Picture Books — Review

Returning The Feathers:
Five Gitxsan Stories

by M. Jane Smith
illustrated by Ken N. Mowatt
Creekstone Press, 2004
ISBN 0-9684043-6-7
$13.95, 72 pp, sc, colour illustrations, ages 6+
www.creekstonepress.com

The title of this collection of five Gitxsan stories was chosen to thank and pay tribute to the Gitxsan storytellers of the past, some of whom were the author’s mentors and teachers as she was growing up and learning the art of storytelling. In Returning the Feathers, Smith retells four stories: the origin of the Gitxsan people; how the blue jay and the mosquito came to live in northwestern BC; and the time when the porcupine first discharged its quills. She also tells an original story, inspired by an egret’s appearance at her smokehouse. These stories serve to connect Smith to her ancestors, and give her readers a taste of the rich cultural heritage of the Gitxsan people.

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