Encounter

A powerful imagining by two Native creators of a first encounter between two very different people that celebrates our ability to acknowledge difference and find common ground--with art by New York Times bestselling illustrator and Caldecott Medalist Michaela Goade

Based on the real journal kept by French explorer Jacques Cartier in 1534, Encounter imagines a first meeting between a French sailor and a Stadaconan fisher. As they navigate their differences, the wise animals around them note their similarities, illuminating common ground.

This extraordinary imagining by Brittany Luby, Professor of Indigenous History, is paired with stunning art by Michaela Goade, winner of 2018 American Indian Youth Literature Best Picture Book Award. Encounter is a luminous telling from two Indigenous creators that invites readers to reckon with the past, and to welcome, together, a future that is yet unchartered.

Brittany Luby (Anishinaabe-kwe) is the many great-granddaughter of Chief Kawitaskung, a leader who negotiated the North-West Angle Treaty of 1873. With a pen stroke, Kawitaskung agreed to share parts of what is now northwestern Ontario with settlers and their descendants. Because of her many great-grandfather, Brittany believes that words are a powerful tool. Brittany writes for social justice and is an assistant professor of history at Guelph University in Canada.

Michaela Goade (Tlingit) is an award-winning designer and illustrator. She has illustrated a number of picture books including Shanyaak'utlaax: Salmon Boy, winner of the 2018 American Indian Youth Literature Best Picture Book Award. She lives in Juneau, Alaska.