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by Rebecca Lea Thomas (Author), Maya McKibbin (Illustrator)
What does it mean to be Mi'kmaq? And if Swift Fox can't find the answer, will she ever feel like part of her family?
When Swift Fox's father picks her up to go visit her aunties, uncles, and cousins, her belly is already full of butterflies. And when he tells her that today is the day that she'll learn how to be Mi'kmaq, the butterflies grow even bigger. Though her father reassures her that Mi'kmaq is who she is from her eyes to her toes, Swift Fox doesn't understand what that means. Her family welcomes her with smiles and hugs, but when it's time to smudge and everyone else knows how, Swift Fox feels even more like she doesn't belong.
Then she meets her cousin Sully and realizes that she's not the only one who's unsure--and she may even be the one to teach him something about what being Mi'kmaq means. Based on the author's own experience, with striking illustrations by Maya McKibbin, Swift Fox All Along is a poignant story about identity and belonging that is at once personal and universally resonant.
Author Biography
Rebecca Thomas is a Mi'kmaw woman registered with Lennox Island First Nation. She is the daughter of a residential school survivor and unrelenting advocate for her community. She is a published poet and was the Halifax Poet Laureate from 2016 to 2018. She lives in K'jipuktuk, Mi'kma'ki.
Maya McKibbin is a Two-Spirited Ojibwe, Yoeme, and Irish filmmaker, illustrator, and storyteller. Using her education in computer graphics and interactive media, her work is rooted in the natural world and our relations to it.
