I Sang You Down Stars Book

 Dimensions: 9.50 x 10.20

Drawing from Indigenous creation stories and traditional teachings and illustrated in dazzling water colours, I Sang You Down from the Stars is a tribute to the bond between mother and child.

The narrator gathers gifts for a medicine bundle in anticipation of her baby’s birth; a fluffy white eagle plume, bunches of cedar and sage, a quilted star blanket, and a small stone from the river. When the baby arrives, the mother shares the bundle with her child and reveals the importance of each item inside. But when her family comes to meet the new arrival, she realizes the baby arrived with gifts of its own and that the baby is also a sacred bundle: a baby bundle.

Writing in simple, lyrical text, author Tasha Spillett-Sumner draws from her cultural heritage in order to celebrate Indigenous traditions and the universal nature of a mother’s love, with stunning art by the 2021 Caldecott medal winner for We Are Water Protectors, Michela Goade.

TASHA SPILLETT-SUMNER is an Inninewak (Cree) and Trinidadian award-winning poet and author who is also working on her doctoral degree in Indigenous land–based education. She makes her home in Treaty 1 territory, Manitoba, where she raises her daughter, Isabella, with her husband. She is the author of the New York Times best-selling picture book I Sang You Down from the Stars and the award-winning Surviving the City graphic novel series. 

MICHAELA GOADE is a Tlingit illustrator, and winner of the 2021 Caldecott medal for We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom. She grew up in the rainforests and on the beaches of Juneau, Alaska, and still makes her home on traditional Tlingit territory today. She also illustrated Encounter by Brittany Luby and Shanyaak’utlaax: Salmon Boy, winner of the 2018 American Indian Youth Literature Best Picture Book Award.