Representation Matters: The Power of Sonya Ballantyne’s Cree Hero
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Photo by Whitney Light
June is National Indigenous History Month, a time for all Canadians to reflect upon and learn about the history, culture, and strength of Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit, and Métis) Peoples. Before we go any further, we would like to acknowledge that First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples each have their own unique histories. And within each group, there are distinct histories.
Indigenous communities have played a huge role in shaping the nation we know as Canada today. Until recently, however, the stories and impacts of these communities have been under-told and overlooked in this country.
Filmmaker, public speaker, and writer Sonya Ballantyne has spent her career telling stories aimed at flipping that script for current and future generations of Indigenous and non-Indigenous children. Toni Morrison once said, “If there’s a book that you want to read, and it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it,” and Sonya did exactly that by penning the children’s book Kerri Berry Lynn.
With illustrations by Celeste Sutherland, Kerri Berry Lynn is a storybook about a young Cree girl living on the Misipawistik reservation with her family and seven dogs, “based on her dog-obsessed baby sister Kerri and Chapan (Great-Grandmother) Ellen.” It’s also the exact kind of book Sonya wishes she had access to as a reading-obsessed girl growing up in the same community in northern Manitoba.
We managed to draw Sonya away from her current writing commitments to inquire about the real Kerri Berry Lynn, what it was like to read this book in a classroom, the importance of representation, and so much more.
What inspired you to write Kerri Berry Lynn?
I’ve always been a fan of adventure stories about heroes that might not be the heroic archetype. The Hobbit was one of my favourite books when I was a kid, and I’d always wanted to write a hero that was a Cree person, because I’m Cree. I didn’t realize until I got older that that Cree hero was my sister, who is the real Kerri Berry Lynn. I loved the idea of this character being this really kind-hearted person who sees the best in everybody. And so that was why I was inspired to write it — because I always wanted to see an Indigenous story that wasn’t about trauma, but [one that] was about our strength.
You mention your younger sister being your primary source of inspiration for Kerri Berry Lynn. What’s been her reaction to having this book based on her life and named after her?
I’ve always been inspired by my sister. I think she’s amazing. When I realized that she was the hero I always wanted to write about, I asked her immediately, “Hey, can I write this about you? Because this book is about you.” It was a story that I knew would really take off because my sister is still Kerri Berry Lynn. She’s like a real life Disney princess when it comes to dogs.
It’s really blown the two of us away how many little kids connect to her story. We thought that, originally, the only people who were really going to get into it were other people who had grown up on reserves. But we found out that it’s popular with kids who live in New Zealand, kids who live in Florida, kids who keep harassing their parents to get a dog. “If Kerri Berry Lynn can have some [dogs], why can’t I?” I’ve been hearing a lot of complaints from parents about that part. [Laughs]
It’s been really fun to talk about the book because people just love the art and they love the story — especially after finding out Kerri Berry Lynn is a real person.
Had you written a book prior to Kerri Berry Lynn?
Before Kerri Berry Lynn, I had written for anthologies. I wrote for an anthology called Pros and (Comic) Cons for Dark Horse Comics, which is about people who attend comic book conventions. And I also wrote for a book called Women Love Wrestling, which was about my experience with pro wrestling as a child. But those were still in the planning stages when Kerri Berry Lynn was coming out. I really hated the idea of waiting for somebody to see the good idea that I had (Kerri Berry Lynn), so that was why I went to FriesenPress. I just wanted it out in the world. Working with FriesenPress was the best way to do that really quickly.
One of the hardest parts about writing for children — and one of the things I was so happy about when I started working with FriesenPress — was finding an editor who specifically knew about what children’s books needed. Sometimes I get a little ahead of myself and I don’t really … realize who my audience is. I was really thankful for that [feedback], because I always work in a collaborative environment and having the editor there was really, really helpful to me.
The illustrations in this book are absolutely adorable. Where and how did you connect with Celeste Sutherland, your illustrator on this project?
I’ve been working with Celeste for a very long time. She has worked on a few of my films and she just recently finished graduating from Red River College in graphic design. [Kerri Berry Lynn] was one of her first jobs.
I really loved her art style because it was so homey and so cute. When I wanted to write this book, I told her, “Okay, I want this to be Dora the Explorer, but on the rez. I want you to make the rez look like it is a fun, magical place.” Because she grew up near a rez, too, she knows about community and the landscape and all this great stuff. She was just a natural fit for the book.
Going back to the collaboration aspect, she brought things to the project that I wouldn’t have thought of. I just told her that I wanted my parents to be Kerri Berry Lynn’s parents. I wanted our Chapan (my great grandmother) to be the real Chapan. And I especially wanted the cover to be an actual picture of my sister when she was young, where she was wearing an oversized jacket and kissing a dog. Aside from those notes, she had pretty much free rein to interpret the pages as she saw fit.
I’m really proud of the work she’s done and I really love how people connect with the art!
You’ve read Kerri Berry Lynn in multiple classrooms. What’s the reception from children in those live settings?
When we first got our initial copies of the book, we wanted to throw a party at a local school that we have a really strong connection with. It’s called Strathcona Elementary — it’s attended largely by Indigenous kids and immigrant kids, and it’s in a lower income area. We bought cake and some pizza and we read [the book] aloud to the kids. Everybody was so excited to see a book about either a place they had been or things they had seen. They had never read a book about rez dogs — dogs that are free to wander around and hang out. And they had never seen a book about somebody like their own little sister or brother who wears oversized clothing and has a close relationship with their grandparents or their Chapan. It was really fun to see all those smiles from the little kids who were finally able to see themselves in a storybook.
Another of my favourite moments was from the chief of my home community. Her name is Heidi Cook, and she told me a story about how she bought my book for her sister’s children. They said that this is their favourite book because Kerri Berry Lynn is from the Misipawistik like they are. That one blew me away, because I never had a character who was from my community. Being able to give little kids that hero from their own home community was really overwhelming to me.
Given that your sister and Chapan feature prominently in Kerri Berry Lynn, the book feels like it’s as much a gift to your family as it is to others.
Indigenous people like my Chapan had to deal with so much negativity and my great-great-grandfather ended up changing their last name because they didn’t want to deal with having an Indigenous last name. Being able to immortalize my Chapan in a storybook that a little kid will read was so cool to me. She was such a big part of my life and now she’s a part of other people’s lives too.
Me and Kerri weren’t allowed to learn how to speak Cree when we were young. So we named the dogs “one” through “eight” [in Cree]. And the fact that I wrote a book that begins with a Cree dictionary with just basic words that we know, like “Chapan”? It’s such a punch to the face of colonialism and everybody who tried to make sure that they killed the Indian in me and my sister, and how it didn’t work. One of my friends has a daughter named Molly, who actually named her stuffed Husky “Peyak” because of this book. It’s really cool to see White kids, who had no experience with the Cree language, connecting with those words.
What are you most proud of with regards to being a published author?
One of the proudest things about [this book project] is that I saw there was something that was needed in the world and I made it. I grew up in a world where there weren’t any heroes who looked like me. And rather than just accept that, I was like, “Okay, whatever I can do.”
If you look at the front page, you can see there are drawings of [me, my sister, and Celeste]. I insisted on that and put it at the front of the book because I wanted little kids to see that first and make the connection that, “Oh, this is a book about native people, but it’s also written by native people and it’s about a real native person.” It was essential to me, not because I, or my sister, or Celeste love fame, but because we knew what it was like to open books and see authors who didn’t look like us.
You don’t know what you’re missing if you’ve never seen it. And so I feel that I’ve given [children] something that they maybe didn’t know they wanted. But now that they have it, they want more. It’s one of my favourite things, and I’m really glad that the story has the legs that it does.
Are you working on any other book projects at the moment?
I’m currently writing a graphic novel memoir about myself. It seems kind of weird to be 35 and writing a memoir, but I realized that people need to see more Indigenous people telling stories. So, I’m writing that one. It’s going to be published by Portage & Main Press here in Manitoba. I’m also writing a graphic novel autobiography about the Indigenous activist Michael Champagne. And that one will be coming out if not next year, the year after. I just recently finished writing it and now it’s in the art stages.
If folks reading Kerri Berry Lynn could take one thing away from the book, what do you hope that is?
I hope it teaches them about a place they’ve never been. I love the idea of people Googling Misipawistik or Chemawawin and just seeing that these places are real. Because I remember, when I was a little kid, always wanting to visit faraway places like the Shire, or … Calgary. [Laughs]
My book is in my school’s library back home now. And it’s just cool that a new generation of kids is going to have this book and just see my home represented. That book is everything that I love about the reserve and I hope that what people take away from it is the love I have for my community.
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Kerri Berry Lynn is available now
Visit sonyaballantyne.com to learn more about Sonya and her many creative endeavours
