We Dream Medicine Dreams, by author, artist, and bioethicist Lisa Boivin, a member of the Deninu K’ue First Nation in the Northwest Territories, is a moving and insightful picture book honouring the enduring relationship between a child and her grandfather. In poised first-person narration, a young girl speaks directly to her Elder, sharing memories and reflecting upon traditional Dene knowledge: “You said, ‘There is medicine in our dreams. This medicine teaches us to be skilful in the world and teaches us to face the challenges in our lives.’”
We Dream Medicine Dreams
Written by Lisa Boivin.
Published in 2021 by HighWater Press.
We Dream Medicine Dreams a very heartwarming story, a relationship between her grandpa and how she learned about the land, connections between animals and us humans.
A little girl and her grandfather are First Nations. The little girl learned all about the land, which was taught by her grandfather. The girl learns all about medicine, animals and teachings. The book teaches young readers about their medicine, loss, ancestors and how important family might be to someone. This book was lovely talking about the connection of the little girl and her grandfather. The book is very well written and illustrated. The pictures weren’t just to help show what was going on. The picture and illustrations were connected in a very unique way. I enjoyed reading “We Dream Medicine Dreams”.
I think this book was very well written and illustrated, it was very deep and told me lots of new things. I would recommend reading this book as it was very interesting to read. I would recommend this book to elementary students who are learning about First Nations.
-Grade 6 student
This book tells an Indigenous story, drawing inspiration from the author’s life. It contains a unique artstyle, a short story, and symbolism in nature. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy reading cultural stories, colorful picture books, or people who like reading stories that teach life lessons.
Personally, this book is very interesting, because the way that they taught life lessons with dreaming is unique. It tells the story of some Indigenous peoples and how they have unique stories. I think most Indigenous groups are worth learning about because of how different they are from society now. I like the art style because of the beautiful watercolor skies and how the objects have different textures, the art style uses smooth parts and not a realistic artstyle.
The book is very short compared to novels and big compared to other picture books and tells a different type of story compared to other books, it intertwines between a book about life lessons and a colorful learning book. The book has warm and cold colors, a lot of colors on each page has a different scheme or texture and splattered or blended backgrounds.
I think most Indigenous stories should be heard, they are even unique between each Indigenous group. This book is short but sweet, has no good or bad. It just tells a story about the animals and their symbolism within the Indigenous family in this book.
i really think this book is inspiring and fun to read, but i wasn’t really into how they told the story. in my opinion, i thought it was very choppy. i recommend this book to people who enjoy history.