My Heart Fills With Happiness by Monique Gray Smith

The families in this book are so happy and loving. My Heart Fills With Happiness is a much needed depiction of modern Native families children’s publishing doesn’t have enough and I’m excited to welcome this story!

I’m so glad to finally read this little book! Board book format is perfect for this story because it’s meant to be handled, loved and explored. Recommended to fellow Julie Flett fans, to those looking for children's books with a First Nations context, and to anyone looking for board books addressing happiness and love in a young child's life.Image Credit: Orca Book Publishers, Monique Gray Smith/Julie Flett The emotional resonance, on the other hand, with references to such things as holding a loved one's hand, is universal.

The cultural context here is First Nations/Native American, with reference to things like bannock - a bread I had always associated with Scotland, but which is also apparently a staple of the indigenous Canadian diet - and drumming. I think my favorite was the one of the adult male drummer, with a child on his lap, although the scene with the girl twirling in her dress (as seen on the cover) was also quite charming. The artwork is (not surprisingly) beautiful, with a deep, satisfying color palette, and many appealing stylized scenes. I'm glad I did, even though I don't read a great many board books, as I thought it was a lovely little volume. I didn't really know anything about the author before picking it up, but being a great admirer of the illustrator, Metis artist Julie Flett, I requested it from the library. From the smell of bannock baking in the oven to the feeling of the sun on one's cheeks, from dancing to drumming, the experiences which produce happiness are those which connect us to the world around us, and to the people closest to us.My Heart Fills With Happiness is the first book I have picked up from Canadian author Monique Gray Smith, described on her website as a woman of mixed First Nations (Lakota and Cree) and European (Scottish) descent. I see the face of someone I love.' So begins the simple narrative of this sweet board-book celebration of happiness, and the things in a child's life that foster it.

My Heart Fills With Happiness by Monique Gray Smith