Winner of the 2025 Governor General's Literary Award, Young People's Literature – Illustrated Books
★"In warm, soothing language, a mother speaks to her infant, poetically describing their ancestral surroundings and reflecting on traditional Cree knowledge…Luxuriantly alive with glowing colors and textured patterns, Dumont's (Onion Lake Cree Nation) exquisite pointillist illustrations resemble three-dimensional beadwork. This eloquent and insightful picture book (…) honors the enduring relationship between a child, their ancestors, and the land." - Booklist, starred review
As daylight fades to dusk and slips into darkness, this gentle lullaby celebrates the sounds of the Prairies and the Plains on a stormy summer's night.
From the hum of dragonflies to the drumming of thunder, with grasses swirling and the northern lights glimmering, This Land Is a Lullaby shares a song and dance-a gift from the ancestors that soothes children to sleep and reminds them of their deeply rooted connections to the land.
Written as a lullaby for the author's daughter and featuring striking pointillism artwork, this lush lullaby of the land honors the beauty of the Prairies and the Plains and the spiritual connection between Indigenous children, ancestors and their Traditional Territories.
Key Selling Points
• Written as a lullaby for the author's daughter, this book is an exploration of the spiritual relationship between children, ancestors and the land.
• Lyrical language evokes the sights and sounds of a summer storm on a prairie evening and conveys a powerful message of reconciliation and reclamation, as ancestors dance and sing a song to a child, who drifts into a peaceful sleep.
• Author and Indigenous anthropologist Tonya Simpson is Scottish and Cree and a member of the Pasqua First Nation. This is her second book, following Forever Our Home.
• Artist Delreé Dumont, from Onion Lake Cree Nation, evokes the movement of the land through stunning pointillism illustrations.
• This Land Is a Lullaby was selected as a 2025 NCTE Notable Poetry Book.
• Also available in a dual-language Plains Cree and English edition.
In this gentle picture-book lullaby, the sounds of the land soothe an Indigenous child to sleep on a stormy summer night on the Plains.
Tonya Simpson is of Scottish and Cree ancestry. She is a member of Pasqua First Nation and was born and raised in central Alberta. Tonya completed the MA program in anthropology at the University of Alberta and now works as a research assistant. Her first picture book, Forever Our Home, introduces readers to the animals and plants of the Prairies and the Plains. Tonya lives with her family at Pigeon Lake in Westerose, Alberta.
Delreé Dumont (Wapiski Kihew Esquao / White Eagle Woman) is a proud member of Onion Lake Cree Nation, Saskatchewan. She paints in the pointillism style, depicting the natural world blended with her teachings and experiences as an Indigenous woman. She also creates smudge fans, dreamcatchers and pine-needle baskets, and she is a traditional powwow dancer. Delreé lives and works at her home studio near Revelstoke, British Columbia. It flows in your blood and echoes in your soul...Listen, my baby, to the sweet song of your home.
★"In warm, soothing language, a mother speaks to her infant, poetically describing their ancestral surroundings and reflecting on traditional Cree knowledge…Luxuriantly alive with glowing colors and textured patterns, Dumont's (Onion Lake Cree Nation) exquisite pointillist illustrations resemble three-dimensional beadwork. This eloquent and insightful picture book (…) honors the enduring relationship between a child, their ancestors, and the land."
"The book's lexical simplicity and visual dynamism will engage even the youngest readers, providing a beautiful glimpse into the unbreakable bond between Indigenous people, their lands, and their ancestors who are st
