Did you know that June is National Indigenous History Month? This week at school I shared a new book, Johnny’s Pheasant, with many classes. It was written by Cheryl Minnema who is a member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe and and illustrated by Julie Flett who is a Cree-Metis author, illustrator and artist. Julie Flett is one of my favourite author/illustrators and we read her book, Birdsong, earlier in the year as part of our Canadian Picture Book of the Year read alouds.
Students we excited to read Johnny’s Pheasant and made lots of connections to our previous read aloud of Birdsong. They loved the beauty of both the words and illustrations. I’m sure Johnny’s Pheasant will be on everyone’s wishlist for check out in September.
In January 2020, Cheryl Minnema received the Charlotte Zolotow Award for Johnny’s Pheasant. The award is given annually to the author of the best picture book text published in the United States in the preceding year.
