Cover Image: The Eagle Mother

The Eagle Mother

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Member Reviews

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. This really cool book is about an Eagle Mother and her mate who take care of their small brood of eaglets from egg to baby.

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Images can be seen at my blog here. https://dickenslibrary.blogspot.com/2020/05/eagle-mother-by-hetxwms-gyetxw-brett-d.html

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. It was released April 28, 2020, by Highwater Press.

The Mothers of Xsan Series highlights the Gitxsan’s way of knowing the world by showing the integration of culture and nature. Each book highlights the Salmon’s role as a keystone species both ecologically and culturally for the Gitxsan people in Northern BC. In this instance, it highlights its roll for the eagle.

This book follows a pair of eagles across a year. It begins with Lasa Ya’a, the Spring Salmon’s Returning Moon. An eagle mother sits high in a cottonwood tree protecting the eggs in her nest against a spring snowstorm. Across the book we see the eaglets hatch, fledge, grow, and learn.

I appreciate that Eagle Mother shows the similarities between the Gitxsan people and the eagles. Both are dependent on the salmon, but the eagle has its own roll to play in the ecology of the forest.

“Nox Xsgyaak and her partner may use this same cottonwood for up to 20 years. The time they spend there not only benefits the cottonwood, but the nitrogen rich skin and bone they leave at the bottom of the tree decays and leaves nutrients to spread throughout the ecosystem.”

Like the others in the series, the text uses Gitxsan terms and doesn’t hesitate to use scientific vocabulary. Most of these words are explained in small text boxes on the same page.

The back matter has additional information about the Gitxsan people with a chart of the different moons. It also shows a map of their unceded territory.

The biological, cultural, and spiritual connection between eagle, salmon and people is integral to this book. It’s there in the use of Gitxsan vocabulary in the text. It's there in Natasha Donovan’s stunning art. Her images, gorgeously coloured in the shades of the rainforest and river, integrate Gitxsan people in the background. What brings it all together is the use of traditional art into the landscapes.

The Eagle Mother is a book loaded with information about the eagle life cycle. What makes it unique is how it puts this information into a context of indigenous ways of knowing.

School Libraries should have at least 2 copies of each of the series. I can hardly wait to see what this team will offer up next.

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This was a nice story, but I feel like it is more of a read aloud book teachers would use to teach older children, rather than a 3-5 year old picture book

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This beautifully illustrated book tells about how eaglets are born and grow up in Xsan, the River of Mists (in British Columbia). It is told from the perspective of the Gitxsan people. The illustrations show the environment and the beauty of the eagles as well as the devotion of the parents.

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The Eagle Mother is the third book in a series by Hetxw/ms Gyetxw (Brett Huson), illustrated by Natasha Donovan. The first two books are The Sockeye Mother and The Grizzly Mother. With beautiful up close illustrations of important events in the life cycle of these animals that are essential to the land and indigenous people of Northwest British Columbia, Canada the reader becomes part of the Eagle family's story. The story and the symbolism tie the delicate yet harsh ecosystem and the people together. We are there when the mother eagle guards her eggs from the cold and snow, when the proud parents feed the young hatchlings, when a rabbit is caught and carried back in the eagle's claws, when the young eagle's learn to fly and when they unsuccessfully try to catch their first salmon.
It would make a great part of any curriculum in for students in grades 3-7. It would also be a great book to be enjoyed for itself by any one that appreciates the wonders of nature.

#mothersofxsan #netgalley

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A beautiful eagle mother in sequestered in her nest, in a black cottonwood, in the midst of a cold, snowy winter. She is harbouring two precious eggs underneath her and protecting them from the icy elements. Her mate for life moves in and takes his turn to incubate their cherished treasures. Two weeks to go.

She and her mate take turns feeding the eaglets after they hatch as life goes on below them as normal. This is a wonderful story explaining the life cycle of eagles and how nature is connected. The bones from the fish caught by the mother to feed her babies are cast out of the nest below to the base of cottonwood. These bones decompose and turn the soil below into a rich compost which nourishes and encourages plant growth for the tree.

Words that may be unfamiliar to the reader are boxed with their definitions making a great educational component to the story. The illustrations are gorgeous and seem like portraits of each scenario that the author has penned. This non-fiction book is available in both eBook format and hardcover. This is the third book in the "Mothers of Xsan Series." Other titles to come are "The Wolf Mother" and "The Frog Mother." Learn about these gorgeous birds of prey and the traditions of the Gitxsan. I highly recommend this book and the others in the series.

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THE EAGLE MOTHER is a stunningly beautiful illustrated non-fiction book.

It is a Feast for the eyes and for the soul.

It is the story explaining the life cycle of a female eagle as well as the story of how everything is connected.

An example of what I mean by that is that both the words and the illustrations show how the fish caught by the mother eagle is brought by her to the nest to feed her babies, the bones and other detritus are discarded on the ground around the trunk of the cottonwood tree holding the nest. This in turn leads to a rich mixture of soil encouraging plant growth. There are several other examples of the circular cycle of life detailed in the text, as well as in illustrated form.

Where words appear that may be new, or unfamiliar, included on that page is a box containing the words and their definitions. This is a wonderful touch.

The only area I could possibly come up with as needing improvement would be the inclusion of a text box, similar to the one containing definitions, that listed the Gitxsan words alongside how to pronounce them phonetically. I would love to know that I am reading the words correctly when reading this book to my children and/or grandchildren.

This book is available in eBook format as well as in printed form. I based my review on the eBook version, but the illustrations are so gorgeous that I have decided to purchase it in printed form as well.

I have not yet had the pleasure of reading the other two books in the MOTHERS OF XSAN Series, but I plan to read and review each of them. Also, coming soon are two more book in the series. Their titles are: THE WOLF MOTHER and THE FROG MOTHER.

This book (in fact, the entire 'Mothers of Xsan' series) should be available at every Canadian library, and in every Canadian school. Parents who want their children to learn about the animal kingdom as well as learn about different cultures should order this book immediately.

I rate this children's non-fiction book as 5 OUT OF 5 STARS ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

**** Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book.****

P.S. Since I READ CANADIAN DAY is only one day away, this book series would be perfect as your choice for that day..

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The mother eagle by Hetxw’ma Gyetxw is a wonderful book that would delight any curious child. The illustrations are bold and beautiful. The book is educational and exciting!

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An eagle mother sits on a nest. It is the middle of winter. We follow her, as her chicks hatch, and she feeds them, along with her mate. Below, their nest, the rest of the animals and people go about their lives, keyed in the changing seasons, picking berries, fishing for salmon. This is the life of the eagle, as told from the viewpoint of the native people who have lived there since humans came to this land, the Gitxan Nation.

The Colonist name for the river that runs through the Gitxsan Nation in British Columbia, Canada is Skeena. But the Gitxan people know it as the Xsam, the River of Mist.

All the stories in this series takes place in this homeland of unceded territories. This is the third book in the series.

<img src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/eagle-mother2.png" alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5582" />

<img src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/eagle-mother1.png" alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5583" />

The pictures are amazing. The little bit of Gitxsan that is thrown in there, as well as scientific words, moves the story along. We learn about the Nox Xsgyaak, the eagle mother, and how her life affects the life of all around her, the same way that the Sockeye Mother and the Grizzly Mother did.

We forget, about the true web of life. In this case, how the bones and droppings of the Eagles under the cotton wood tree strengthens it.

I love this series. What a wonderful way to introduce us to the animals that are part of the Gitxsan life, and land.

As a side note, after I read the first book in the series, The Sockeye Mother, I started looking up all I could on the Gitxsan, and their beautiful land.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

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