I recently (within the last year) discovered Kate Gardiner’s work through her book A Family Tree with author Staci Lola Drouillard.

Let me tell you what I like about her art. I’ll do this through a discussion of how I feel about her work in A Family Tree and Firefly Season. There are a lot of things I enjoy about A Family Tree; I think it is an exceptional example of picture book storytelling. Drouillard and Gardiner take the reader on a short trip through time as we watch young Ojibwe girl Francis grow up alongside her family member, the little white spruce Gaawandagoonce. This is a story of family ties, change, and growing up connected to land and to each other (“each other” also includes plant-beings). It’s a quiet story. It’s a reflective story. It’s an every day/slice-of-life kind of story that invites the reader into the intimate, quiet moments of an Ojibwe family.

Gardiner works in gouache and colored pencil and likes to play with white space, flora and fauna borders, and layered and flat perspectives. I bet, if she wanted to, she would excel at paper art illustration, as some of the spreads in A Family Tree mimic dioramas with how she meticulously layers front flora, humans/animals, middle flora/grass, background trees and faraway landscape. She loves a good side profile, which encourages the reader to focus in and pay attention. As much as she likes a wide shot, she also loves a zoom-in spread; the spread with little Francis’ chunky feet flat on the ground above a cross-section of Gaawaandagoonce’s strong roots in the soil is lovely. The colors Gardiner uses in this book are muted, cloudy, and rich, in tones of stone greys, seafoam greens, light blues, and earthen browns. It’s a beautiful story of family that you should check out if you haven’t already.

In Firefly Season, Gardiner’s palette is a little darker and warmer, which makes sense because a lot of the story takes place on warm summer nights and at the beginning of fall season. Leitich Smith tells a story about spending time back home with cousins, change, finding new family, sharing culture, making lasting memories, and playing with koleppa (fireflies). Piper and her cousins soak up the gifts of summer on their family’s land in Cherokee Nation and Muscogee Nation and Piper and Sumi’s friendship is patient and tender. Just like in A Family Tree, Gardiner plays with perspective, encouraging readers eyes to jump from one corner of the page to the next, searching for all the layers of connection packed into a scene (though the scenes never feel cluttered). Gardiner also loves a soft sunrise scene. My favorite spread in this book is when Piper and Sumi sit cross-legged in a field of tawny grass in hues of gold, brown, and tan, hands clasped together, faces in profile, as they gaze at two cream-colored bunnies. It is a calm and beautiful scene. I can’t wait to dive into more of Gardiner’s work & will keep an eager eye out for her next books. Do let me know what you think if your read these.

Recommended for: All ages
Great for: Family, Relationships, Indigenous Stories, Friendship, Read Alouds
Book Info: A Family Tree by Staci Lola Drouillard/Illustrated by Kate Gardiner, 2024 Clarion Books & Firefly Season by Cynthia Leitich Smith/Illustrated by Kate Gardiner, 2025 Heartdrum