★ 'Joyful and tender, this board book celebrates the activities that bring gladness through family and cultural connections.Flett’s quietly powerful gouache and digital collage illustrations emphasize the relationships between people.The sweet family story has universal appeal. Moments of happiness tucked into each and every day celebrated here include time with family, self-expression, and the natural world.' “A comforting board book offers young children the opportunity for reflection, and for affirmation, too. She has received many awards, including the 2016 American Indian Library Association Award for Best Picture Book for Little You, written by Richard Van Camp (Orca Books), and the Canadian Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Award in 2015 for Dolphins SOS, written by Roy Miki (Tradewind Books) and in 2017 for My Heart Fills with Happiness, written by Monique Gray Smith (Orca Books), and was nominated for the Governor General’s Award for Children’s Literature for her book Owls See Clearly at Night (Lii Yiiboo Nayaapiwak lii Swer): A Michif Alphabet (L’alphabet di Michif). Her own Wild Berries (Simply Read Books) was chosen as Canada’s First Nation Communities Read title selection for 2014-2015. Julie Flett is an award-winning Cree-Metis author, illustrator and artist. Monique and her family are blessed to live on Lkwungen territory in Victoria, British Columbia. Her first novel, Tilly: A Story of Hope and Resilience, won the 2014 Burt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature. Monique is an accomplished consultant, writer and international speaker. Monique Gray Smith is a mixed–heritage woman of Cree, Lakota, and Scottish ancestry and a proud mom of twins.

My heart filled with happiness