This book is great for kindergarten-second graders, I think it could also be for older grades but the content is fairly younger, I think it had a very bedtime story feel. It is about a Native mother who is in preparation for her new baby. It is a very sweet story, and very heartwarming. In a classroom this could be used as a calm down story because it is very relaxing and could settle the class down, as well as give some Native influence into the class. ( )

Primary
A mother prepares for her baby to come by getting him a lot of things for his medicine bundle. These are things she finds in nature, and things she makes herself.
I would probably only use this book as a read aloud during Indigenous people's month, or during mother or father's day, or things like that. But I would still have it as an option for kids to read themselves during free time. It shows the deep love between a mother and her baby, and I think kids should be reading about that so they know how much their parents love them or how much another adult can love them. I would explain, either before or after, that the people from the Inniniwak believe that things in nature are sacred and have great power. I could ask kids what they'd like to put in their "bundle", or things that are special to them.

This book would be good for primary grades. It is about a mother preparing for her daughter to come and preserving her heritage. I would use this when discussing the different ways parents love children.

Anticipation, pregnancy, and the birth of a baby are celebrated in this story from Spillett-Sumner (Inniniwak) and Caldecott medalist Goade (Tlingit).

When a baby chooses its mother, special gatherings of family and community are held to prepare for the child’s arrival. Sacred items are collected and placed in a medicine bundle to be given to the baby at birth. These items will keep the growing child’s connection to their identity strong. Spillett-Sumner’s lyrical text begins as an Indigenous mother plans the journey with her unborn child. “Before I held you in my arms, I sang you down from the stars.” When she finds a white eagle plume, it becomes “the first gift in a bundle that will be yours.” The young mother finds more items for her child’s bundle: cedar, sage, a “star blanket,” and a special river stone “so that you always remember that you belong to this place.” The baby arrives in the spring, “with the waters that come when the ice breaks and the rivers flow again.” Goade uses a white “swoosh” of stars throughout the illustrations to intertwine traditional origin stories with a family’s experience of “love and joy” upon the arrival of the new baby, in scenes that pulse with both emotions. Author and illustrator each contribute a note describing how they drew upon their respective cultural traditions to inform their work, which will open the book up to a wide range of readers.

Gorgeous, shimmering, heartfelt. (Picture book. 3-7)

-Kirkus Review

Anticipating the birth of her child, and the welcome she will give this beloved newcomer, a mother gathers various items for a medicine bundle, each of which has spiritual significance. A white feather found after seeing the beauty of a shooting star, cedar and sage to keep the spirit strong, a pebble from the banks of a rushing river that recalls a sense of place—each item will serve to tie the baby to their world and to who they are...

I Sang You Down from the Stars is a lovely picture-book, one I sought out chiefly because I am an admirer of Tlingit illustrator Michaela Goade's work. I was certainly not disappointed on that score, finding the artwork here—created using watercolor and mixed media—simply gorgeous! That being said, the narrative from Inniniwak (Cree) author Tasha Spillett-Sumner was also appealing, capturing the keen sense of joyful anticipation experienced by the mother, as well as the world of wonder waiting for her baby. Although this kind of book focuses more on the parental viewpoint, I think it can still serve as a wonderful reassurance tale for young children, letting them know how much they were wanted, and how welcome they are in their families and in the world. Recommended primarily to picture-book readers seeking this kind of narrative, as well as to those looking for titles with a Native American cultural outlook. ( )