Be Brave, Be Brave, Be Brave: A True Story of Fatherhood and Native American Heritage

In Falcon’s tender story about channeling inner strength, a Native American narrator reflects on his son’s birth (“When you arrived, you were sick,/ and so was your mother”). Both recover, but then face the arrival of “a historic storm named Hurricane Harvey,” and must flee Corpus Christi, Tex. With each new struggle, Falcon alludes to historical hardships endured by Native people and urges his new child to show bravery: “As our Native ancestors were forced to leave their homes/ by strangers who claimed it for their own,/ we were also on a trip we didn’t want to make.” Mason’s watercolor artwork mixes moments of striking portraiture alongside stormy landscapes, and Falcon, who bases the story on the birth of his own son, named Lakota, offers a multilayered celebration of resilience, ancestry, and bravery. Ages 3–7. [em](May) [/em]