Stepping Stones: Kindergarten Mama Do You Love Me? Trade Book Book

I bought this book after first encountering it at the library, where I worked when I was an undergrad student. The narrative is gorgeous and playful; I've read it to children in library storytimes and to my own children.

It is problematic though. The author is not Indigenous. The illustrator is not only not Indigenous but taught at a residential school (she calls it a boarding school, as white settlers complicit in cultural genocide do.)

I am torn. The publisher clearly knew the identities of the two creators was problematic. It was fact-checked by University of Montréal...

Reviews I've read by Indigenous teachers say they read the book with their students and point out the problems in the illustrations (multiple Indigenous cultures are represented in one character and imagery is inconsistently applied.)

As a settler myself, I have strong misgivings about this book. I feel angry at the publishers who tried to market it as an Indigenous book when published; I am angry at myself for believing them (until the internet emerged and I did an MLIS and could research things...) I no longer believe the publisher's early implied claims, needless to say.

I try to replicate the suggestions made by teachers in Alaska who are of different cultures; I point out the problems in the illustrations and talk about the problem of white people telling Indigenous stories. I only read this book with my children now, with whom I can have long and repeated conversations about the problems. I attempt to counter with books actually written by Indigenous children's author's.