First Nations Friday: Cradle Me by Debbie Slier

I was immediately attracted to the bright colourful pages in this board book.  Each page features a baby in  a cradle board.  This is the traditional method of many American Indian and other First Nations tribes for safely securing and transporting their babies.  While each cradle board serves the same purpose of keeping a baby safe, that's where the similarities end.  Each is shaped and decorated in a style of that particular tribe.   At the back of the book, there are thumbnail pictures of each board indentifying to which tribe it belongs.  The colours are bright and inviting.   The babies have been photographed with a different facial expressions and the description is printed large at the bottom of the page.  There is a space for the reader to write in the translation of that word into their language.

My children loved board books with photos of babies.  They would look at them again and again, never seeming to tire of them.  As a parent, you could use this book for further activities such as asking your child to point out particular colours,  comparing what is the same in the various cradle boards and then what is different.   It would be fun to draw an outline of a cradle board and then help your child decorate it either your tribal or cultural designs.

Thanks to Starbright Books and Netgalley for my digital copy of this book.

Thank -you to Starbright Books for the use of the cover image.