Tapwe and the Magic Hat

May 16, 2022
Positioning this character-driven chapter book as a work of contemporary fiction that “should not be presented...
as an ‘authentic’ legend in the historical sense,” Cree activist and musician Sainte-Marie opens with an intimate-feeling line: “Kayâs—once upon a time—there was a boy who lived in a town not too far from here.” The chapters follow a young Cree protagonist, Tâpwê, who lives with his Kohkom “way out on the far edge of the reserve” during the summer while his mother attends tribal college. When a relative invites Tâpwê to visit his second cousins on another reserve during their powwow, Kohkom gives Tâpwê a magic hat that previously belonged to her. The hat houses living, speaking bluebirds and grass snakes, and, Kohkom tells him, will help him on his way. Then the arrival of a large rabbit Trickster, Wâpos, throws things into chaos. The meandering installments offer much to admire and cherish, twining Indigenous beliefs and traditions with descriptions of reserve life as well as lessons around family and the natural world (“He would wake up early to her soft morning song and smell the sweetgrass she burned as she thanked the creator for the day”). An author’s note and glossary conclude this volume, which publishes simultaneously in Cree and English. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 6–9.