“What’s your gift?” asks Michael Redhead Champagne’s We Need Everyone

What’s your gift?

Whether you’ve discovered it yet or not, Michael Redhead Champagne wants to assure you that you have one…and that when you put it to use, the world will be better for it. 

Champagne is a longtime community organizer, public speaker and Indigenous youth advocate who has just released his first picture book We Need Everyone (Highwater Press, 2024). Aimed at readers 6-8 years of age, this delightful, empowering book seeks to help children (and adults) find their innate “gift”.  The gift that makes you unique is also what makes you special – and knowing this can lead to greater self-confidence, more resilient friendships, and connected communities. 

The message and spirit of We Need Everyone are a natural extension of Champagne’s longtime advocacy for dismantling harmful systems and replacing them with new ones based on justice, equity and love. He comes from Winnipeg’s North End, with family roots in Shamattawa First Nation. The inspiration for We Need Everyone first came to him when he looked closely at the North End and, more generally, at Manitoba’s child welfare system. He saw too many young people who did not recognize their own gifts and skills, which were also not seen by the people around them. 

From that point, he has made it his personal goal – in his community work, his speeches and now in his book – to empower those young people to know they are gifted; “to know their community and the world needs the skills that they carry”; and to know “those skills can help their own mental health and the people around them“. He recalls his own struggles of being dismissed as the kid who talked too much. “Meanwhile, talking is my biggest gift,” he smiles. “So I hope that the kids out there who feel like they are ‘too much’, grow up to be movers and shakers in whatever area they are passionate about!”

To help with this ambition, We Need Everyone outlines three simple steps to help readers identify their own gifts. The question format invites self-reflection that helps people to come to their own conclusion about their personal “gifts”. Champagne sees this as essential, for we cannot simply tell people what their gift is, and expect them to believe us. They must realize it on their own – with the love, support and encouragement of those around them. “I hope that celebrating a number of gifts that I see in many of the communities I am connected to will stimulate the thoughts and visions of those young people,” he explains, and they will be “honest about what they like doing, and about what they are good at, and . . . connect with others with similar (and different) skills.” 

In this light, teachers will find the book to be an engaging read-aloud that helps promote individuality, identity and belonging among students – and inspires them to discover and appreciate their own gifts, along with those of others. To this end, an accompanying teacher’s guide by Jerica Fraser is also available.

When he was young, Champagne loved to read fantasy books and “anything that had a fantastical premise or over-the-top characters”. Picture books like 1 Fish 2 Fish Red Fish Blue Fish caught his attention because of the illustrations, but also because of the rhythm of the words when the book was read aloud. As he got older, series like Chronicles captured his imagination, and when he read the Animorphs series by K.A Applegate, he saw for the first time his own experiences and life represented in a meaningful way. “I saw someone like me, working with folks who were very differently gifted than him, working to save the world from aliens,” he remembers. “I loved every moment!”

Some of the spirit and energy of these memorable texts imbue the lively We Need Everyone. The inclusive illustrations by Viet-Canadian multimedia artist Tiff Bartel not only celebrate diverse cultures, perspectives, and abilities – they are absolutely adorable. Champagne is chuffed about how “Tiff’s legendary artist skills” have brought the message of the book to life in “such an energizing way!” He loves sharing the book with audiences of diverse children and adults, and hearing them exclaim with delight, “That’s me!” or “That’s you!” 

And the double-page spread, which depicts children engaged in dialogue, is especially sweet, subtle and nuanced. It will invite readers to pore over it at length and will certainly spark conversation. “I believe the pictures in this book tell an even more powerful story than I could ever tell with words alone”, enthuses Champagne.“This collaboration and working together is the model that I see helping us make a better world.”  

And attentive readers will notice a recurring character – a lively gray cat – in many of the illustrations. This is Champagne’s real cat Sushi Meowf. He is “a fun loving and adventurous cat, and you can find him jumping around the pages of the books.” After all, smiles Champagne, “When we say we need everyone, that includes our animal relatives, too!”

The biggest advice that Champagne has for parents, educators, and guardians is the simplest: lead by example. “We can’t expect young people to acknowledge and celebrate their gifts if we don’t show them how to!” he declares. “There is a quote: ‘your actions speak so loudly that I cannot hear what you are saying,’ and it captures what I want to share perfectly! When young people see you celebrating and sharing your gift, it gives them the courage to do the same!”

As a final thought, Champagne offers an empathetic reframing of the “I’m bored” or “I’m not good at anything” refrains that are all-too common among disengaged youngsters. He urges parents, teachers and adults in general not to regard such utterances as prompts for redirection, but to see them as “an opportunity for us, as those who love and care for them, to remind them of their gift”. We can “encourage them to practice their gift whenever they feel bored, until their skills develop to the point that opportunities will arise to share that very gift in the community around them.”

We Need Everyone is a delightful picture book. Readers of all ages – children and parents alike  – will connect to and embrace its inspiring message of inclusion and positivity. 

© Arpita Ghosal, SesayArts Magazine, 2024