HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Andrea L. Rogers and Madelyn Goodnight's WHEN WE GATHER (OSTADAHLISIHA): A CHEROKEE TRIBAL FEAST

 

When We Gather (Ostadahlisiha): A Cherokee Tribal Feast 

Written by Andrea L. Rogers (Citizen of the Cherokee Nation)

Illustrated by Madelyn Goodnight (Citizen of the Chickasaw Nation)

Published by Heartdrum (HarperCollins)

Pub Year: 2024

Reviewer: Debbie Reese

Status: Highly Recommended

In professional development workshops that I do where I ask people to bring books with Native content, I look over what they've brought. Lots of old -- and not good -- nonfiction (series books and biographies) and fiction. I also see dreadful books by Paul Goble that look like they're Native, but they're not. A better way to describe them is "white man's Indian" which means a white imagining of Native life and culture. 

More and more, in recent years, I see that someone has brought in a terrific book. An example is Jenny Kay Dupuis's I Am Not A Number. A librarian bought that one in last week. Another had Lindstrom and Goade's We Are Water Protectors. And another had Christine Day's biography of Maria Tall Chief. Terrific, for me, is books by Native writers who are writings stories from their own nation(s) and family experiences (like Jenny's), or who give readers a Native point of view on someone who has significance to Native communities (like Christine's), or that are set in the present day (like Carole and Michaela's). 

Due out this week is another that I hope every library will add to their shelves. Of course, I'm talking about Andrea Rogers and Madelyn Goodnight's When We Gather (Ostadahlisiha): A Cherokee Tribal Feast.  

Some things I love:

On the first page we see a luscious green landscape. Why does that matter? When they think "Native" a lot of people imagine deserts or plains. A face: Native people were, and are, everywhere.  

In that lush landscape, a little girl is kneeling by a plant with slender leaves that rise up out of the grass. We'll come to know it is wild onions. The girl and her family set out harvesting them for a gathering at the community center where families have brought beans, grape dumplings stew, corn soup, and catfish for a wild onion dinner. 

I love seeing Native words in books! Just there, just part of the way it is. The clues are all there to know what Agilisi and Agiduda mean. And they're in a modern day house because, yeah, we are still here and it bugs us to have to say those words. Books like this one, though, help make that point. 

Flipping to the author's note, I read that Rogers visited Cherokee homelands in Georgia. She tells us about the forced removal of the Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole nations from the southeastern US. She also tells us about a special place: New Echota, their former capital.  I call attention to "capital" because Americans associate that word with a state, but many do not know that we were, and are, sovereign nations. Rogers used "nation" but using additional words like "capital" help readers get further down that path of knowing what Native sovereignty means. 

Any teacher or librarian that is doing something that is about family gatherings can add this book to that unit or program. And if you've got a way to do so, make some of the food you see in the book! Smith provides four recipes. Dig in! 

Highly Recommended! A LETTER FOR BOB by Kim Rogers, illustrated by Jonathan Nelson

A Letter for Bob

Written by Kim Rogers (Enrolled member of the Wichita Affiliated Tribes)

Illustrated by Jonathan Nelson (Diné)

Published in 2023

Publisher: Heartdrum

Reviewer: Debbie Reese

Review Status: Highly Recommended

****

Several years ago, I was invited to a first grade classroom to talk with the children about Native Americans. One child met me at the school door and was intent on scanning the parking lot. Then he said "Where's your horse?" I told him I had a car and pointed it out, in the parking lot. I don't remember what, if anything, we said after that but his question reflects what young children know--or think they know--about Native peoples. 

If that happened to me today, I'd say with enthusiasm, "You gotta read A Letter for Bob..." 

You (teacher, librarian, caregiver, professor...)... you gotta get copies of A Letter for Bob. Yes. I said "copies" because you can use it in your classrooms and libraries--and you can gift it to families like the one you meet in this picture book. It'll be out in September from Heartdrum.

I got an advanced copy yesterday and started to read it. But then I stopped. The way Kim Rogers wrote the book beckoned me to read it out loud! So, I did! To myself! With such joy! That's what a book can do when its characters and/or the story are like you and your life.   

And Jonathan Nelson's illustrations! There's so many details in them. Native kids, in particular, will love spotting things like "Skoden" on a truck's rear bumper. That truck is parked next to Bob at the Wichita Annual Dance. Bob's trunk is full of the family's regalia and things they need. I especially like that coat hanger on the open trunk lid. That's real. And it resonates, mightily! 

Through Katie's letter to Bob, we join her in remembering key moments in this Wichita family's life. The first Tiny Tots dance. Vacations. Road trips. Tender moments with grandparents and newborns. Bob getting them to baseball games or lacrosse games, and to the library. Most of the time, everyone is wearing the things most people wear: tennis shoes, jeans, t-shirts, and ball caps. And when they're at that Wichita Annual Dance, you see them in traditional regalia. In a couple of places, Katie uses her Wichita language. (When you use the book, take a look at the Glossary! And I encourage you to spend time on the website of the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, and on Kim Rogers' website and take a look at Jonathan Nelson's Instagram.) 

Katie's family is growing and they need a bigger car. It is a bittersweet ending, with Katie saying good-bye to Bob. But that, too, is real. The other bit that is plucking on my heart is Katie's dad. He reminds me of my dad (always in a ball cap), taking us places when I was a kid. In A Letter for Bob, there's a page where the family is at a place called Sliding Rock. Katie's dad goes into the water first and tells them "The water is just fine!" But it wasn't! It was cold! That could be my dad calling out "The water is just fine!" And us finding out it was icy! When the final copy is out, I'll be back to add some images. 

I adore this book with a completeness I didn't anticipate. I'll be sharing it at every workshop I do, with librarians, educators, teacher-educators... everyone. 

Recommended: A Day with Yayah

As a grandmother and longtime teacher of young children, I'm delighted to share my enthusiasm for A Day with Yayah, a 2018 Crocodile Books release by award-winning author Nicola I. Campbell (Interior Salish), illustrated by another award-winner, Julie Flett (Cree-Metis). 

A Day with Yayah is a visual feast for fans of Julie Flett’s art, which just seems to get more amazing all the time. Start with the cover, where a little girl in a yellow sweater gazes into the face of a silver-haired woman. Both are seated on the ground and surrounded by dark green grass, scattered flowers, and light blue sky.

Move to the endpapers with their seemingly simple, graceful plants and insects. One more page-turn and there’s a bright yellow warbler-type bird perched atop some tiny white flowers. On the facing page, the bird flies past the title. Turn the page again and it sits above the dedications. The facing page features another Indigenous child wearing red boots and a baseball-type cap, holding a yellow flower. One more page turn, and Nicola Campbell’s story begins as the little yellow bird looks on.

It’s springtime, and Nikki and her grandmother ("Yayah" in their Indigenous language) are tanning a hide. (They’re the pair on the cover.) Along come two kids from next door, eager for their lessons from Yayah. She has been teaching them to identify edible wild plants AND to speak their Indigenous language, Nłeʔkepmxcin. She’s about to go gathering, and the kids want to go along. Yayah packs them a lunch, phones their families, and soon they’re all piled into Auntie Karen’s red minivan along with some other family members -- heading for a place where many significant plants can be found.

Flett’s illustrations show readers what a beautiful day it is, and Campbell has Yayah teach the children “beautiful” in their language. Yayah talks with them about specific plants – how they grow, their uses, and what to avoid (like poison ivy).  She uses the English names, but also tells them what those things are called “in our language,” and helps them with their pronunciation (for example, one sound “is made at the back of your throat”). Campbell weaves this vocabulary into the story multiple times, and many of the words are also set apart from the main text on the pages where they first appear, so child readers who are learning the language have several chances to practice each one. 

The story ends as the sun begins to go down, and the children give the food they have gathered to their elders. On the next page is Campbell's author’s note about Nłeʔkepmxcin, which is spoken by the Interior Salish people of what is currently known as British Columbia. I can’t make the proper spellings of the words because my keyboard lacks a lot of the characters.

Facing the author’s note is a glossary/pronunciation guide to the words Yayah teaches in the story. On the final page before the end papers, that little yellow bird is back on the white flowers.  

This is probably the most beautiful “didactic” book I’ve ever encountered. Yes, it's meant for teaching, but it also conveys a particular way of teaching and learning -- grounded in solid, caring Indigenous family/community relationships, and in profound respect for children's need to interact closely with things that are worth investigating in their world. I think children will relate well to the characters' curiosity and eagerness to find out more about words and about the natural world. There's even some humor to further enrich the book-sharing experience.

Speakers of Nłeʔkepmxcin reading today's post -- can you recommend a good resource for non-Salish adults who want to read aloud using the Nłeʔkepmxcin words in A Day with Yayah? The glossary and Campbell's in-text clues are extremely helpful, but some teachers may still hesitate to share it because of concern that they will mispronounce. 

Of course, with help from the glossary, non-Salish readers can always simply substitute the English meanings as they read, and talk with the non-Salish children about the Nłeʔkepmxcin words without trying to say them. If they're fortunate enough to work with Salish families, one of the parents might be willing to do the reading. No matter what, it's essential for the teacher, parent, or librarian to model effective ways to encounter unfamiliar languages. Children who feel uncomfortable with "foreign" sounds and letters may giggle or mock. The adult's job is to show them how to meet the challenge of "not understanding" appropriately, with 
1) humility ("I don't know this way of communicating but I can learn about it.") 
2) respect ("This language is worth knowing more about it.") and 
3) curiosity ("Wonder how I can find out more about it? Wonder what it would feel like to know what people are saying in that language?"). 

So far I haven't found recorded read-alouds of this book online. We can hope there will be some good ones soon!

Campbell has Yayah and the children thank the Creator for what they find. This seems to be done in a general way, perhaps a bit like saying grace before a meal, and does not appear to involve ceremonial matters that shouldn't be shared outside their Indigenous community. In her dedication, Nicola Campbell honors Auntie "E.I." Ethel Isaacs for "our childhood memories of traditional food gathering." She also thanks a woman who has been a champion for preservation of Nłeʔkepmxcin.

A Day with Yayah has all the features of an #ownvoices effort, and it’s strongly recommended.

Alia Jones Reviews nipêhon/I Wait, by Caitlin Dale Nicholson and Leona Morin-Neilson

Eds note: AICL is pleased to share this review of nipêhon/I Wait. The review is by Alia Jones. Her blog is Read It Real Good. 

****

nipêhon/I Wait by Caitlin Dale Nicholson and Leona Morin-Neilson is a follow up to their 2008 book Niwechihaw/I Help. This time, instead of a little Cree boy following his grandmother to pick rosehips, we meet a little Cree girl out with her grandmother and mother to pick wild yarrow.

This story is simple and the words are few and powerful and sweet; Nôhkom (grandmother) does something, then her granddaughter follows suit and finally the girl’s mother follows along. Everyone is connected. The story begins with Nôhkom standing outside their motorhome, getting her tools and bags ready to head out for the day. The little girl and her mother wait. I love how the author breaks her storytelling format to add some humor; after they pray, Nôhkom picks yarrow and granddaughter picks yarrow...but mom? The illustrations show us that she takes a moment to softly blow a bunch of yarrow flowers and then they wait for her!

Caitlin Dale Nicholson’s acrylic illustrations are thoughtful and gorgeous. I love how they dominate the page, with the story’s text taking up only a small space at the bottom. Her illustrations bring the reader along with the family on a warm summer day, where the greens and yellows of the grasses are vibrant against the blue sky. I really like how we can see the canvas underneath the paint; I think it gives the illustrations a really nice raw charm.

Every block of text in the story, from the jacket flaps to the acknowledgements at the back of the book, are written first in romanized Cree (Y dialect), then in Cree syllabics and finally in English. Niwechihaw/I Help did not include Cree syllabics. The inclusion of syllabics in this book is wonderful; it’s great for Native and non-Native kids to see. It’s also an important addition for young (and old!) Cree language learners.

nipêhon/I Wait is a very pretty celebration of Cree womanhood, family and joy! The little girl learns traditional ways from her elders all while having fun on a beautiful summer day (there’s a cute puppy too!). There’s even a recipe in the back of the book for yarrow tea. While preparing to write this review, I did some research on yarrow and enjoyed some tea with my own mother. Here is some of what I learned about yarrow and I encourage you to learn about it too:

Yarrow (Wâpanewask) is a traditional medicine with many, many uses; it’s well known as women’s medicine and is good for cleaning the blood. The flowers can be dried then crushed into powder and used as trap bait for lynx or marten. It’s also used as a smudge to keep mosquitoes away. [1] The whole plant can be used from the  roots to the leaves; chewed roots help relieve muscle sprains or strains and the leaves, when placed on wounds, can stop bleeding. Yarrow tea treats headaches, fever, hemorrhoids, nausea, colds, influenza, and more. [2]


Thank you to author/illustrator Julie Flett for sharing with me a memory tied to sweetgrass and for the Cree and Métis resources she shared as well. I recommend watching this beautiful short film created by her cousin Shannon Letandre called Nganawendaanan Nde'ing (I keep them in my heart):

Like the family in nipêhon/I Wait, Shannon spends time with her family (her grandfather in particular) collecting traditional medicine (weekay). In the film, she reflects on how she keeps her culture, family and traditions with her though she no longer lives at home, on her family’s land.

I hope you’ll take time to enjoy the beautiful book nipêhon/I Wait, a cup of warm yarrow tea and the lovely short film Nganawendaanan Nde,'ing (I keep them in my heart).

[1] Sagow Pimachiwin Plants and Animals Used by Mikisew Cree First Nation for Food,
Medicine and Materials: Public Version (Winnipeg, MB: Centre for Indigenous
Environmental Resources), 58.

[2] Belcourt, Christi, Medicines to Help Us: Traditional Métis Plant Use (Saskatoon, SK:
Gabriel Dumont Institute, 2007), 65.

Julie Flett's WE ALL COUNT: A BOOK OF CREE NUMBERS

There's a new board book out by Cree Metis artist, Julie Flett, and like her other ones, it is a winner!

Like her previous works, We All Count: A Book of Cree Numbers is a bilingual board book. In this one, the numbers 1-10 are presented in English and Cree.

Flett's collage work is gorgeous. I love the quiet and bold colors she uses in her compositions. Here's the page for number 1. The text reads "One prairie dog perching."

And here's the page for number 10, where the text reads "Ten elk crossing." 

Flett's book is excellent for parents, teachers, or librarians to read to young children. Obviously, this is a counting book, so counting will happen, but the words!

Prairie dogs perching! Can you imagine showing the child you're reading to, how to perch like a prairie dog? On the page for number three, aunties are laughing. The joy on their faces is, well, joyful! Laugh along with them! Those owls on the cover? They're six owls spotting. It'd be great fun to pause on that page, and peer about, spotting things nearby.

I really like this book. I'm as joyful as those aunties! The pages in Flett's book provide a chance to do something that extends the reading itself, enriching what a young child knows about words and actions.

Though I'm sure Flett didn't have diversity in mind when she came up with the title, We All Count, the title and her book do a beautiful job of saying We--people who are Indigenous or who speak Cree--we count, too.

Your book is brilliant, Julie Flett! Kų́'daa! (That is 'thank you' in Tewa, my language.)

We All Count: A Book of Numbers is highly recommended. Written and illustrated by Julie Flett, it was published in 2014 by Native Northwest.

Creating a Library Atmosphere that Welcomes American Indians

Eds. Note: Updated on October 6, 2015.

Recently on LM-NET, a librarian asked what she can do to make her library's atmosphere culturally sensitive towards Native children. One way to think about doing this is to work to "indigenize your library."

The librarian poses an excellent question, especially right now, with November a few weeks away. November is usually designated as American Indian Month. I don't like the heritage months because I'd rather that children in all libraries and all grade levels and all classrooms be reading about American Indians all year long. Limiting it to, or emphasizing it only, in November--the month of Thanksgiving--automatically frames us in a past tense.

So! How to make the library more culturally sensitive towards Native children...  What makes anyone---generally speaking---feel comfortable in a place? Most people, I think, love reading books set in places they know. When their hometown is the setting of a book, it gives them a charge and a sense of pride, but only if the setting and characters accurately reflect their town. I don't mean positive reflections, I mean accurate ones. Every town has good and not-so-good qualities. When an author gets something wrong, people roll their eyes, and they don't feel like that author cares enough to get it right.

Let's think about a Native child coming in to your library.

How likely is it that the child (and her parents, if they read together) are going to find books that accurately reflect her specific tribal nation, or (more broadly speaking), American Indians?

Will that child be able to find Native authors on your shelves? If you're a regular reader of American Indians in Children's Literature, you know that I've got lists of recommended books.

Do you, at any time in the year, prominently feature books by Native authors? When you do a display about music, you could include the picture book biography of Robbie Robertson, and Eric Gansworth's MG/YA novel, in which the main character loves the Beatles and wants to go to a Paul McCartney concert in Toronto:

Do you have any posters that depict Native authors? Here's one from the ALA site (no longer available):

Here's another one, featuring Tim Tingle's Crossing Bok Chitto. Get it, and the bookmarks, too, from the ALA site (poster no longer available).

And here's another one that is sure to appeal to readers who like graphic novels and super heroes. The character shown is Super Indian, from the creative mind of Arigon Starr:

Some years ago, I visited a high school English class with primarily African American students. They were enthusiastic about books that accurately portrayed their history, but they were also experiencing a bit of fatigue and wanted some light-hearted books by African American writers. In the US, there's such a tendency to romanticize and lament the history of American Indians, but the fact that we're still here, that we persevered--and persevere--is important. We have many stories to tell, and not all of them are specifically about our Native experiences. Consider setting up a display that shows the range of writing done by Native authors.

For example, Cynthia Leitich Smith has a lot of terrific books. Some, like Jingle Dancer and Indian Shoes and Rain is Not My Indian Name feature Native protagonists, but introduce readers to her other books too.  Santa Knows , her picture book--written with her husband--Greg, is terrific!

And teens looking for gothic fantasy will love her Tantalize series: Here's a montage of them from her site:

Here's another suggestion: Do some research on your locale. Are you near a reservation? If not, what nations were in your locale prior to removal? Find out, and then see if you can find a wall clock with a Native language spoken there. The Indigenous Languages Institute in Santa Fe already has clocks available in several different languages. Here's one with Tewa (my language):

Along these lines, consider the READ posters created at the American Indian Resource Center at the Tulsa City Council Library. You can get a simple READ poster, with the word READ in several different languages:

Or, you can get one that features a person from a specific tribe and the word READ in their specific language: Here's the ones featuring Mvskoke and Ponca:

Aren't they gorgeous? You can download pdfs of them, and if you want ones with a higher resolution, you can write to Teresa Runnels to get them (that's what I would do).

Those are some suggestions on what you can do to make the library more visibly welcoming to Native patrons. The suggestions affirm the lives of Native peoples, but they also impart a lot of information to non-Native patrons who tend to romanticize Native peoples and who don't realize that a lot of what they "know" is inaccurate.

I'd love to hear your suggestions. What have you done? What have you seen elsewhere?

See Coming Up: Native American Month for more suggestions.

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Your suggestions:

Newspapers
Vicky in Maine recommends subscribing to Native newspapers. While serving as director in her library, she subscribed to Native American Times and had it amongst all the other newspapers her library subscribed to. That is an excellent idea, Vicky. I don't know if Native American Times offers a print copy any more. Here's a link to their site: Native American Times. You can definitely get a print subscription to Indian Country Today from the Indian Country Today Media Network (subscribe to paper copy using box on right side of page). There are a lot of tribal newspapers. If you're located near one of them, or if there is a significant population of that tribe in your area, consider subscribing to their newspaper. One example is the Navajo Hopi Observer. 

_____________________
Update, October 6, 2015

See this article and links in it: Indigenizing Library Services in Canada's Prairie and Pacific University Libraries.