The Raven Mother

The sixth book in the Mothers of Xsan series, The Raven Mother, is a story rife with community. Written by Hetxw’ms Gyetxw (Brett D. Huson) and illustrated bu Natasha Dovovan, it’s a book that combines storytelling with nonfiction information.

Readers spend a year with the Raven Mother (Nox Gaak) as she raises her young fledglings and works in community with ravens and other animals in the forest ecosystem.

The writing and design in The Raven Mother is consistent with the rest of the series. Unfamiliar words are defined right on the pages where they appear and readers learn about the raven through the different moons of the calendar. What I found compelling about The Raven Mother specifically is community. Hetxw’ms Gyetxw, in his beautiful way of storytelling, teaches readers all about the symbiotic relationship between the ravens themselves and the other animals in the ecosystem. We start in the spring (Lasa ya’a, The Spring Salmon’s Returning Home Moon) and end in the winter (K’uholxs, the Stories and Feasting Moon) to understand how Nox Gaak and the Gitxan people rely on the food webs in Northwestern British Columbia.

Hetxw’ms Gyetxw did all of the formline drawings. For those unfamiliar, the formline illustrations are features in the Indigenous art of the Northwest Coast of North America. While Natasha Donovan is responsible for all of the other illustrations. The combination of traditional symbols and realistic portrayals of the landscape and animals makes this book sing. I love how, in this story, we spend the most time in the forest with Nox Gaak and her extended family.