This sunny, inviting board book is dedicated to the former Canadian Indian Residential School students and their families as encouragement to find happiness, love, joy, and celebration in big and small ways. Contemporary children participate in cultural activities like baking bannock in an oven and universal moments like singing, dancing and walking barefoot in the grass. Author Monique Gray Smith is of Cree, Lakota and Scottish descent and writes award-winning children's and young adult books. She's also an international inspirational speaker and consultant working with Indigenous communities. Award-winning illustrator Julie Flett is of Cree-Métis heritage. Her work centers primarily on Indigenous children and their families.
Fill Your Heart with Happiness is the 2017 winner of British Columbia's Christie Harris Illustrated Children's Literature Award and is also available as a downloadable book from Wisconsin's Digital Library.
Take the Read Native 2021 reading challenge provided by the American Indian Library Association, and enjoy these and other books by Indigenous authors and illustrators.