New children’s book series shows the strength and resilience of Indigenous girls

The desire to see stories inspired by his Cree-Métis grandmother in schools and libraries pushed sculptor, art gallery owner and author Grant Berg to find a publisher for his new Astina series. It’s aimed at children nine to 12 years of age.

He said it was really important for him to get the first book in that series in front of young people to “be inspired and know that there's different ways to overcome barriers and that there's different talents.”

In Astina and the Quest for Medicine, young Astina must climb a series of mountains to reach the one area where the medicine is grown that can save Nôhkom (grandmother) who is gravely ill. But Astina can’t do it on her own. She gets help from a mountain goat (wâpatihk), eagle (kihiw), marmot (miscanaskos) and a bear (maskwa) and, in turn, gifts each a bracelet. 

In the end, Astina attaches her bracelet to laces from her moccasins and lashes together two logs so she can travel on the river and make her way back home to her grandmother with the life-saving medicine.

Berg, who lives in Grande Prairie, Alta., laughs about Astina’s friendship bracelets, which are now synonymous with singer Taylor Swift.

“It's funny because I wrote this, quite literally, nine years ago before the whole Taylor Swift thing blew up. And I thought, ‘Well, I'm not changing it.’ But I felt that, again, it was an offering of thanks to each animal as she went along for them helping her in her journey,” he said.

For years, Berg had wanted to write a story that captured the spirit of his grandma as a young girl, born in 1910.

Berg’s first four years were spent living with his grandparents on their farm near Lac La Biche, Alta. After his grandpa passed away, his grandma moved to Tofield, Alta. where Berg’s family was living. As the oldest son, it fell upon him to care for his grandma’s yard and house. She became “one of my best friends growing up.”

“I didn't see a lot of books where young ladies were the hero, especially young Indigenous girls. And so that was ultimately the goal, to show the strength and resilience of young Indigenous females,” he said.

But Berg was having a hard time forming the story until one day he was in the southern Alberta town of Canmore looking at the mountains and wondering how his ancestors got over them.

“And then this story absolutely started to unravel in my mind like it was being told to me. And, coincidentally, I was parked behind a bookstore. And I run into the bookstore, I buy a blank book, I buy a pen, and I start writing because I don't know where the story is coming from, but I didn't want to forget anything,” he said.

It was important for Berg to include some Plains Cree vocabulary as a tribute to his grandma. He recalls that on trips his grandma and mother would point out animals and places using Cree words. His grandma also taught him Cree.

Berg, who self-published four previous books, took Astina further than most authors do who want to work with a traditional publishing house.

Being an artist himself, he didn’t want Astina to be subject to an in-house illustrator because there was no guarantee it would be a young Indigenous woman and that was important to him.

“I wanted the illustrator to feel the story, put herself in the situations, and I felt that natural connection would come out in the illustrations, and it absolutely did.” Berg teamed up with Phoebe Riel, a member of the Na̱mg̱is First Nation with Ojibway roots and mixed European ancestry. She lives in Calgary.

Riel’s art is what Berg calls woodland art, a style practised from the Rocky Mountains to northern Ontario and does not represent “a specific tribe, but (is) a generalization.”

Berg self-published a small number of copies and sent the finished product to publishers. Through a friend he connected with WaveMakers Press, an Algonquin-owned publishing house.

WaveMakers asked Berg for a series of Astina books to showcase Alberta. The Quest for Medicine is set in the Rocky Mountain House area. The next book, Astina and the White Bison Calf, which sees the young girl travel through the hoodoos to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump in southern Alberta, will be out next May. Riel has also illustrated that book. Berg says he’s almost completed the third book and is waiting to see how the first two books sell before the third book is illustrated.

Having been asked to produce a series has been “quite touching,” said Berg.

“I do a lot of things on my own and I'm quite willing to invest in myself. When I pitched a story to a publisher and they immediately said, ‘Yes’, it was different from the standpoint that somebody else was willing to invest their hard-earned dollars in something that I was doing,” he said. “And I'll admit that my eyes got a little glossy at that. Somebody was willing to step up and invest in me.”

Astina and the Quest for Medicine was launched at the Grant Berg Gallery in Grande Prairie Oct. 3 and “into the world” on Oct. 13. It is being distributed through Orca Books and can be purchased at https://www.orcabook.com/Astina-and-the-Quest-for-Medicine?srsltid=AYCX9vIfd3i_LPlZ_Sam85xuyTC4Ahu3gtAUAXRw_EmX7NOktGWX7UTr