? How do you listen? How do you communicate gratitude?
  2. Generational knowledge-passing is incredibly important in the book. Her grandmother taught her, and we finish the book with her teaching her younger sister. What are important lessons that have been passed down to you or that you wish to pass down?
  3. The connection the grandmother and granddaughter have with the land is present throughout the book. How do they live in connection with the land, and engage in reciprocity?
Image from Berry Song

Learning Activities

  1. With an adult, research what parts of nature are harvestable near you or in your region.
  2. Look through the book again, and see if you can find all of the animals “hidden” on many of the pages? They may not be the focus, but they are undoubtedly present throughout.
Image from Berry Song

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