Audio: THANKS TO THE ANIMALS by Allan Sockabasin

On January 2, 2007, I posted Beverly Slapin's review of Allen Sockabasin's terrific picture book, Thanks to the Animals. Sockabasin is Passamaquoddy. I reread his book yesterday, looking over the Passamaquoddy words included on the last page. I also learned that you can listen to Sockabasin and his daughter reading the story aloud. She reads a line in English; he reads it in Passamaquoddy.

When you're developing lesson plans for the wintertime, plan on using Thanks to the Animals, and teach your students about the Passamaquoddy people. They're in Maine. Click here to go to the tribe's website. Read through their "History" page.

Too many people think Native peoples were primitive, but the fact is, we were recognized as Nations and as such, entered into diplomatic and trade relationships with Europeans.

In spite of efforts to 'kill the Indian and save the man,' Native peoples are still here, and you may be surprised to know, we've got our own governments and services. The Passamaquoddy's, for example, have a police and fire department. Imagine the power of sharing that information with readers who think that Native peoples no longer exist!

Allen Sockabasin's THANKS TO THE ANIMALS

My family in New Mexico is among those coping with a huge snowfall. My sister says there's two feet outside her door. They're in northern New Mexico, at Nambe Pueblo. Winter has definitely arrived there, with two huge snowfalls in a week's time. Allan Sockabasin's story sounds perfect for my nieces and nephews. Beverly Slapin's review of Thanks to the Animals is below. It may not be published elsewhere without her written permission.

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Sockabasin, Allen (Passamaquoddy), Thanks to the Animals, illustrated by Rebekah Raye. Tillbury House, 2005. Unpaginated, color illustrations; all grades.

Winter arrives, as a Passamaquoddy family prepares for the trip north to the deep woods of Maine, their winter home. Everyone helps as they dismantle their house and tie down the cedar logs and everything else they need—canoe, food, clothing, baskets—on the bobsled, making sure there is enough room for the children to ride in the back. As Papa Joo Tum drives the horses and Mama and the older children settle in for the long ride, nestling together in the warmth of their sealskin coats and patchwork blankets, they don’t notice that little Zoo Sap has tumbled off the sled.

Alerted by Zoo Sap’s cries, the animals of the forest—large and small—come together to keep him warm until Papa Joo Tum comes to get him. Joo Tum thanks the animals, one by one, and carries little Zoo Sap—none the worse for wear—back to his family. This quiet, gentle story is enhanced by the warm, watercolor-and-ink paintings, my favorite of which shows little Zoo Sap contentedly and “safely sleeping in a great pile of warm animals.” Thanks to the Animals, with Passamoquoddy names for the animals in the back, is a perfect bedtime story.

—Beverly Slapin