Willie Poll

Together We Drum, Our Hearts Beat as One Willie Poll

In this beautifully illustrated book, a young, determined Anishnaabe
girl decides to go on a transformative journey into a forest on her traditional
territory, in search of adventure. She is joined by a chorus of women and girls
in red dresses, who tell her they remember what it was like to be carefree and
wild too. Soon, though, the girl is challenged by a monster named Hate who
envelops the girl in his cloud of darkness. With the creature
at her heels, she climbs a mountain to try and evade him, and with the help of
her matriarchs and the power of Thunder Bird, the monster vanishes. With Hate at bay, the the women and girls
beat their drums together in song and support to give the girl the confidence needed
to become a changemaker in the future, able to fend off any monster in her way.




Together We Drum, Our Hearts Beat as One is a moving and powerful book
about Indigenous resistance and female empowerment.




Ages 3 to 8.