Moon Song

Gr 1-3–In alliterative language as lyrical and atmospheric as her moonlit, starlit accompanying scenes of northern forest, water, and sky, Goade (We Are Water Protectors, Berry Song) evokes both the wonders of the natural world and her own Tlingit and Haida cultural background. Living with her extended family on an island “at the edge of the shimmering sea,” a child responds to a wakeful cousin’s request for a nighttime story with an imaginary outing as the Moon sings: “Come! Haagú!/ Follow the light./ Slip under spruce,/ slink past cedar,/ delve deep into a velvety hush.” All aglimmer, the trees and ocean sing too, until a greater glow beckoning from the starry skies overhead—“Daa sáyú? What could it be?”—sends the two fur-clad explorers soaring to join the swirling northern lights, and then at last floating back to their cozy beds to “drift and dream/ of moon song.” The poetic narrative practically begs to be read aloud, joining these luminous pictures to invite viewers and listeners in groups large or intimate to echo the young storyteller’s thanks “for the dark and the light: “Gunalchéesh, hó hó,/ gunalchéesh!”