“The berries sing to us, glowing like little jewels. We sing too, so berry—and bear—know we are here.”

Editors’ Note: Berry Song by Sitka-based Caldecott Medalist Michaela Goade is a sweet delight from start to finish. Goade’s first book as both author and illustrator, it takes readers on a journey with a Tlingit grandmother and granddaughter as they travel and harvest berries, share traditional wisdom, and wonder at what the world offers to those who respectfully listen. The young narrator says, “Grandmother tells me, ‘We speak to the land…’ ‘as the land speaks to us,’ I say.” Readers will learn to say “Gunalchéesh,” giving thanks in Tlingit for the berries that the forest provides and for this treasure of a book. Published August 2022 by Little, Brown and Company. ISBN: 0316494178. 40 pages.

Originally published in the Fall 2022 issue.