Nicole Neidhardt: I just looked at the world slightly differently, especially in the places that I've been living in the last five to six years. Monique Gray Smith: It woke me up in areas where I didn't realize I was asleep. Shelagh Rogers: How did the original Braiding Sweetgrass change you? Smith and Neidhardt spoke to Shelagh Rogers at the book launch for Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults in Victoria about what made them want to adapt the original book. Neidhardt's first children's book, When We Are Kind was a finalist for the 2022 Blue Spruce Award. Smith and Neidhardt previously collaborated on When We Are Kind, a children's book that celebrates simple acts of everyday kindness.

Neidhardt is a Diné visual artist and illustrator.

Why Monique Gray Smith almost stopped writing Speaking Our Truth She is also the author of the children's books Speaking Our Truth and You Hold Me Up and the novels Tilly and Tilly and the Crazy Eights. Smith is a mixed-heritage - Cree, Lakota and Scottish - author who often writes and speaks about the resilience of Indigenous communities in Canada. Adapted by writer Monique Gray Smith and illustrated by Nicole Neidhardt, this new edition reinforces the importance of gaining ecological knowledge from earth's oldest teachers: the plants around us. Now, the 2013 book by American scientist Robin Wall Kimmerer has been adapted for young adults.īraiding Sweetgrass for Young Adultsbrings Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the lessons Kimmerer brought to the fore to a younger generation.

It has been flying off shelves ever since. It took Braiding Sweetgrassnearly seven years to make it onto The New York Times bestseller list. The Next Chapter 20:30 Monique Gray Smith and Nicole Neidhardt on Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults Monique Gray Smith and Nicole Neidhardt on Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults.

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