The Indigenous literary community has seen some familiar faces featured on several Get Caught Reading posters. But now, one of their own has earned even greater recognition. The Children’s Book Council and Every Child a Reader has named Julie Flett as the illustrator of the 2025 Children’s Book Week poster, revealed here for the first time.
Having selected Flett as this year’s artist is a natural extension of the CBC’s ongoing cataloging of new and backlist books by Indigenous authors and illustrators. “The choice of Julie Flett for the 2025 Children’s Book Week poster is another important milestone in our work to shine a light on a vastly under-recognized world of incredibly creative people,” executive director Carl Lennertz said.
Diving into Design
When designing this year’s poster with the theme “An Ocean of Stories,” Flett, a Cree-Métis artist based in British Columbia, was inspired by the work of Autumn Peltier, an Indigenous activist involved in water advocacy, as well as her own childhood memories. “I remember when we’d drive out to my grandma’s place in the summer,” said the author-illustrator of Birdsong and We All Play. “I’d jump out of the car and run straight to the river to start looking or frogs and turtles. I’d spend hours out there sitting on a rock, dipping my hand into the water or peering into the deepest parts to daydream.”
Flett also recalled a summer spent in Nova Scotia, during which she visited the ocean and learned about different sea creatures. Her poster depicting a child in a boat, along with a friendly sea turtle, seal and seagull, draws upon these memories and invites young readers to imagine their own seaside adventures. “I hope that everyone has fun choosing stories to read together, whether they’re stories about the sea, new and old, fiction or nonfiction, whether you read inside, at the library or home, or outside by the water. Enjoy the week together,” Flett said.
To promote the 2025 poster, the CBC has partnered with Flett’s publisher, Greystone Books, whose consulting creative director Sara Gillingham worked on the design. “We are also exploring ways that we can involve libraries and schools in Canada in the celebration since Greystone is a Canadian-based publisher,” noted CBC associate executive director Shaina Birkhead.
Interested schools, libraries, bookstores and parents of homeschoolers are encouraged to register online for Book Week, slated for May 5–11, now through March 1. Each participant will receive two posters, along with links to resources and activity pages in English and Spanish. The CBC has identified more than 500,000 Native American public-school students and 183 tribal land schools, all of which will receive this year’s poster.
Posters will be distributed in April, and further details about Book Week will be available at a later date. For more information, visit the Every Child a Reader website.
