Kohkom's First Drum
About this ebook
- Charlie loves visiting his Kohkom, and today she tells him about how she recently received her first drum. As a child, she was taken from her family as part of the Sixties Scoop and so she didn’t know about her Cree culture; it’s taken her a long time to start to feel like she belongs. But she and Charlie know there’s still time to learn, speak their language, and play their drums together.
- An age-appropriate introduction to the topic of the Sixties Scoop and the trauma its survivors carry, including having grown up not knowing their culture and being separated from their families.
- Despite its serious subject matter, the book emphasizes the connection between Charlie and his kohkom, the power of her sharing her story with him, and the power of their drumming together to help them heal.
- The book is based on Monique Gray Smith’s mother’s experience of being removed from her birth family as an infant and growing up in a white family, and it is dedicated to her memory. It features an author’s note sharing Monique Gray Smith’s inspiration to write the book after her mother received her first drum at the age of eighty-two. The back matter also provides context about the Sixties Scoop, the language used throughout the book and notes about social-emotional learning.
- Karlene Harvey’s compositions bring out key moments in the narrative, and emphasize the warmth and connection between Kohkom and Charlie (and the beauty of their drums).
- Monique Gray Smith is a bestselling, award-winning writer, speaker and consultant.
About the author
Monique Gray Smith is an award-winning, bestselling author and public speaker. Her books cover a broad spectrum of ages, topics and emotions. Woven into all of Monique’s writing and her speaking engagements is the teaching that Love is Medicine. Her books include Speaking Our Truth: A Journey of Reconciliation, My Heart Fills With Happiness, You Hold Me Up, Lucy and Lola, Tilly: A Story of Hope and Resilience, Tilly and the Crazy Eights, When We Are Kind, I Hope and Dreaming Alongside. She has also created the young adult adaptation of Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Monique is Cree and Scottish. She lives with her family on the Traditional Territories of the Lək̓wəŋən and WSÁNEĆ Peoples.
Karlene Harvey is Tsilhqot’in and Syilx and currently lives on the unceded and ancestral home territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. They studied at Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, earning a BFA in visual arts. When they are not making art, Karlene enjoys exploring rocky West Coast beaches with their daughter, learning their Tsilhqot’in language and spending time in their garden.
