This Land is a Lullaby
This Land is a Lullaby
cistomâwasowin ôma askiy
cistomâwasowin ôma askiy
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May - June 2025
May - June 2025
As spring transforms into summer, join us in May and June for This Land is a Lullaby / cistomâwasowin ôma askiy by Tonya Simpson. Simpson gifts us a beautiful lullaby—one celebrating the plains and prairie sounds of a summer day and evening storm. Delreé Dumont’s pointillist illustrations further bring the story to life. Vibrant dots blend into heart-full depth and perspective.
This Land is a Lullaby / cistomâwasowin ôma askiy by Tonya Simpson (author), Delreé Dumont (illustrator), and Dorothy Thunder (translator) is published by Orca Book Publishers. Reproduced with permission.
From the hum of dragonflies to the rolls of thunder, Simpson evokes a landscape alive with movement and memory. Written for her daughter, the story honours the unbroken kinship care and responsibility flowing between Indigenous children, their traditional homelands, and their ancestors from time immemorial. Dorothy Thunder’s Plains Cree (y-dialect) translations deepen the teachings. First languages have grown alongside these lands and embody reciprocal relationships.
We hope you enjoy this StoryWalk at MacEwan! And as you go, take in spring and summer through your senses, and celebrate continuing bonds between the land and the sky, the winged and the swimmers, the rooted and the legged.
Additional Information & Resources
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 is an anthropologist and works at the University of Alberta. She is the mother of two children and resides in Westerose, near Pigeon Lake, Alberta. Read this Q&A with Tonya to learn her story inspirations, how she wrote it, and why it matters to her, her family, and her culture.
DELREÉ DUMONT (Wâpiski Kihéw Esquao/White Eagle Woman) is a proud member of Onion Lake Cree Nation, Saskatchewan. She paints in the pointillism style, infusing her depictions of the natural world with her teachings and experiences as an Indigenous woman. She creates smudge fans, dream catchers, and pine needle baskets, and is also a traditional powwow dancer. Delreé lives and works at her home studio near Revelstoke, British Columbia. Read this Q&A with Delreé to learn about her artwork style and what it was like to illustrate this story.
DOROTHY THUNDER is a Plains Cree (nêhiyawiskwêw) from Little Pine First Nation, Saskatchewan, and a full-time Cree instructor in the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta.
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