Brother Eagle, Sister Sky is a picture book illustrated by Susan Jeffers. The story is inspired by and contains the text of a circa 1854 speech attributed to Chief Seattle, though the actual origins of the speech are not certain.
Tropes in the book:
- Arcadia: Discusses idyllic farming communities which haven't devastated or destroyed the nature around them.
- Call to Agriculture: Calls on those who acquire native lands to not cut down the forests, or otherwise destroy them and instead grow food and what they need and maintain the lands in a balance.
- Ghibli Hills: The art and speech depicts beautiful natural areas, that have been cared for by natives for generations and contain gardens, homes and communities but are not fully "tamed".
- Green Aesop: The speech talks about the beauty of nature, and that it should be respected and not abused or destroyed.
- In Harmony with Nature: Tells that we must live as best we can in harmony with nature, so that it supports us and we it. Asks that those who buy land from natives preserve it for their own children as natives have for theirs.
- It Kind of Looks Like a Face: The artwork is crafted so that faces can be seen in the branches of trees, groupings of stones and ripples in the water mirroring the speech's discussion of seeing reflections of ancestors in the nature they once interacted with.
- Our Spirits Are Different: Seattle says that he was taught to see his ancestors in the waters of streams and rivers, that ""each ghostly reflection in the clear waters of the lakes tells of the memories in the life of our people".
- Nature Lover: Seattle speaks of his people as being taught to see themselves and their ancestors reflected in nature, to be grateful for the bounties provided by nature and to preserve the grasslands and forests, keep the waters clean and appreciate the sweet air.
- Mother Nature: His grandmother taught Seattle that the earth is the mother of humanity, that what befalls her will also befall her children and that these lessons must be passed down from generation to generation.
