“Gratitude is much more than thank you. It is a thread that fosters relationships.”
Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass (2013) is an influential and enduring book that blends the author’s own experiences with traditional Indigenous knowledge, creating a dialogue between nature and humans that encourages readers to connect with the Earth’s biodiversity and to understand the balance required of its citizens in helping it to remain a life-giving force. As a teacher, I longed to bring Kimmerer’s book into my classroom, to relate her stories and wisdom, to connect with the plants and traditional Indigenous practices and understanding of our relationships to plants; but after a few attempts, I realized that as important a work as this is, that it hasn’t been easily accessible to my students, with the language and length being geared to adults. So, I was delighted to find that there was a Young Adult version being published.
Braiding Sweetgrass For Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Monique Gray Smith’s adaptation of Kimmerer’s work is true to the original, centred as it is in the histories of Indigenous peoples in North America and complemented by Kimmerer’s own stories. This version is more youth and child-friendly, both in its text delivery and breakdown and in its overall presentation. Illustrations by Nicole Neidhardt help to illustrate concepts and stories and to break up longer sections of text. Scientific vocabulary and Indigenous concepts are helpfully explained in accompanying definitions and are easy for readers to access.
“In this book and as an Anishinaabekwe scientist, I am doing my best to weave together the strands of Indigenous ways of knowing, scientific knowledge, and the wisdom of the plants.”
Six sections work together through the metaphor of sweetgrass and the human relationships that help it thrive. As in the original work, most chapters centre around one plant, exploring its identity and origins, its relationship to the land, and its relationship to humans, all while being cleverly woven into Kimmerer’s own life stories and experiences. Kimmerer relates her own learning and understanding to readers, making this a meaningful reading experience filled with practical lessons.
Traditions like The Honorable Harvest are related in multiple stories, not only informing how these practices are experienced in nature, but also encouraging readers to question their own actions and relationships as consumers in a market-driven world. Encouraging the understanding of reciprocity in the caring of plants and the benefits that come for both humans and the environment.
Incorporating Indigenous Ways of Knowing into lessons at school and finding a balance with more traditionally Western practices can sometimes be challenging. The chapter “Mishkos Kenomagwen: The Teachings of Grass,” presents one of Kimmerer’s student’s experiments with Sweetgrass and explores the plant’s incredible and complex relationship with humans, while combining both the Scientific Method and Traditional Knowledge. This chapter was particularly useful in comparing and understanding how the Scientific Method manifests itself in Indigenous Traditional Knowledge and Practices and how we can move away from the strictly logical and (immediately) evidence-based systems common to Western approaches, incorporating traditional understanding, knowledge, and wisdom in the environmental sciences.
If you are a parent or an educator this is an excellent book and has a wealth of information.
Sharing Kimmerer’s stories and wisdom with the young people in your life will provide them with opportunities to explore their relationship with the land and with other people and teach them the principles of the Honorable Harvest. Either as a solo read for teens or a shared read with younger children, this book is engaging and shares powerful messages.
Excerpt from the Principles of the Honorable Harvest:
“Take only what you need.”
“Never take more than half. Leave some for others.”
“Use the harvest respectfully. Never waste what you have taken.
Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. Her first book, Gathering Moss, was awarded the John Burroughs Medal for outstanding nature writing. Her writings have appeared in Orion, Whole Terrain, and numerous scientific journals. She lives in Syracuse, New York, where she is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment.
- Publisher : Zest Books™ (Nov. 1 2022)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 304 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1728458994
- ISBN-13 : 978-1728458991
Christina Barber is a writer and educator who lives in Vancouver. An avid reader, she shares her passion for Canadian history and literature through her reviews on Instagram @cb_reads_reviews. She has most recently been committed to writing and staging formally innovative single and multi-act plays.