Kindred Spirits: Shilombish Ittibachvffa

A really beautiful tale - I'm not sure the timeline jumping will make much sense to kids, but the story itself is compelling, and sweet, and I liked the way that there was a dual storytelling option for both younger and older kids.

When the Irish Potato Famine happened, people from all over the world tried to help. One such people were the Choctaw people, who had just survived the Trail of Tears not that long before. They saw the Irish plight, as similar to their plight. So while they didn’t have much money, they sent what they could.

Years later, a statue was raised to commemorate this friendship. And then when the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe suffered under Covid, the Irish gathered money to help them, as a return gesture.

Beautifully illustrated picture book about people who have suffered from Colonialism, understanding each other, and trying to help.

The author, who is a member of the Choctaw Nation, had heard of this story from people of the community, and wanted to write this story. When Covid-19 hit, she knew she had more of the story to add. And in 2022, the Irish started an annual scholarship to Choctaw students who wanted to go to Ireland to study.

Good simple story, to let children know what kindness is, and how it reverberates over the years.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. This book is being published the 9th of July 2024.

As an Irish-American, I've always loved this connection between the Irish and Choctaw, and loved that this book told that story for the next generation. I think the historical context sections are a great addition to allow parents and teachers to explain things in a deeper way to any kids they might be reading to. I'll definitely be recommending this to my teacher friends for their classrooms.

This book tells the story of a little known event in history and chronicles the lasting impact it made. It is a tribute to the kindred spirit of two Nations who helped each other when their people were in imminent danger. It is also a celebration of random acts of kindness.

Touching and important.

Thank you so much to Charlesbridge and Netgalley for the ebook to read and review.

A small amount of kindness that lasted seven generations to continue the cycles of kindness, what an impactful story this is. I honestly didn’t know about it before reading this but the description and cover alone made me want to read it and I’m glad I did as it was so impactful learning about this event in history that took place befteeen the Choctaw nation and the Irish.

I knew about the potato famine and the hardships and the struggles that they went through, I also knew about the natives and how they were so badly mistreated, but I knew nothing about how these two communities came together to form a life long bond and to help each other during the hardest hardships they’d have to face.

This was so fascinating to me, as a history lover, finding a piece of what I call hidden history is incredible. I love getting to learn and find out all about something that happened but unless you’re part of these communities it isn’t wildly known about. What these two communities did for each other in the 1800’s and up during 2020 was amazing and with such dedicated kindness and love. Honestly it’s so refreshing to read about something nice that happened to them each, that during horrific times something good still came out if it.

I really enjoyed reading about this, though it was incredibly sad, with the suffering, the death,the pain that they were all going through, the cruelty of many other humans around them, learning about how they were so selfless and so caring for others without a second thought was just beautiful. This was such a powerful read and I am so happy to have learnt something new.