We Belong to the Drum

Sandra Lamouche’s We Belong to the Drum is a delightful picture book that shares the story of Lamouche’s son’s experience of first going to daycare as a small child. From the time in his mother’s belly Nikosis has been immersed in the culture of his family, attending powwows and delighting in the music, dance and sense of community. But when Nikosis starts attending daycare, he feels separation anxiety being away from everything he has known and cries every day when his parents leave him.

Nikosis’ mother finds a solution by bringing the powwow to Nikosis’ new environment by sharing music his daycare providers happily embrace along with drum music from around the world. Nikosis is thrilled, immediately picking the distinctive powwow drumbeats out from the rest. Suddenly, the daycare is an exciting place for Nikosis where he can teach the other children his dance moves and share stories about his summers attending powwows in Okhoma. He feels a sense of belonging amongst his friends at the daycare now that he can share his true self, culture and family. Following the story, Lamouche also includes two pages devoted to some basic Cree words for different family members and relationships as well as a photo and brief bio of the real life Nikosis.

With simple narration, Lamouche tells a classic family story of a child’s introduction to the world outside of their family and the growing pains involved. Lamouche sweetly emphasizes the importance of family and culture, particularly for Indigenous families that have previously been unable to celebrate it. Azby Whitecalf’s illustrations spread kinetically to the edges of each page, using vivid colours that make the images feel truly immersive. Crayon-like strokes also give the characters and situations a joyful, lived-in feeling. Overall, We Belong to the Drum is a loving story of celebrating Indigenous culture and the growing pains, but also joys, of childhood.