Will Native Presence at Alcatraz by removed or covered up by Trump Administration?

On June 13, 2025 The New York Times published an article titled National Parks Are Told to Delete Content that 'Disparages Americans.' Here's the first four paragraphs of the article by Lisa Friedman:

The Interior Department plans to remove or cover up all “inappropriate content” at national parks and sites by Sept. 17 and is asking the park visitors to report any “negative” information about past or living Americans, according to internal documents.

It’s a move that historians worry could lead to the erasure of history involving gay and transgender figures, civil rights struggles and other subjects deemed improper by the Trump administration.

Staff at the National Park Service, which is part of the Interior Department, were instructed to post QR codes and signs at all 433 national parks, monuments and historic sites by Friday asking visitors to flag anything they think should be changed, from a plaque to a park ranger’s tour to a film at a visitor’s center.

Leaders at the park service would then review concerns about anything that “inappropriately disparages Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times),” according to slides presented this week at a meeting with park superintendents. By Sept. 17, “all inappropriate content” would be removed or covered, according to the presentation.

Note the second paragraph says "other subjects." It isn't the first time Native peoples have been characterized by the media as "other." The fourth paragraph says that "inappropriate content" must be removed or covered by September 17th. I wonder what will happen at Alcatraz? 

I went over to the National Park Service page on Alcatraz and got these screen caps. Easy enough to delete web pages but what will they do with the writing on walls and on the water tower? Below are screen captures I did today, from the website.

This one is on the home page:

Scroll down and you'll see this one. Note the "Last updated" timestamp:

Clicking through the image above you'll go to the page that has these options:

What will be on the website between now and September 17th? If you click through those options you'll see many photos of Native statements declaring our presence and about Indian Land. Will those be painted over? Covered up? Or will a court pause these actions? We'll see.   

Why I am not recommending children's books by Thomas King

Why I am no longer recommending books by Thomas King? Because I am no longer confident that he is Cherokee. 

When I was teaching at the University of Illinois (as a grad student, a post doc, and then an assistant professor from mid 1990s to 2010), I assigned "Borders" -- one of his short stories. It came out in 1993. It isn't written for children but was recently published as a graphic novel for young readers. Borders is about a twelve-year-old boy and his mother and their attempt to cross the Canadian border to visit his sister who was living in Salt Lake City, Utah. When they pull up to the booth and the border guard asks his mother about her citizenship, she says "Blackfoot." He asks "Canadian?" and she replies "Blackfoot." He asks again and the same thing happens. He asks them to wait and another guard comes out and asks if she's Canadian or American-side Blackfoot. She still replies, "Blackfoot." 

The story introduces the fact that Native peoples state their nationhood as being whatever tribal nation they are from, and how that can play out when crossing a border. When I taught that story, I believed he was Cherokee.  

Since the year that I taught that story, I learned that Thomas King's claim to being Cherokee is much-discussed within Native networks. As far as I know, he never said the name of a specific Cherokee Nation (there are three with federal recognition in the US). Today, I'd look for statements he made about his identity and I'd look for other sources that confirm his claim. Until I feel confident in what I find, I will not recommend his books. 

Not Recommended: Gooney Bird and the Room Mother, by Lois Lowry

Gooney Bird Greene by Lois Lowry came out in 2002. In 2005, Gooney Bird and the Room Mother came out and there are a few more Gooney Bird books since then. Of course, Lowry has written many books -- several of which have won major book awards. 

Published by Houghton Mifflin in 2005, I'm disappointed that nobody involved in the creation of Gooney Bird and the Room Mother noted the problems I see. And, I'm disappointed in the starred review from Kirkus. Their reviewer described it as a "winning, tongue-in-cheek outing." School Library Journal said the illustrations highlight key moments in the story, but four of the 10 illustrations show kids stereotypically dressed up as Pilgrims and Indians. Why didn't they note that problem?

I didn't know about the Gooney Bird books until recently when a reader wrote to ask me about Gooney Bird and the Room Mother. Here's the description:

Gooney Bird Greene likes to be right smack in the middle of everything. That's why she wants to have the lead role of Squanto in her class Thanksgiving pageant. But that role will go to whoever finds someone to be the room mother. All the parents are so busy, no one can bring cupcakes to the play. Gooney Bird Greene to the rescue! She finds a room mother alright, but promises not to tell who it is until the day of the play. Now the kids are really busy getting ready for the show. But will the mystery room mother really show up?

Thanksgiving events in schools are disturbing because they introduce (or affirm) a feel-good story that glosses the truth of what happened. Reading reviews at Goodreads, I see two that note the problems I saw. Walton says that "History is totally whitewashed in appalling ways." Cindy says that she was uncomfortable with the dressing up part and that the book went from uncomfortable to "downright inappropriate" in its depiction of Squanto as a "very, very helpful guy." She notes that the book briefly references the fact that Squanto was forcibly taken to Spain and sold as a slave but that the general narrative of him is about choices he made to go here and there. Surely Houghton Mifflin could make sure their staff includes people like Walton and Cindy who could help the publishing house and the author, too, step away from feel-good stories that mis-educate children. 

Without hesitation, I am giving it a 'Not Recommended' label:

Several years ago I wrote an article for Journal of Language and Literacy Education. In it I analyzed Anne Rockwell's Thanksgiving Day and did a lot of historical research about Thanksgiving that I am using as I read through Lowry's book. Below, description is in plain text and my comments are in italics:

In chapter 2, Gooney Bird tells her teacher, Mrs. Pidgeon, that she wants to color Squanto's feather on the mural the class is working on. On page 10, we read that she's coloring one of his feathers blue. On page 13, she's coloring one red. 

Debbie's comments: Did the man commonly known as Squanto wear feathers? And if he did, what did they look like? Did he wear them all the time? Were some red and some blue? The man's name was Tisquantum, not Squanto. His correct name has been known for so long. Why do children's books continue to use Squanto? 

In chapter 4, the teacher tells them the mural is coming along well and that they also have to learn a song, make costumes, and select a cast of characters for the pageant. They need Pilgrims and Native Americans.  Gooney Bird wants to be Squanto. Children have begun working on their costumes, as shown by the illustration of them singing the song:

Debbie's comments: That illustration with kids in those hats and headbands appears four times in the book. I see that in many children's books and in many photos teachers share of their own classroom activities around the holiday. Lowry's book joins the pile of educationally bad children's books that get circulated in society. It miseducates every child who learns this is ok.

The pageant would be more educational if it was tribally specific. By that, I mean that instructional materials about the Pilgrims need to use the name of the tribal nation--Wampanoag--rather than generic labels like Native American. I'd also want to see more facts than are likely to be included in pageants. However, my guess is once the facts are included, any "fun" in a pageant disappears. If a fuller understanding leads teachers to reject books like this one, or to stop doing these activities, that's a huge plus for children they teach!

Here's the song lyrics, sung to the tune of Jingle Bells:

Succotash, succotash, lima beans and corn. Thank you, noble Squanto, you may set the platter down.

Debbie's comments: I think the idea is to show gratitude to Native peoples -- Tisquantum in particular -- for help in learning how to plant and grow vegetables but why is he characterized as noble? 

On page 32 the class works on their costumes. Their teacher tells them that the Pilgrims didn't decorate their clothing but Native Americans did. Students making headbands glue beads onto them and will also add a feather. Chelsea says "I wish I could be a Native American" because she hates her plain Pilgrim hat. There's a conversation about Pilgrims being brave, crossing the ocean. 

Debbie's comments: This pervasive activity -- Native people in feathered headbands and Pilgrims in hats with buckles is inaccurate. The idea that Pilgrims wore black and white clothing and buckles on their hats and shoes is not accurate. The Mayflower History page (and other sources, too), tell us that is a stereotype.  

Many people in the US wish they could be Native. They may have a romantic idea of what it means but that idea is often missing the difficulties Native people endured and endure as we fight for our rights, homelands, religious sites, return of artifacts and so on. There's a growing body of writing about people who go from wishing to claiming a Native identity. I've been compiling a log that you may want to visit. 

On page 34, Mrs. Pidgeon asks Gooney Bird if she has been working on Squanto's dance. On the piano she plays some low notes in a repetitive way and tells Gooney Bird to pretend it is a drumbeat that Squanto should keep time to, and maybe doing some "rhythmic foot-hopping, too." 

Debbie's comments: I can almost hear (in my imagination) the low notes Mrs. Pidgeon is playing. They're the sort of thing you hear in so many movies and TV shows and on sports fields where the team has a stereotypical mascot. It is kind of a BOOM boom boom boom, BOOM boom boom boom in a minor tone. If you listen to Native music done by Native drummers, do you hear that sort of thing? I don't. Take a few minutes to watch this video from the Museum of Indian Culture in New Mexico. In it, you will see how pueblo drums are made. There's a segment where a group of children is playing the drums they've made, and in the background of some of the narration, you can hear drumming. Music across Native Nations is different, of course, and I don't know all of it but I don't hear it in pow wow drumming or any other ceremonies of other nations that I've been to. I'll look for an example of Wampanoag drumming and add it when I find one.

In chapter 6 on page 36, Gooney Bird is wearing a hat with a feather in it. Mrs. Pidgeon asks why she doesn't have a headband. Here's their conversation:  

"I decided Squanto should have a better hat than the other Native Americans, because he's been to England, remember?"

"Well, yes, he did travel there. But that's a top hat, Gooney Bird. Something an ambassador might wear. I don't think---"

"I think Squanto brought it back from England. He probably went shopping and bought a lot of new clothes there. People always buy new clothes when they travel." 

Debbie's comments: Yikes! Granted, the character is a little girl but that character was created by an adult and looked over by editors at the publishing house... it is disappointing that nobody hit the pause button on the idea of Tisquantum shopping in England as if he is a modern day tourist!

On page 38, Gooney Bird began testing some dance steps and says that she thinks Squanto probably learned the tango in England. 

Debbie's comments: Again, how did this get by editors?! I'd have flagged the idea of a kidnapped individual learning the tango (as if he is a modern day tourist) as being ridiculous but I'd also have looked up the tango. When was it invented? The answer: in the 18th century. When was Tisquantum there? Centuries before that! 

Beyond that, it is important to know that Native dance is not performance or entertainment. Much of it is associated with a spiritual or religious ceremony. Teachers would not reenact something they see in a church or temple or place of worship... and it should not happen with Native dance either. Far too many writers misrepresent it in books they write. 

Near the end of chapter 8, Mrs. Pidgeon worries that the costumes and song are slapdash and ill-fitting. The students tell her all the things they've learned in her classroom and she cheers up and says:

"I'm sorry that I was depressed for a minute. It's just that the story of the first Thanksgiving is such a truly wonderful story, about becoming friends, and helping one another, and being thankful. I wish I could have presented it better, instead of writing a dumb song about succotash."

Debbie's comments: These pageants are not a wonderful story! Especially for Native children. Native parents have been asking teachers to reconsider them for decades.  

Gooney Bird has an idea. The day of the pageant, their presentation opens with Gooney Bird as Squanto, entering the multipurpose room with a dance that is "a combination of shuffles, taps, and twirls, with an occasional pause for a hop" done to Mrs. Pidgeon playing rhythmic drumming sort of music on the piano. At the front of the room, she says:

I am not the actual Squanto. The real Squanto was a Patuxet Indian who was born in a village near where the Pilgrims would land, but when he was born they hadn't landed yet.

He learned to speak English from some early settlers. He helped them in many ways. He was a very helpful guy. 

When some of them went back to England, they invited him to go along. His mother didn't want him to.

But he went anyway. This was way back in the 1600s. Squanto is dead now. I am not the real Squanto. I am an imitation.  

Debbie's comments: See notes above regarding Native dance and rhythmic drumming. Regarding Tisquantum speaking English: none of my sources say he learned it from early settlers. He learned it when he was kidnapped and taken to England. They didn't "invite" him to go along. Later in her remarks, Gooney Bird says he was taken captive, but why didn't Lowry or her editors remove the invitation part here? And where did that bit about what his mother wanted come from? I've never seen that before but I can imagine teachers raising that part and asking "would your mom want you to go so far away." It makes me deeply uncomfortable. He wasn't a child when taken. Does that passage invite children to think of him as a child? 

She asks the principal to tell the audience what imitation means (she said "I am not the real Squanto. I am an imitation.") and then continues:

He traveled around for a while, being helpful because he was a helpful guy. He was an interpreter between the Americans and the Indians. 

Debbie's comments: "He traveled around the world" and "being helpful" invoke an image that does not reflect the truth. I urge teachers to read Chris Newell's If You Lived During the Plimoth Thanksgiving. Get a classroom set of the book and use it to critique Gooney Bird's remarks! Develop a lesson plan on how to critically analyze the ways the Thanksgiving story is presented! In his book, Newell tells us that Tisquantum and 20 other Patuxet Wampanoag people and seven Nausets were kidnapped by Thomas Hunt who took them to Spain to sell them as enslaved people. 

She asks a classmate to explain the word interpreter and then continues:

But suddenly--a bad ship captain tricked him into going onto his ship. It was a big scam. They made him a captive and took him to Spain. The captives all were sold as slaves. It made Squanto pretty mad. 

But he was indefatigable.

After a long time Squanto finally made his way home. He had been away for years. And when he finally got home, he found that his village was gone. His people had all died. He was the last of his tribe. 

It was very sad. But he became friends with the great chief Massasoit, and after a while he met the Pilgrims, who had just arrived. So he had some new friends and they hung out together. 

The Pilgrims' lives in America would have been a fiasco if good Indians like Squanto had not helped them.

Squanto had gotten lots of new clothes in England, and he had learned to dance.

The End.

Gooney Bird bowed, twirled in a circle, did a bit of hula, and then said:

"All of my story was absolutely true, except maybe the part about learning to dance, but I think he probably did."   

Debbie's comments: "He traveled around the world" and "being helpful" invoke an image that does not reflect the truth. I urge teachers to read Chris Newell's If You Lived During the Plimoth Thanksgiving. Get a classroom set of the book and use it to critique Gooney Bird's remarks! Develop a lesson plan on how to critically analyze the ways the Thanksgiving story is presented! 

Gooney Bird tells children some truth but overall there is a silver-lining way to her remarks. "It was very sad" is immediately displaced by "But he became friends..." And then "... new friends" and "hung out together" and "new clothes" and "learned to dance" -- all of that softens the truth. And note the "good Indians" characterization, too. It implies there's bad Indians. Who were they, and what did they do that readers are meant to think of as "bad"? 

 

Indigenous Food Knowledge in 2 New Books

 

Dad, Is It Time to Gather Mint? Celebrating the Seasons

Written by Tyna Legault Taylor (Attawapiskat First Nation)

Illustrated by Michelle Dao (Vietnamese Canadian)

Published in 2025

Published by Portage and Main (Highwater Press)

Reviewer: Jean Mendoza

Review Status: Highly Recommended

b

laget hiyt toxwum/Herring to Huckleberries

Written by ošil Betty Wilson (Tla'anim)

Illustrated by Prashant Miranda (not Native)

Published in 2025

Published by Portage and Main (Highwater Press)

Reviewer: Jean Mendoza

Review Status: Highly Recommended 

Are you a teacher who has used a curriculum about Native Americans? Debbie has started analyzing one on AICL. Take a look! Her comments can help you think critically about whatever curriculum you use. Her analysis got me thinking about a phrase I've seen in non-fiction books to describe Indigenous societies before colonization: "hunter-gatherer." It's used to differentiate between groups that mainly "lived off the land" and those that grew crops or kept animals. It's not usually explained very well.

As a kid, I pictured "hunter-gatherers" wandering in the woods hoping to come across something edible to collect or kill. It seemed like an exhausting life, always having to find the next meal. In my mind, people who grew gardens and row crops didn't need to go looking for food. (Though I figured they'd still pick huckleberries if they found some, because who wouldn't?)  Nothing in textbooks or children's literature I saw dismantled those mistaken ideas, and it's embarrassing how long it took me to replace them with a more accurate picture. 

That's one reason it's good to see two 2025 picture books from Portage and Main Press that give a clear, respectful sense of what's involved in collecting food from the land (and water) to feed families and the community. Observation, intergenerational knowledge, ingenuity, and hard work kept the people fed, and continue to do so today. 

Dad, Is It Time to Gather Mint? is for ages 5-9. The protagonist is a contemporary Native child, Joshua. Joshua learns from his dad about when, where, and how to find foods that have sustained his Omushkego Cree and Anishinaabe communities over time. Plants, fish, and mammals couldn't just be taken all year round. What Joshua likes most of all is picking mint so his mom can make mint iced tea, but he has to wait until summer for that. Meanwhile, he and his dad go on walks each season, and dad shows him what to look for. 

I like the way several two-page spreads show what Joshua learns, and what he does to help. Here are  pages about fall:

On the left, Dad explains the peoples' seasonal food sources. On the right, Joshua has hooked a white fish, one of the foods of fall.

The illustrations show his delighted engagement as he soaks in what Dad teaches him. But what he wants most of all is to be able to gather wild mint for tea. Spoiler alert: that day comes at last.

Herring to Huckleberries is suitable for slightly older children; I would think middle grades and up. It follows the experience of a girl from the Tla'amin Nation, one of the Coast Salish nations in what is currently known as British Columbia. In her author's note, Betty Wilson comments that the book shares her memories of growing up in the 1950s, when, during each season, she would go with her grandparents and other relatives to collect foods that would sustain them all year. 

Throughout the book, text and pictures give a sense of how large the gathering operations could be, and how much knowledge was involved. Yes, the people caught herring when the fish showed up in the bay -- and they used a specially-designed rake. They also sank cedar branches in the water so the herring would lay eggs on them. They then gathered the branches full of eggs, peeled the eggs off to eat fresh, or hung the full branches up on drying racks so the eggs would dry, to be used later. They dried the whole fish, too. 

Children reading these two books will never be burdened with the inadequate ideas I had about what it means to "hunt and gather"! Both Dad and Herring emphasize the science, community effort, and complexity of the knowledge involved. Dad features a map of the region where Joshua's family lives, and a recipe for mint tea. The back matter of Herring includes an eagle's-eye-view map of the Tla'amin homelands, and detailed descriptions of 12 of their important traditional foods.

I also love that both books integrate specific Indigenous languages of the protagonists. In Dad, selected words in Anishinaabemowin and Omushkegomowin are part of the text, with English equivalents in the margins. Herring is a dual language book; the story is told in the author's native Ayahjutham and English on the same 2-page spreads, like this:

Some young readers will be intrigued to see that the orthography of Ayahjutham is very different from English. Here's how the name of that language is written:

At AICL, we're strong believers that Native children benefit from knowledge about their Indigenous language, and that all children benefit from knowing about languages other than what they speak at home! Both Dad and Herring support this by providing vocabulary lists and pronunciation guides in the back matter. 

And teacher guides for both books are available from Portage and Main.

There are so many opportunities for conversations with children here, whether they're Native or not. Younger kids may be very surprised that not everybody has gotten their food from Safeway or Jewel. They may want to talk about foods they would be willing to work for, as Joshua and ošil do. What do they notice about the variety of foods shown in the books -- does it create a balanced diet? Do they or any of their family members fish, hunt, trap, or collect wild foods like mushrooms or berries? Is the activity random, or does a person have to "know what they're doing" in order to have success? What's it like for them -- do they enjoy it, or feel like part of something important? Is it even possible to find wild foods where they live now? How could they find out what wild food resources would have been available in their area 70 years ago, or longer? Betty Wilson comments that many of the foods her community gathered in the 1950s are no longer available. What might have happened to those foods? 

Food sovereignty is an increasingly important topic for Native people. High schoolers may know that the US government officials provided or withheld food to keep Native communities "in line". They may have heard that settlers' foods, heavy on sugar and carbohydrates, have created health problems that Native Nations now deal with. Food sovereignty addresses those issues, and more. Picture books like Dad, Is It Time to Gather Mint and Herring to Huckleberries can help older kids explore the historical and cultural significance of communities being able to think critically about diet and supply themselves with food. 

Dad, Is It Time to Gather Mint and Herring to Huckleberries are strongly recommended! They can be important additions to a curriculum about Native Americans, and useful in teaching about the relationships between human well-being and the foods we eat.  

Notes on Core Knowledge's Language Arts Unit 8 Activity Book on Native Americans

A few teachers have written to ask me about the Native Americans unit in Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) for grade 5. For them and others interested, I've downloaded it and will make notes here as I go through it (if you see a confusing note, let me know! These are rough notes. If they don't make sense, tell me and I'll try again). I'll date each entry. The file is 280 pages long. You'll see that I'm including a SUGGESTION section here and there. 

May 6, 2025  

Let's start by looking at the cover. As you see, I've placed red question marks on it to indicate my concerns: 

First thought? Why did the publishers use a sepia-toned photo? Images like that suggest we are a people of the past. I don't know how many districts in the US use this curriculum but research studies show that state standards fail to show us as people of the present day. See, for example, "Manifesting Destiny" by Shear, Knowles, Soden and Castro. It was a major study that got a lot of press when it came out in 2015. If the photo on the cover is indicative of the materials in this curriculum, that's definitely a problem.  

SUGGESTION: Develop a critical literacy unit on analyzing photos of Native peoples. Note and compare time periods depicted, color versus black/white, and photographers. I'm guessing the photo on the cover is one taken by Edward S. Curtis. There's more and more articles available that let readers know that he (and other photographers) manipulated photos to convey a romantic image. Here's one example of what he did. On left is the original. See the clock between the two men? It isn't in the photo on the right. For more information, see Edward S. Curtis: Romance vs. Reality. 

Scrolling down to see the opening pages, I find a 2014 copyright year which is a year before Shear's study. Over ten years have passed which is plenty of time to have revised the activity book. 

Page 1: "Native Americans by Region" starts by asking students to "Write the name of the region in which each Native American tribe, or group, lived." 

The instruction does not bode well! Note that it is in past tense ("lived"). I note, too, that it says "tribe" or "group." In fact, the best word for us is nations. We were nations before the US was a nation. Early Europeans recognized us as nations. Their leaders and leaders of Native Nations entered into diplomatic negotiations. The outcome? Treaties. You read about them in school but the key fact that they're the outcome of diplomacy doesn't get enough attention. If teaching materials highlighted that fact, we'd see nation rather than tribe in materials like this activity book. 

After that instruction, there are two pages that consist of a paragraph of information. Above each paragraph is a blank line. Students are supposed to write down a "tribe" or "group" name on that line. Reading through the paragraphs, I see that each one is written as if the people being described no longer exist. All the verbs are past tense. I don't have the curriculum the activity book is referring to, but I can tell from the content that the first paragraph is meant to be about a Plains Nation. Some of the sentences will seem fine to readers who have been taught to think of us as people of the past. People who notice? Native people and critical thinkers! The last sentence in the first paragraph says that homes "were made out of animal hides and were called tepees." If we change the verb tense, you'll see a huge difference. "are made out of animal hides and are called tipis." See the difference? 

The second paragraph is about Pueblo people but verbs throughout are past tense. I'll list them: lived, lived, grew, provided, lived, learned, built, learned, wove, coated, baked, used, planted, used. The facts? We still live in that region with, and trees still grow there. We still use them to build with. We still farm with small water supplies. We still build homes out of clay bricks and stone. We don't plant cotton to make clothing -- we buy our clothing just like most people do! We still weave baskets. 

The third and fourth paragraphs are on page two and like the ones on page one, they use past tense verbs. 

I'm going to pause note-taking/sharing for now. 

SUGGESTION: If your school uses this curriculum, how about you do a critical literacy lesson on verb tense? I'd love to see students doing edits to these two pages! And photos of these edits could be sent to the publisher. I was going to suggest putting them on social media but that's risky, these days. Send them to me! I'll share them. 

Highly Recommended! FIERCE AUNTIES! by Laurel Goodluck and Steph Littlebird

Fierce Aunties!

Written by Laurel Goodluck (Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara)

Illustrated by Steph Littlebird (member of Oregon’s Grand Ronde Confederated Tribes)

Published in 2024

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Reviewer: Debbie Reese

Review Status: Highly Recommended

****

As I look at the dust jacket cover of Fierce Aunties! I recognize the vibrant joy of Native women. Their joy infuses Native communities, on or off reservations. That joy is in the lines that radiate from the people Goodluck and Littlebird are introducing to readers, and it is in their faces, too. Did you notice their clothing and hats? I love that -- visually -- the author and illustrator are saying LOOK! Native people are in the present day!  

When I slip the dust jacket off and look at the book's cover, I see a girl and a woman -- perhaps her mother -- in traditional regalia. Many of us have clothing we wear for our ceremonies and celebrations. The two are shown at a part of a dance where their arms are raised and the fringes on their shawls are caught by the energy of their motions. It is better if I show you: 

Those two images tell readers we're joyful people of the present day who are doing the sorts of things that our ancestors did, for generations. For a Native kid who rarely sees images like these in their school books, this is powerful stuff! 

Turning to the first page of the story, we see a modern day kitchen. On the left side of the page is a mother and father and baby, standing at the stove as the father stirs something he's cooking. On the right is a little girl looking over at them, hands grasping her head to signify her frustration. The words on that page tell us her parents are busy but that there are "somebodies" she can count on... of course, it is fierce aunties. 

Some of her Fierce Aunties are there, in her community. She does things with them. The one in the ball cap is shown helping her ride a bike. The others we met on the cover are Fierce Aunties who garden, attend and speak at protests, tell stories, make frybread, and coach sports teams. I gotta say I especially like the image of the pregnant auntie:

On one page, we read that the arms of Fierce Aunties "... are like the strong branches of a family tree, holding you up. They stand tall with feistiness and flair so you stretch up to meet them." With her art, Littlebird shows us three women. One is Deb Haaland. She's the first Native person to serve on the cabinet for a US President (she was the Secretary of the Department of the Interior during President Biden's administration). Haaland is from Laguna Pueblo. I'm from Nambé Pueblo. Obviously, I'm psyched to see that page (it is also what we see on the back cover):

If you're a parent or grandparent--or Auntie!--of a Native child, get this book for them! I'm delighted it is in our home. If you're a teacher or librarian, get it for all the children you work with. Everyone should see Native women and children in the books they read. This one is a must-have. 

Notes about proposed Netflix show, Little House on the Prairie

Some time back I read that Netflix was going to do a reboot of Little House on the Prairie. I groaned. I'm going to use this page to keep track of what I see. 

April 10, 2025:

Most recently I saw this casting call: 

It tells us there's a character named Good Eagle. His mom is named White Sun. She is apparently a citizen of the Osage Nation. His dad is named Mitchell. Mitchell is white and Osage, and he's also a citizen of the Osage Nation. He went to the "Osage Mission" when he was a child. He loves books and speaks English. He built "the most impressive homestead" in a county in Kansas. He wants peace with the settlers. His wife, White Sun, is "more cynical about the white settlers" than her husband is. 

My thoughts: Do they have an Osage consultant working with them? Who chose "Good Eagle" and "White Sun" for those two characters? "Good Eagle" in particular strikes me as odd. Does it suggest there could be a family somewhere that would name their child "Bad Eagle"? Maybe I'm being unnecessarily snarky there, but that's what I feel towards the Little House everythings (books, merchandise, television show...).  As for Mitchell, I guess that's the name he got at the mission school and that's what he's going by now as a successful farmer. That's all from me, for now. 

 

Highly Recommended: WE WEAVE by Daniel W. Vandever and Deonoveigh Mitchell

We Weave

Written by Daniel W. Vandever (Diné)

Illustrated by Deonoveigh Mitchell (Diné)

Published in 2024

Publisher: South of Sunrise Creative

Reviewer: Debbie Reese

Review Status: Highly Recommended

****

Why am I so pleased with this book? It hits all the key points in books I recommend:

• Native author
• Native illustrator
• Set in present day
• Tribally specific content
• Includes Native language(s)

But there's more to say! As I write, it is baseball season so I'll use a baseball phrase: It's a home run! We Weave is a home run. Vandever and Mitchell hit a homer! 

Earlier today a friend was telling me about the Native information her child is getting in school. It sounds like the school they go to is not hesitating to teach middle school children about boarding schools. That's a topic that we ought to see in all educational materials about Native people. I wonder, though, if my friend's school is also making sure children learn that we're still here and that we use technology much like the devices they themselves use? A cell phone features prominently in We Weave. I also recommend you read Laurel Goodluck's picture book, Forever Cousins. In it, two cousins use their phones to stay in touch.

We Weave is one of many picture books that can help with that teaching. (Note here that I encourage everyone to read picture books by Native writers and illustrators, no matter how old you or your child are! Mostly likely, none of the content you received in school depicted us as people of the past and fails to show us as people of the present day who know who we are as citizens or tribal members of our specific, unique nations.)

Let's start by looking at the cover. That's a grandmother sitting at a loom. She's gazing at a child who is holding a phone. See the emoji's above the phone? Nice touch! Those are first impressions but look closer. See the child's hairstyle? And moccasins, and the loom the grandmother is weaving on? These are most definitely specific to the Diné people. 

As you open the book you see the dedication page that says, in part, "be proud of who you are, where you're from, and where you're going." Many parents say that to their children but that dedication includes words in Diné. Beneath the dedication are three terms you'll see as you read the book. Masaní (Grandmother), Shiyázhí (My Little One), and Dzil Yáázh (Little Mountain). 

The story begins with Masaní reading a letter that says school is going virtual. How many of you got letters like that when the pandemic took over? Shiyázhí replies that he doesn't have a computer. All he has is a phone. He's sitting on the couch. Above/behind him are photographs on the wall of someone who was (or is) in the service. In Native homes across the country you'll find framed photos like those. Native people serve in the US armed service at a high rate. Including those photos behind Shiyázhí is an especially nice touch that reflects reality. 

His grandmother replies "We weave to get what we need" and that kicks off the story Vandever and Mitchell give us. Masaní describes all the steps she goes through to weave. She intends to sell the rug to get enough money to buy a computer. Shiyázhí uses his phone to document what they do. 

The grandmother is weaving a rug, and her grandson is weaving a story!

As they near the first day of school, she's disappointed. She hasn't finished in time to actually sell the rug herself and thinks they can't buy a computer, but her grandson has used his weaving to sell her rug. His weaving is videos of all she did to make the rug--and his weaving went viral. Together they have worked to get the computer. Together, they've been weaving. Hence, the 'we' in We Weave. 

I really like this book! It was on AICL's 2024 year-end list but I ran out of time to post a review in 2024. As always, I recommend you flip to the Author's Note to learn from Vandever. He tells us things most textbooks do not. And he provides a "Caution with Technology" note, too. As more children use phones, the adults in their lives can clamp down in punitive ways, and/or they can teach them about online safety. I'm glad to see Vandever's note. 

Get a copy of We Weave and ask for it at your library!  

Highly Recommended: Yáadilá! Good Grief! More to say about this wonderful book!

Back in January, I did a first-look 'highly recommended' post about Yáadilá!: Good Grief! I heaped praise on the way Laurel Goodluck and Jonathan Nelson presented the story. At the end of that post, I said I'd be back with more to say. So here we go! 

In that post, I was especially taken with "Helpful Narrator" -- a character that proclaims on the first very page -- that it will teach readers how to yáadilá using body language. Here's my photo of the first page:

 

See what I mean? Anytime you have felt frustrated, you may have crossed your arms, or put your hands on your hips, or shook your head, rolled your eyes, sighed, or shrugged your soldiers. All of those gestures are the embodiment of frustration. Helpful Narrator tells us how we can use our body to communicate that sense of yáadilá, or good grief. On the facing page, Helpful Narrator goes on to tell you how to say the word. Meanwhile, a significant character in the book comments on Helpful Narrator! I love every bit of this!

In Yáadilá!, that red box is an unseen but very present voice in the book. Why am I going on about this, you may wonder. Because I haven't seen anything like this before. Have you?

Goodluck and Nelson are reaching across a knowledge gap to help you, the person getting ready to read this book aloud, who probably doesn't know any Diné words. Many times when I recommend a Native-authored book, I ask you to flip to the back and read the author's note. The information Native writers share with you is vital. Most schools and universities don't teach what you find in those notes. But with this technique -- Helpful Narrator -- we see a new iteration of an author's note. And its a delight! 

Get the book and see what I mean. Here's the image I used with my first look. Highly recommended! 

Yáadilá! Good Grief! 

Written by Laurel Goodluck (Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara)

Illustrated by Jonathan Nelson (Diné)

Published in 2025

Publisher: Heartdrum (HarperCollins)

Reviewer: Debbie Reese

Review Status: Highly Recommended

2024 American Indian Literature Award Medal Acceptance: Jonathan Nelson

Editors Note: On January 25, 2025, the American Indian Library Association (AILA) held its Youth Literature Award Ceremony in Phoenix. I am pleased to share the remarks Jonathan Nelson delivered when he received the American Indian Youth Literature Award in the picture book category for Forever Cousins. 

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AIYLA Medal Acceptance Remarks

Jonathan Nelson

Ya'at'eeh! Shi ei yinishye. Kiyaa'aanii doo Naakai dine'e baschichiin. Hooghan lani da shicheii doo Táchii’nii da shinali.

Hello. My name is Jonathan Nelson. I am of the Towering House clan, born for the Mexican clan. My maternal grandparents are of the Many Hogans clan and my paternal grandparents are of the Red-Running-Into-The-Water clan.

I’m grateful and honored to be here with you all and among the creators listed on the agenda for the American Indian Youth Literature Awards.

I’ve been awarded 2 awards and, yes, I was curious about giving the same speech twice. Thanks to Charlesbridge and Laurie Goodluck to share my talents on Forever Cousins. I also want to thank Heartdrum, an imprint of HarperCollins, and Kim Rogers for giving me the opportunity to collaborate on A Letter for Bob.

It’s been awhile since I’ve been back to Phoenix, the homelands of the of the Akimel O'odham (Pima), Piipaash (Maricopa), and Yavapai people. It’s great to see some of them here along with everyone else and these heavy hitters. I'm grateful and honored to be sharing this space and time with you.

In sharing my process I’d like to share some work I did back in 2009. I painted a series of six vinyl records I labeled Ewe-volution. You as in sheep. Get it? It’s a story about a mother and her son, a ram. The mother is the first to ever realize that she's a being, a person.

Her son begins to grow and he doesn't have to think about his own existence. He knows who he is and he has aspirations and goals. You can see how he grows. It relates with how I’ve gone through life and how the younger generations perceive education.

I got my start in art as a young kid drawing Garfield, Snoopy, then Spiderman, Hulk, and Batman. In high school, I began painting. Today, I work as a graphic artist, web designer, and illustrator.

In 2001, I had just met, my partner, Dr. Christine Nelson in Scottsdale and began dating. All the way from the Rez, she’s from Farmington and I’m from Hogback. I was working as a skycap at Sky Harbor and 9/11 happened and everything came to a halt. I needed to find work right away. We looked at different options and suggested I go back to school. We toured Al Collins Graphic Design School in Tempe and that’s where I got my start in graphic design and illustration. I didn't know I could do that with my art as I finished high school.

So, Dr. Chris and I have a 14-year-old son, Olin. He’s back in Denver and couldn’t be with us. So, he is kind of like the ram along with the younger generations we’re watching grow. He’s been seeing and hearing our work since he was a baby. Dr. Nelson with her research and writing contributions to papers, journals, and books. He’s watched me paint, sketch, and draw on canvas and iPad. He’s been with us on work trips to conferences and comic book conventions where we’ve presented and showcased. He hears about our research, projects, and discussions on higher education, career, and activist art among other topics in our fields.

I’m grateful to work with these authors, designers, and educators, and, more so, within various Indigenous communities, companies, and student organizations. Olin and the youth are seeing us do this work. We’re giving them pathways they could follow, something to shoot for. I illustrate that in my books. Olin, and my nieces and nephews, the youth, can see themselves in these books. I draw these characters for my wife, my son, my nieces and nephews, grandmas and grandpas and so on and so forth. I hope you can also see them for yourselves and your communities.

Thanks to Charlesbridge and Heartdrum & HarperCollins. Thanks to my agent, Nicole Gieger at Full Circle Literary. And thanks to American Indian Youth Literature Awards for these honors and inviting me here for this ceremony.

2024 American Indian Literature Award Medal Acceptance: Laurel Goodluck

Editors Note: On January 25, 2025, the American Indian Library Association (AILA) held its Youth Literature Award Ceremony in Phoenix. I am pleased to share the remarks Laurel Goodluck delivered when she received the American Indian Youth Literature Award in the picture book category for Forever Cousins. 

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Naomi Bishop (left) presenting Laurel Goodluck (right) with award for Forever Cousins

AIYLA Medal Acceptance Remarks

Laurel Goodluck

Greetings,

Dosha – Hello, friends. It’s wonderful to be spending the morning with you all. Writing a book for children is a privilege, a responsibility, and a lot of fun.

BUT…

I wasn’t one of those kids who said I wanted to be a writer, but I grew up with oral storytelling.

• My storytelling journey began with my family around the kitchen table in the SF Bay Area in California on weekends with my parents, uncles, aunties, grandmas, and cousins. The grown-ups told us stories of their adventures as children growing up in our homelands in North Dakota and Alaska. Stories of brown bears, gathering cedar bark, their father singing lullabies in Hidatsa and playing Stardust on the Sax, and trading horses for bikes with the town kids in Elbowoods.
• As cousins, these stories were adventures that we wanted to live up to. So, when we ventured home to North Dakota each summer, we were determined to have similar escapades and did. We jumped off logs in the lake, and when wild ponies wandered on our farm, we corralled them and played rodeo; we found rattlesnakes in the garden, and in solemn moments, we gathered around the tipi rings dotting the land and imagined our ancestors’ lives on the prairie.
• But the stories that were told around the kitchen table that later informed all of us cousins as adults were the stories about our chiefs and my grandfather, who was tribal chairman of Fort Berthold. My grandfather, Martin Old Dog Cross, bravely fought against the government to stop the Garrison Dam, which eventually flooded our ancestral lands. Martin would meet with Senators in Washington DC and proclaim, “There is no price for our land.”
• With this legacy of leadership through oral storytelling, I learned that these powerful stories offered keys to resilience. So, with a career in education and mental health and near retirement, I decided to write for children. I wanted to provide all the kids with what my family offered me through oral storytelling.

It began with FOREVER COUSINS.

• It is a story of my family and many families who experienced the Indian Relocation Act. Who knew a picture book format could offer all of this? I didn’t initially; this was my first attempt at a picture book. I soon discovered I could tell a universal story of love and friendship between cousins with all the beauty of our Native culture sprinkled through the story as organically as we live. And the back matter, the author’s note could express my need to tell the untold history and tribal and native cultural relevance. It also began with a lovely team of allies.
• I found Debbie Reese on social media. I Instant Messaged her and asked her many questions. She directed me to Tracy Sorell, who spent over an hour on the phone with me, passing on her wisdom. Later, Traci and I were paired together as mentors and mentees through WNDB (We Need Diverse Books), and everything began to change. 
• Tracy introduced me to freelance editor Karen Boss, who was patient and professional and helped me edit Forever Cousins. Then she said, “I don’t say this to everyone; I’d like you to submit this to Charlesbridge.”
• At the same time, I met Nicole Geiger, agent extraordinaire with Full Circle Literary Agency. I knew I wanted to be with this agency, which supported diverse creatives in children’s literature for decades.
• My community expanded through the Kweli Children of Color Conference with Laura Pegram’s leadership, Native writing intensives sponsored by Heartdrum and WNDB with editor Rosemary Brosnan and Cynthia Leitich Smith, Highlights Native retreats with Tracy Sorell, and international online Native writing critique groups. We are a solid Native community of support and a soft nest to retreat to.

Closing

• So, Forever Cousins was created with this circle of support and belief. And with a talented illustrator, Jonathan Nelson, who made the beautiful, vibrant, and playful art. I will forever be grateful to these allies and the community we continue to grow and nurture with many unique tribal voices and needed stories.
• Thank you, American Indian Library Association, for this honor of best picture book, which I’m thrilled to share with Andrea Rogers and her brilliant story.
• And last, I thank my family, who offered stories that run as deep as the tipi rings still outlined on our prairie.

2024 American Indian Literature Award Medal Acceptance: Kim Rogers

Editors Note: On January 25, 2025, the American Indian Library Association (AILA) held its Youth Literature Award Ceremony in Phoenix. I am pleased to share the remarks Kim Rogers delivered when she received the American Indian Youth Literature Award in the picture book category for A Letter for Bob. 

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AIYLA Medal Acceptance Remarks

Kim Rogers

This is my first trip to Phoenix. It’s a wonderful reprieve from the freezing Oklahoma winter. Last week, during single digit temperatures, I was trying to thaw out our frozen shower with a portable space heater. Phoenix is a lot warmer, and I am grateful!

I am delighted to be here with you today to celebrate this special occasion in Native American Children's Literature. 

Thank you so much for that kind introduction and warm welcome. Thank you to the American Indian Youth Literature Award committee members. I am grateful for the work you do. Thank you to everyone who made this event possible.

I am honored to receive this recognition along with many brilliant creatives whose work I admire.

Congrats to Laurel Goodluck and Jonathan Nelson. I am honored to share this recognition with you both.

My love of stories began at a young age when my Wichita grandmother and aunties would sit around my grandma’s living room and tell stories. They had me mesmerized.

They talked about all kinds of things. And maybe some things I wasn’t supposed to hear. They told stories about the men they’d dated, the latest gossip in town, and ghost stories on our tribal lands. Listening to them made me feel grown up and a part of them—a strong circle of women. And believe me, I learned a lot from those stories as you might imagine! Wow!

From the time I could read, I’d be lost in books. And I recruited others too. In my bedroom, I would line up my stuffed animals and pretend that I was a school teacher and read them picture books. Then I started writing my own.

I’d even illustrate the pages. I would staple them together and read them to my stuffed animal friends too. Yes, they were all ears!

In first grade, I wrote my first poem. It was raining that day and it filled me with so much emotion. I had to get the words on the page. I wrote it on a worksheet and drew a picture of a girl under an umbrella. My teacher commented later that she liked my poem and that it touched her. That’s when I learned the power of words.

In fourth grade, our teacher gave us the assignment of writing stories from our spelling word list. She would often ask me to read mine in front of the class. She told me I would be a writer someday. I laughed because I thought that something so fun could not be a real job. I thought jobs had to be miserable.

I am thankful for those wonderful teachers who encouraged me and were my first writing cheerleaders. They are part of the reason I stand here before you today.

For a long time, I was hesitant to write from my Wichita perspective. I grew up during a time when it did not feel safe for me to do so. With the start of 2025, it feels like that all over again.

But our work is incredibly important. It’s essential for our Native youth to see themselves in books. We must push back against book bans and efforts to silence our voices. We must continue on and write our stories for the sake our children and future generations.

Thank you to my friend Cynthia Leitich Smith, author - curator of Heartdrum who is another cheerleader in my life. Years ago, she had reached out to me on social media encouraging me to write about my Wichita heritage when I was writing everything else but that. She helped me find the courage to share my voice.

Thank you to my friend and agent Tricia Lawrence. I appreciate everything that you do for me!

Thank you to my editor and friend Rosemary Brosnan who had planned to celebrate with us today but could not be here. Sending you well-wishes and hugs. Thank you for your kindness and believing in my stories. Your brilliant editing makes every manuscript shine.

Thank you to all the wonderful people at Heartdrum. I am thrilled that I get to work with each one of you.

Thank you to Jonathan Nelson for bringing A LETTER TO BOB to life. I love seeing the beauty, humor, and relationships that you created in the illustrations of Katie and her family. And of course Bob the car.

Thank you to my family for your love and support, even those who are with me in spirit. Mom, I miss you each and every day.

Thank you to our sons for the memories of the many vacations, car rides, and adventures that helped me write the scenes in A LETTER FOR BOB.

Thank you especially to my husband, the love of my life and my biggest supporter and ultimate cheerleader who continues to tell everyone how proud he is of his wife—even our dentist! And I'm honestly a little embarrassed.

Thank you to everyone who advocates for Natives stories including librarians and teachers. YOU are my heroes. 

I am so grateful to you all. So:ti:c?a. Thank you.