Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

by Monique Gray Smith (Adaptor), Robin Wall Kimmerer, Nicole Neidhardt (Illustrator)

Drawing from her experiences as an Indigenous scientist, botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer demonstrated how all living things―from strawberries and witch hazel to water lilies and lichen―provide us with gifts and lessons every day in her best-selling book Braiding Sweetgrass . Adapted for young adults by Monique Gray Smith, this new edition reinforces how wider ecological understanding stems from listening to the earth’s oldest the plants around us. With informative sidebars, reflection questions, and art from illustrator Nicole Neidhardt, Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults brings Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the lessons of plant life to a new generation.

Genres: Nonfiction, Indigenous, Nature, Science, History, Audiobook, Education

304 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2022

Reviews

[Julie G]

I’ve read so many rave reviews on here for the original non-fiction book; I do want to be clear that my daughter and I read this version: BRAIDING SWEETGRASS FOR YOUNG ADULTS.

This text was adapted by Monique Gray Smith, from the original, and I wish I had also read that one, so I could have a better idea of how to compare them.

This “adaptation” was just 300 pages, yet it was so dense in material and so inconsistent in tone, it took me a little over three months to read it aloud to my 15-year-old daughter. (We incorporated this book into a full unit, for her 9th grade Science).

This is how my teenager summarized the book: “sometimes it was so interesting, like that story about the Three Sisters (corn, beans and squash), and so boring, I couldn’t pay attention anymore, like when she talked about research.”

As the author herself writes, “Order and stability emerge out of chaos.”

My daughter would give this book three stars, and I think that’s important to know, as she is the target audience. Not just that; she’s probably an ideal reader for this book, as she’s an environmentalist and an avid gardener.

I’m giving it four stars. I appreciate the book’s unique contribution to our curriculum. The author, Robin Wall Kimmerer, is a professor of Environmental Biology, an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, and a Mom (what a combo!).

Several of the stories in here will stick with me, for a long time. I’m also an avid gardener, and I’m always trying to figure out how to grow things more effectively in my yard. My brother’s influence out in my gardens has taken my “backyard variety” interest up to the beginnings of a graduate level pursuit, but I still have far to go and books like this one light up my thinking and make me want to be (a) more respectful of the land I’m working on and (b) more attentive to the fusion, the synergy, of what’s taking place in that magical soil!

The artwork, by Nicole Neidhardt, took the book to the next level (honestly, I wish all books were illustrated, at least a little), and the breakout vocabulary words, peppered throughout and highlighted, were a nice touch as well.

I feel richer for reading it, despite some of the unevenness in the Voice and the set-up, and one chapter, in particular, really got to me. It was the chapter called “Old Growth Children,” and it was about the gorgeous Cedar trees, of the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Ms. Kimmerer writes:

Traditional teachings share that the power of cedars is so great that it can flow into a worthy person who leans back into her trunk. When death came, so came the cedar coffin. The first and last embrace of a human being was in the arms of Mother Cedar.

When I read this aloud to my daughter, I started crying. It is such a Full Circle moment, to think of a baby being rocked in a Cedar cradle, and an elder being buried in a simple Cedar coffin.

I have always been mortified by how we bury our dead, here in the States. I think it is OBNOXIOUS that we strong-arm the grief-stricken and we demand that they bury their dead in coffins lined with synthetic fabrics and materials (probably still off-gassing) and tell them where they can and can not be laid to rest. I mean, honestly, is there any limit to our greed? Does EVERYTHING we do need to be based in profit??

I’m not interested in dying anytime soon, but I wanted to share that the thought of being buried in a beautiful, naturally fragrant coffin made of precious Cedar would make me feel as though my life were being truly honored.

I’ll tell you: I’d feel like a Queen Ascending to her throne, smooth sailing on a craft made of Cedar.

[James Estrella]

Thank you to NetGalley and the authors for an advanced copy of this young adult adaptation of Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass.

As a community college educator, I’m constantly looking for accessible, affordable, and challenging texts to assign in my ethnic and gender studies classes. I typically refrain from assigning young adult adaptations since I find most to be a bit too simplistic, even for young adults. However, this young readers adaptation is different. An emphasis on key passages and discussion prompts is helpful for youth and adults alike. The adaptation doesn’t include a couple essays that are in the original, but this is a plus if you’re looking for a shorter read to assign in classes with supplemental materials or if your community read is on a shorter timeline. And the art! Beautiful and worthy of dialogue on its own. I also appreciate that the art is by Indigenous creatives.

Overall, this text would work well in any introductory Indigenous Studies, Ethnic Studies, or environmental justice course. It’s also great if you’re looking for a shorter adaption that doesn’t sacrifice the original’s depth and complexity of ideas. I can’t wait to share it in class and with my local neighborhood read. A solid adaptation of an already stellar book that I can’t recommend enough.

[₊˚ ⁀➴ kenzie]

❝ How, in our modern world, can we find our way to understand the Earth as a gift again? ❞


.𖥔 ݁ ˖ Braiding Sweetgrass 🌿

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ∿ 4


⠀⠀⠀‧₊˚ ⚘݄ I really enjoyed the teachings and practices of Native communities discussed in Braiding Sweetgrass, especially the connection to the natural world and the Thanksgiving Address, which showed so much appreciation and observance toward all creations
⠀⠀⠀‧₊˚ ✶ the focus on giving gratitude, sharing, and being respectful and mindful of all life on Earth was such a good lesson, and I liked how the author talked about seeing the abundance of things you have, and not focusing on your own wants, while also not taking more than you need
⠀⠀⠀‧₊˚ ⚘݄ I loved the perspective of the food and resources we use being gifts, since it really showed that we have an obligation of repaying the gifts by helping the Earth, and showing respect for her and all other beings
⠀⠀⠀‧₊˚ ✶ I’m definitely inspired to find more ways I show respect for the Earth, like spending more time outside and being more mindful of resources I use.


౨ৎ ₊˚┆my recommendation

➺ ⟢ age rating: 12+
➺ ⟢ content warnings:
⠀⠀⠀— other ~ mentioned reservations, assimilation of culture, animal hunting
➺ ⟢ Best for readers who love learning more about nature and indigenous culture

𖥔 ݁ ˖ ”Take what you need and let the rest go by and the fish will last forever.”

*₊ ° .

[Raith]

I read Braiding Sweetgrass 2 years ago. I learned about this version & have wanted to read it for so long! This version is an easier read, with less stories, but captures the essence of the original beautifully. There was so much intention in the creation of this version. I really enjoyed it & highly recommend even if you’ve already read Braiding Sweetgrass

[Ben]

Excellent Read

Excellent book on Indigenous knowledge for young people.

I really liked how gentle and peaceful the writing was.

Having loved the original Braiding Sweetgrass book, this was an excellent way to introduce the teachings to younger audiences.

I found it very interesting and very well written.

Applicable for all ages!

Definitely check it out.

4.4/5

[Ari Handy]

I’m excited to teach this in the classroom as it offers a lot of valuable insights but I did find the essays a little dry and hope it doesn’t detour student engagement.

[Zoe Elizabeth (Booksatlunch)]

Unfortunately, this book fell pretty flat for me compared to the original. I'm so gutted about the textbookification of this edition - especially the definitions. Some of them come off as pretty condescending - even for teens. I would have rather a YA edition that didn't feel like it was for classrooms but for teens who are actually excited for learning about the intersection of Indigenous practices and modern science.

The prose is pared down and less dense, but still does a really wonderful job at showing the beauty of Kimmerer's original prose and the magic behind her works.

The illustrations are also STUNNING and add so much to the story. I would love an illustrated version of the original full text.

Overall, I'm hoping that this will get some teens interested in this book, but I think this adaptation did some disservice to itself and appealing to teens outside of a classroom.

Thanks to the publishers for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Jana]

Interesting insight on nature, symbiotic relationships, and how we interact with plant life.

[Leslieee! ★]

I read this book as part of my summer reading to prepare for my English Indeginous course. I enjoyed learning about different parts of the Indigenous culture and also took some notes below:

I - An Invitation to Remember
Indigenous peoples "feel deeply uncomfortable calling the living world 'it'" instead they use 'ki' (singular) and 'kin' (plural)
"Traditional stories are the collective treasures of a people"
They capitalize plants; "California woodland is Kellogg's tiger lily"

II - Skywoman Falling
Fell from the Skyworld, and the geese caught her. Placed her on a turtle in the middle of the sea. Animals were told the find land (mud), at last only the Muskrat could retrieve it. The earth was made.

III - Wiingaashk
The Wiingaashk plant was the first to grow on earth; "her fragrance a sweet memory of Skywoman's hand", can be used to make medicines and baskets, can be called 'sweetgrass'
Braiding sweetgrass can be done between two people, a "reciprocity between you", given to show kindness, compassion, and gratitude

IV - The Council of Pecans
Pigan, pecan in english
"[Nuts] are designed to be food for winter" because of their shells
The trees fruit together

V - The Gift of Strawberries
When Skywoman's daughter died, "her final gifts - our most revered plants - grey from her body, and the strawberry arose from her heart"
Ode Min, heart berry, strawberry in english
"The abundance of strawberries felt like... a pure gift from the land"
Sweetgrass can only be given, not bought or sold, "[collected] properly and respectfully"

VI - An Offering
They poured the coffee on the ground, let it stream into the river, then drank it together

VII - Asters and Goldenrod
They tend to grow together, looking beautiful together
"If you stare for a long time at a block of yellow and then shift your gaze to a white sheet of paper, you will see it, for a moment, as violet"
Asters (purple) and Goldenrod (yellow) complement each other

VIII - Maple Sugar Moon
'Warm' enough for Maple syrup collecting is from 1-5 degrees celsius
15L of sap "[would] produce scarcely enough [Maple syrup] for one pancake"

IX - Witch Hazel
A type of yellow flower

X - Allegiance to Gratitude
Children pledge to the Allegiance every morning

XI - Epiphany in the Beans
Beans grow on trellises
"The way that we humans demonstrate love for one another is similar to the ways the earth takes care of us", food is a gift

XII - The Three Sisters
Together, corn, beans, and squash are referred to as 'The Three Sisters'
They grow one at a time, one after another, a gardening style

XIII - Wisgaak Gokpenagen: A Black Ash Basket
Should use a healthy tree
"Symbiosis between harvesters and harvested"

XIV - Mishkos Kenomagwen: The Teachings of Grass
You can smell sweetgrass before you see it's shiny leaves
"Picking sweetgrass seemed to actually stimulate growth"

XV - Maple Nation: A Citizenship Guide
People make Maple syrup together in the 'sugarhouse'

XVI - The Honorable Harvest
"Animals do have to die for us to live, but they don't have to suffer", leg hold traps were banned in Canada, "only body hold traps that ensure a sudden death were permitted"
They treat the earth as they would humans
"Never take more than you need"

XVII - In the Footsteps of Nanabozho: Becoming Indigenous to Place
He learned about the earth

XVIII - Sitting in a Circle
Wingwams provide shelter in the shape of a dome, "a sphere has the highest ratio of volume to surface area"
Cattails are found under deep mud

XIX - Burning Cascade Head
Chemicals added to water keep the salmon from returning

XX - Putting Down Roots
When children were taken, girls were made to cook and clean while boys learned sports and skills

XXI - Old-Growth Children
"Every part [of Cedar] is medicine for the body"

XXII - Windigo Footprints
"Windigo is the legendary monster of our Anishinaabe people"
"The Windigo is a human being who has become a cannibal monster"

XXIII - People of Corn, People of Light

XXIV - Shkitagen: The People of the Seventh Fire
There are many different ways to light a fire, 4 kinds

XXV - Defeating Windigo
Humans called Nanabozho to help

[Debbie Gale]

Read this one via audiobook with my two kids.

It’s an edited/adapted version of the original but kept all of my favorite stories.

[kait ✍️]

borrowed this from the free library in my neighborhood and loved reading the insightful annotations from gwen in mrs. troyer’s class

[Tina]

I really enjoyed Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer adapted by Monique Gray Smith. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Monique Gray Smith and it was great! It was so interesting to learn about Indigenous culture and practices with plants. It’s important for people to have a good relationship with nature. This relationship relates to capitalism and climate change. I liked how this book showcased the importance of learning and how treating plants and animals as people and not objects improves that relationship. It was interesting to learn about specific plants like the maple tree, cedar tree and sweetgrass. I would love to check out the print version too to see the illustrations.

Thank you to Tantor Audio via NetGalley for my ALC!

[Elizabeth]

10/25/23 While this wasn't terrible, I can't bring myself to say I liked it. It took the beautifully balanced story woven from personal experience, myth, and science and excised most of her life. With out this anchor, the rest felt very abstract and not as relevant. It hurts but does not surprise be that the only strand of this braid what remained untouched is the Science. I also found the "think about this" too pointed and sounded too much like prompts for a school essay. I could go on and on, but I'll just say, read the original and if it's too much for you at this moment, read it later. Don't settle.

[Kulveen Virdee]

Read a chapter every night for bedtime and my 7 yo loved it! He especially enjoyed learning about the plants, comparing indigenous wisdom to scientific knowledge (spoiler- they’re mostly the same, obtained from years and years of observation/listening to the language of earth) and I enjoyed the inquiries at the end of every chapter although he is too young to fully engage with them. Highly recommend for adults and kids alike.

[Amy Leitch]

Unfortunately this was a bookclub book for my only hope at making friends in richy rich. Read for operation make friends, but this book was not it for me.

[Bec]

I want to acknowledge the gifts of knowledge and the deep roots connected to the origin of each story shared within this book. There is a level of meaning and personal connection within this book that I haven't noticed in other non-fiction books that I have read.

Mixing knowledge, experiences and folk stories, this book explores the interlacing of the natural world, the Indigenous connection to that world and the difficulty that transpires when that is forcefully interlocked with a modern society. There is a complexity of issues that modern changes have impacted on a perspective that centres respect, acknowledgement and reciprocity with the natural world around us. However, there is also a stark simplicity in explaining how we as humans can live in harmony with the life around us and sustain the Earth indefinitely.

This young adult version is complete with discussion questions which would be fantastic for essay or classroom discussions. It also prompts readers to consider how natural sciences approach their teachings and how curriculums appear to remove any real connection to the world they focus on.

Overall, I feel a deeper respect and thoughtfulness in the natural world around me. This is an important book, especially in an age of climate change and a fear of irreparable damage and change.

Note: Review copy (audiobook) received from Libro.FM. This does not impact opinions within this review.

becandbooks.com ‧ the storygraph ‧ trigger warning database ‧ more links

[Lauren Ellzey]

I am reviewing this audiobook for Young Adults as a young adult librarian. This adaptation of Braiding Sweetgrass is valuable for both teens and adults. I think its reading from beginning to end would be best for adults, while print excerpts could easily be given to young adults in Biology, Research, and many other classes.

The stories left an indelible impact, and I am left with a sense of urgency, helplessness, small pockets of empowerment, and a flicker of hope. And above all that, a new appreciation for the often-ignored relationship between humans and nature.

[Kaitlyn (ktxx22) Walker]

Such a joy to revisit this book, and try it out to see how it would fair teaching wise for a younger audience and I would say it’s a really good one especially if you’ve got a kiddo who is big into conservation and gardening. A lot of this version of this book is talking about actionable steps you can do to be a better human in this world. Give back to the planet naturally and not take more than what you can. Actually use.

[mads ☆ﾐ]

an incredibly informative and IMPORTANT read that i really appreciated!! learned so much from this truly!

[Robyn Meredith]

Really enjoyed this as an audiobook! Definitely one to re-read.

[Beth]

Nice book with reflective questions to get you to think about your own traditions and relationship with nature.

[Amanda Renslow]

I appreciated the subject matter and perspective of this book. I could see this being a good teaching tool for small classes or homeschool co-ops. Although a YA adaptation, I do think that some of the concepts are still a little steep for young children, so I'd recommend working through the book with an adult.

Thanks to Libro.fm and their ALC program for the free audiobook.

[Aoife Lennon]

A lovely, heart-centred book. It breaks down the concept of ecology and giving thanks for the planet, something which is missing today, but can be revived. This is a good framework for looking at the world we live in. I loved this book.

[Syntaxx]

Miigweetch NetGalley and Zest Books for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I am Indigenous and have been hearing about the original version of this book since before it was published. “Braiding Sweetgrass” has been recommended to me numerous times by numerous sources (it was even selected for my friend’s church book club!), nevertheless, I just never quite got around to reading it. When I saw this version for young adults, I jumped at the chance to review it and I have not been disappointed.

The book is beautifully illustrated and the ideas are moving, powerful, and most importantly, accessible. The author does a fantastic job of breaking these complex concepts down into digestible bits that anyone can understand and begin to engage with. The illustrations are gorgeous and provide good context to the text.

I recommend this book to anyone seeking to understand Indigenous ways of knowing, environmentalists, and young people in general because the world they are inheriting is literally on fire and this might be the survival handbook they need to make it into the next future.

[Samantha Parker-Zillich]

It was interesting to learn more about plants and the significance of the natural world for Native American people. The young adult version is shorter than the adult version but it's definitely geared for young high schoolers.

[Alanna]

DNF, stopped halfway through from frustration.

There’s clearly a target audience for this, and I am not it. I picked up the young adult copy on the assumption that there would be more pictures, but instead all I got were colored bubbles explaining words and concepts like I was new to planet Earth. The target audience seems to be young adults that specifically:
-Have no knowledge about indigenous culture, or have been entirely removed from it
-Don’t know any big words or what a bean looks like
-Do not have parents that love them enough as children, because this book over explains so hard it’s cutting into the obnoxious questions we all ask as toddlers like “what’s a rhizome” and “why should we be grateful for food”

The first section played on my growing concern/realization that there might be quite a lot of people wandering around under the impression that humans are the only people. Which seems like a very unlikely and lonely existence to me… and also a section about capital letters and pronouns in talking and story telling to indicate respect or recognition.

Which leaves me asking: What the hell were you using pronouns for if not to do that?

The book then took me through a two page summary of Skywoman, with pitiful illustrations compared to the picture book I read as a kid, and then led me into a winding maze of self-proclaimed wisdom and long winded lessons with concepts that would fit fabulously into a first grade classroom.

Remember, self proclaimed wisdom is the flimsiest type of wisdom. Life is too short for condescending books.

[Kari]

I received a preview of just the first chapter of this book, and I’ll say that it was enough to make me want to read the rest of it when it’s released! The adult version has been on my “to read” list for a while now, and I’m considering going straight for the the YA version upon its release! At least from what I read, this version makes the information so accessible for younger readers, and the visuals and reflection questions add greater depth to the insight that is written on its pages. This is something I’d be very interested in sharing with my students, so that they, too, can “look for relationships and understand the threads that connect the world. To join instead of divide.”

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for this advanced sample!

[Sarah]

I don't feel this left out any of the critical portions of the original text. This should be required reading for all children and young adults. I read this aloud with my middle schoolers, and it sparked deep conversation and a greater appreciation for our planet. The content and reading level might have been too challenging for them on their own, but with some explanation, they were able to connect with the text on a meaningful level.

[Catherine Comerford]

Please read this book.

[Arisa]

forced to read, born to not