Established in 2006 by Dr. Debbie Reese of Nambé Pueblo, American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL) provides critical analysis of Indigenous peoples in children's and young adult books. Dr. Jean Mendoza joined AICL as a co-editor in 2016.
by Andrea L. Rogers (citizen of the Cherokee Nation)
illustrated by Rebecca Lee Knuz (citizen of the Cherokee Nation)
Published in 2024
Publisher: Levine Querido
Reviewer: Debbie Reese
Review Status: Highly Recommended
****
Sometimes a story reaches right into your being and makes you laugh, smile, wince, and then it makes you feel loved. That is my experience reading Chooch Helped by Andrea L. Rogers. She's a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. Illustrations are by Rebecca Lee Kunz, who is also a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.
Look at the cover. Kunz's art captures precisely what we see as we begin reading Chooch Helped. The posture of the girl as she peers over her shoulder at the boy watering a plant, spilling water as he does it captures what we see in the first part of the book. His red cape and red boots... how many of us have memories of siblings or cousins who wore things like that?! How many of us have a younger brother or sister who--even as they grew into toddlerhood--were called "the baby"? Chooch Helped invites us to revisit our own memories and, perhaps, tell our little ones about an auntie or uncle who annoyed us when we were kids. I adore what this story does for me, and can't wait to read it to kids!
Setting that aside for now, this story does more than touch on memories. In a straightforward way, Rogers introduces us to some Cherokee words. Cherokee families may feel a special delight seeing their language in this book. The rest of us may tell our children words in our own languages as we read Chooch Helped.
I urge you to get a copy and flip to the back matter. Take a look at those pages before reading the book with kids. You'll find a glossary that tells you how to say the Cherokee words in the story. And, you'll find the Author's Note and the Artist's Note. Rogers and Knuz give us tribally specific information that they've put on each page. To most readers, the page where Chooch helps tune up bicycles is just a page about a kid helping his dad fix bikes but in her note, Rogers gives us more depth. She tells us about the
Cherokee Nation's Remember the Removal Bike Ride. Here's that portion:
In the Artist's Note, Kunz tells us about Cherokee patterns in baskets and as I studied the illustrations to find it, I spotted (and loved) the green footprints we learn about as we get to the end of the story. That reveal is clever and delightful and oh-so-perfect! I adore this book!
Get a few copies for friends! If you're a teacher, get one for your classroom, and librarians, get copies for your library system.
Written by Ashley Fairbanks (White Earth Anishinaabe)
Illustration by Bridget George (Anishinaabe from Kettle and Stony Point First Nation)
Published in 2024
Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers
Reviewer: Debbie Reese
Review Status: Highly Recommended
****
Wow! I love how this book starts! The words on the first double-paged spread say "This is my house." Behind it is a river. Beside the house is a tall pine tree. We see a family by the tree.
Turn the page and see "Before us, another family lived here." On that page, the illustrations are family portrait style. Four different families are shown, each family unique, each clad in modern clothes.
Turn the page again and we read the words "Before our house was here, there was another family, with a different kind of house." On that page we see see wigwams in a village and the families who lived in them. The people in that village are wearing clothes with Anishinaabe designs. Behind that village is the river we saw earlier, and that tree? It is a small, young tree.
All the faces and families up to that point are cheery, happy. With the words and illustrations on these pages, Fairbanks and George take us from the present into the past, helping readers see, learn, and feel that the land they're on was someone else's before.
Another page turn and we get hard history. That phrase is used a lot in social justice networks and curriculum, where educators choose to share truths about history that are often omitted. It is a fact that Europeans who came onto Native homelands wanted that land, and the government helped them get it by removing Native peoples from their homelands. We see that on the next page turn. Here's a portion of that page:
(Image from my copy of the book)
It is followed by another page of hard history.
But then, we turn the page again and see the little girl from the very first page, running down the street to her friend's house. That friend, TJ, is Anishinaabe. We see him and his grandma standing in a doorway, smiling and waving at the little girl.
With another page turn we see the little girl, TJ, and his grandmother making bread. The little girl tells us that TJ's grandmother told her about other Native people. At the top of the page, we see nine different people in traditional clothing.
Picture me, smiling! One of them is a Native woman who is dressed the way I dress when I'm home for one of our ceremonies. That 'wow' I felt when I first read the book continues! The little girl is on a road trip. Here's a sentence you'll get to:
At the Grand Canyon, I learned that eight tribes call it home: the Havasupai, Yavapai, Paiute, Hopi, Zuni, Hualapai, Apache, and Diné.
Note: Eight tribes call it home. Present tense verbs! In workshops and professional development, I push very hard to encourage educators to use present tense verbs to talk about us. Again, picture me smiling!
This book is going to be featured in my work, for sure! Another page spread tells us that Disney World is on Seminole land, the White House is on Nacotchtank and Piscataway land, and that Mount Rushmore is on Oceti Sakowin land. There's a link to a database to see what land you (reader) are on, and that page is followed by a page of discussion questions and suggestions to learn more about the people of that land. Illustrations on that page show Native people holding up signs with their tribal nation's name.
Can you feel and understand why I highly recommend this book? Get more than one copy if you can, and if you'd like to support Native-owned bookstores, go there (in person or on line). One option is Birchbark Books. This could be an illustration of me. GET THE BOOK!
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!
Several years ago on Native social media, I saw people talking about plans to wear their moccasins for "Rock Your Mocs" day. On that day, we took photos of our mocs and shared them joyously in a way that radiated an Indigenous solidarity vibe (I'm borrowing that phrase from page 12 of Cynthia Leitich Smith's new book, Harvest House.) I felt a tremendous lift, scrolling through my timelines and looking at the many different kinds of moccasins people were wearing. If you want to see what I mean, search #RockYourMocs on social media.
A couple of years ago when I saw that Laurel Goodluck and Madelyn Goodnight were doing a picture book about Rock Your Mocs day, I was absolutely delighted! Turning that day into a picture book is brilliant! It is one way to show readers that Native peoples are people of tribal nations located across the continent, and that our names, languages, histories, stories, songs homes--and clothing--are unique.
Just look at that cover and you'll see another huge plus. Those are Native kids of the present day. The art is gorgeous, the idea is brilliant and the opportunity to know us for who we are: outstanding!
When you start reading you'll come across the names of twelve different tribal nations, which means that children of those nations have mirrors that reflect who they are. Books as mirrors is a metaphor put forth by Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop in 1991 (read her article and you'll understand the metaphor).
Those twelve? Colville, Hidatsa, Hopi-Tewa, Inupiaq, Little Shell Chippewa, Menominee, Navajo, Ojibwe, Osage, Seminole, Tuscarora, and Yurok.
Goodluck's text is ebullient. Here's a look at the left-side of one page. "Indigenous Nations." "...in cities and towns..." and "We're stylin' today as we Rock Our Mocs!" All of that is terrific. And the decision to put "Rock Our Mocs" in a larger font size than the rest of the text works so well!
Here and there you'll see Native words. On one page, Ajuawak (he's the Ojibwe child) is standing at a chalkboard on which someone has written Ojibwe words for numbers from 1 to 10. I can see a teacher doing that for other Native languages.
In the final pages -- which I strongly encourage you to read -- you'll find three helpful sections of background. First is a brief history of Rock Your Mocs Day and that it began in 2011 when Jessica "Jaylyn" Atsye of Laguna Pueblo suggested wearing mocs beyond days when we wear them for ceremonies or powwows. Second is information about moccasins, and third is a section titled Indigenous Children. There, you'll learn that Native children may be intertribal, or bi- or tri-cultural. I can use myself as an example. My mom is from Ohkay Owingeh. Her mother was from there and her father was Hopi. My dad is from Nambé Owingeh. His mother was from there and his father was white. In terms of tribal identity, I'm enrolled at Nambé, but I also have Ohkay Owingeh and Hopi relatives. Raised and enrolled at Nambé, my traditional moccasins and clothing are the kind worn at Nambé.
I adore what I see in Rock Your Mocs and recommend you get copies for your classroom and school library and that you consider getting one for your home library, too. And gift copies to friends!
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.
Written by Jenny Kay Dupuis (Member of Nipissing First Nation)
Illustrated by Eva Campbell (Not Native)
Published in 2023
Publisher: Highwater Press
Reviewer: Debbie Reese
Review Status: Highly Recommended
****
A few weeks ago, I saw a photo of a person at a conference posing with a copy of Jenny Kay Dupuis's new picture book, Heart Berry Bling. Today, I read an advance sample copy and am here to give it a Highly Recommended rating!
Here's the description from the publisher's website:
On a visit to her granny, Maggie is excited to begin her first-ever beading project: a pair of strawberry earrings. However, beading is much harder than she expected! As they work side by side, Granny shares how beading helped her persevere and stay connected to her Anishinaabe culture when she lost her Indian status, forcing her out of her home community—all because she married someone without status, something the men of her community could do freely.
As she learns about patience and perseverance from her granny’s teachings, Maggie discovers that beading is a journey, and like every journey, it’s easier with a loved one at her side.
In this beautifully illustrated book, children learn about the tradition of Anishinaabe beadwork, strawberry teachings, and gender discrimination in the Indian Act.
I'll start by saying that I love stories where a kid is with a grandparent because like many children, I spent a lot of time with my grandmother. When the book is about a Native family, however, the content of the story adds to my emotional response to what I see on the pages.
The story opens with Maggie and her dad in the car. When they park, they walk a while to get to her granny's house. As they walk Maggie hears the sounds of a city. That's important! There is a tendency to think that Native people lived long ago (we're still here!) and that they all lived on reserves/reservations or in rural places. Some did and do, but not everyone does. Showing us granny, in the city, is great!
When Maggie and her dad arrive at her grandmother's house, Maggie can smell the fry bread her grandmother made. On the kitchen table are granny's beads. Granny is on the phone, speaking Anishinaabemowin with her sister. All of these are markers--in print and illustration--of a Native home.
As the two sit on the couch to look at photos that have inspired granny's beading designs, Maggie asks her about a person shown in an old photo. Granny tells her:
"That's me. Back when I lived on the reserve."
She goes on to say that she married a man who wasn't First Nations, and under the laws that existed then,
"I was stripped of my Indian status and had to leave the community."
Right there is when I paused in my reading, thinking about Native people like Maggie's grandmother, whose identity is taken from them.
There are many ways in which this happens. There's a long history of social workers deeming Native parents "unfit" to care for their children. Their infants and children end up in foster care and white adoptive homes. There's also a long history of non-Native people thinking they had an ancestor who was Native, so they decide to claim that identity as if it is one within their lived experience. Some trot out a story of tragic separation but that story undermines the realities of the lived experiences of people like Maggie's grandmother.
On the next page, Maggie's grandmother tells us more about the Indian Act. Maggie asks for more information. It is an outstanding page that I hope readers will sit with.
As the story moves back to beading, I hear -- in Granny's words -- how beading helped her heal some of the pain she experienced due to the Indian Act. On the book cover we see Maggie looking into a mirror. She's wearing the earrings she made with her grandmother.
So many teachings are embodied in those earrings! So many memories are sewn into them! From the shiny beads to the tears Maggie shed when she accidentally poked her finger with the beading needle, to Granny's life story... this is quite a magnificent story from Jenny Kay Dupuis!
As I've noted before, we're seeing more extensive author notes than was the case in the past. In Heart Berry Bling we have a two-page note that tells us Granny's story is the story of the author's own grandmother. There's more details on what was lost when her status was taken from her. We also learn about First Nations women who fought that Act and were eventually able to get some changes to it in 1985, but it wasn't until 2011 that changes were made that made it possible for Jenny Kay Dupuis to have her First Nations status. More changes took place in 2017 and 2019.
We need books from writers like Jenny Kay Dupuis--people whose families hold these brutal realities in their memory as something they lived through--and people across North America have so much learning to do about Native life and history, and about authenticity of storyteller and storytelling.
Thank you, Jenny, for sharing this story with us. It is a story with difficult parts, but also the joy in this Native child and her Native grandma, being together!
Written by Laurel Goodluck (Mandan, Hidatsa and Tsimshian member)
Illustrated by Jonathan Nelson (Diné)
Published by Charlesbridge
Publication Year: 2022
Reviewer: Debbie Reese
Status: Highly Recommended
****
As I turned the pages of Forever Cousins, I thought back to the early 1990s when we left Nambé's reservation to go to graduate school in Illinois. Our daughter was three years old. She and her cousins were in tears. The always-present playing options were about to change.
When you start reading Forever Cousins, you'll meet Amanda and Kara and to a lesser degree, Forrest. You'll learn a lot about them. The two girls are together all the time. Sometimes they're doing things most kids in the U.S. do--like make jelly sandwiches--and sometimes they're doing something Native kids do, like dancing at a powwow. On the cover you see both girls have dolls. Those are quite special! They were made for them by their magúu (the author's note tells us that magúu is a Hidatsa word that means grandmother).
We learn that they live in a city and that Kara and her family are moving from the city to the Rez. They'll see each other in a year. A year! In subsequent pages we see the two, both feeling alone while doing the same activity. Amanda is at a powwow in the city (we see tall buildings in the background), holding her doll close as she sits on a folding chair. Kara is at a powwow on the Rez (we see low hills in the background). Her mom offers her some fry bread but she just hugs her doll and shakes her head.
Throughout, Nelson's illustrations set the story very much in the present day. That's especially evident on the page where the two girls talk to each other using a video platform on their cell phones. Like anyone, we use all the forms of literacy and communication available to us! I like that but I also like the page where Amanda gets a post card from Kara. Finally it is time for Amanda and her family to hit the road! It'll take two days to get to the Rez. Nelson shows us their joy when they cross a state border. That made me smile. When we drove from Illinois to Nambé, we'd cheer just like that when we crossed from Texas into New Mexico!
Amanda and her family arrive at the reunion, and after some initial shyness, the cousins have a great time and we see the families gathered while a new baby gets his Hidatsa name. It is then time to say their goodbye's.
The story Goodluck and Nelson share in the pages of Forever Cousins is a joy to read and look at. Like the recent books by Native writers, it has an extensive Author's Note that provides teachers with information that helps them understand why Amanda and Kara and their families aren't on the reservation when the story starts. In her note, Goodluck says that the characters in her book represent her and her cousins growing up in the 1960s and 1970s in the Bay Area suburbs of California. She shares some background about her family and cousins and how the city and the Rez were both home and community. She says:
As a matter of fact, we are dual citizens: first enrolled members of sovereign Tribal Nations and then citizens of the United States. The term "sovereign nation" means a Tribal Nation that governs itself. If it is federally recognized, then it has a governmental relationship with the United States as a nation with a nation.
Those of you who know me probably guess that my heart is soaring as I read those sentences! Teachers: download Affirming Indigenous Sovereignty: A Civics Inquiry by Sarah B. Shear, Leilani Sabsazlian, and Lisa Brown Buchanan. It'll provide you with ideas on how you can incorporate tribal sovereignty into your classroom.
In the portion of her note titled "From the Reservation to the City" she tells us that her parents moved from their reservation to the city because of the Indian Relocation Act of 1956. It was a federal program that was described as a way for Native people to move to cities and get vocational job training--but there was more to it than that. Goodluck writes:
In actuality, the federal government wanted to erase Native culture by moving Native people to cities so they would adapt to the lifestyles of white people.
I am so glad to see that sentence in this book! This is the honesty that ought to be in every book!
She goes on to say that her parents were able to get jobs in the city, but that the government promise of a job did not work for most tribal people. They endured discrimination and racism. I have uncles and aunts who moved to cities for jobs. Some got those jobs and stayed in those cities, others came back very soon. I suggest you read Indian No Morebecause it, too, is about this relocation program.
I'm sharing the final paragraph in the note because it is so very powerful:
The treatment of Native Americans in the United States was and sometimes still is despicable. But as with the family in this story and with my own family, unjust experiences forge tight bonds between us and make us strong. Our resiliency is rooted in our ceremonies and culture. We have a deep love of home. The land reminds us of our ancestors, storytelling helps us make good decisions, and we continue to have love and loyal family connections that are unbreakable.
Forever Cousins is tribally specific. Both, the author and illustrator, are Native. The story is set in the present day. It can--and should be--read year-round (not confined to a heritage month or day). It is getting a 'highly recommended' label from me, but my enthusiasm for the book is much more than a 'highly recommended' label conveys. With this story and the note, Goodluck and Nelson give teachers or parents information that they can carry with them when they close this book and choose another one that features Native people. They see us as people who live in a city or on a reservation. They can see us as people whose identities and lives as Native people are central to who we are, and who share the same sorts of joys and fears that kids of other cultures do, too.
Forever Cousins is one of the best books I've read. I'm delighted to read it, to write about it, and to recommend it to everyone.
Note from Debbie on November 12, 2023: I am withdrawing my recommendation of Still This Love Goes On due to an October investigation into Sainte-Marie's identity. I have compiled a list of articles, primarily from Native people, and hope you will read them. There's a lot to go through, and a lot to unlearn and learn.
Still This Love Goes On
Written by Buffy Sainte-Marie (Cree)
Illustrated by Julie Flett (Cree-Metis)
Published by Greystone Kids
Published in 2022
Reviewed by Debbie Reese
Review Status: Highly Recommended
If Still This Love Goes On is not on your must-buy list yet, put it there right now. Better yet, order it, right now!
You can read it as a book about seasons. You'll see people and animals on wide landscapes of snow, or fields of grass and flowers... Or, with the references to sweetgrass and drums and jingle dancers, you can read it as a book about Native people. Or, you can sing along with Sainte-Marie! You'll find her singing it on her album, Running For the Drum. If you read music and play an instrument, you can turn to the sheet music at the end of the book.
Anyone who listens to Native musicians will recognize the name, Buffy Sainte-Marie. Anyone who reads and shares picture books by Native writers will recognize the name, Julie Flett. In other words, Still This Love Goes On is a magnificent gift to us all.
Written and illustrated by Bridget George (Kettle & Stony Point First Nation)
Published by Douglas and McIntyre
Published in 2020
Reviewed by Debbie Reese
Review Status: Highly Recommended
****
This morning, I came across It's A Mitig! Written and illustrated by Bridget George, it is absolutely terrific! On the cover, you see a hand that is holding a magnifying glass. Turn the page, and you see that the story starts with morning time:
Giizis is rising, the day is brand new. Let's learn some words nature's gathered for you.
Right away, we are told what to expect. We'll learn some words---in Ojibwe, and we'll do it using rhyming words (new/you). Sometimes, the rhyming words are in English and Ojibwe, like on this page (log/gaag):
I love every page! The text on the final page of the story is:
Dibiki-giizis is glowing and bright. You've learned many new words, now it's time for goodnight.
I'd be using this if I was teaching in an early childhood classroom, or in a language course, or with a child in my family sitting next to me. The final pages include a pronunciation guide, and one that functions as a picture book dictionary:
As I look at that page with all the items and their Ojibwe words, I think about how I might extend that with a different language. If I used Tewa (the language we speak at Nambé), I might say something like "The Ojibwes say giizis. We say than."
There are interviews with Bridget George in several places. In them she talks about how she was setting up a nursery for her baby and that it was hard to find what she wanted: books with Ojibwe words and characters. Her search is familiar. Many Native writers create the book they wanted, either as a child or an adult, because they weren't finding what they wanted.
On some pages, George includes people. Here's an adult and child, sitting by the ziibi, reading:
I'm sharing that particular page because of the way George depicts them. These are clearly people of the present day. Regular readers of AICL know that I am especially keen on books that depict us as people of today!
It is all here: Native author, Native characters, set in the present day, includes Native language... it is so very good! I'm delighted to see it. I highly recommend you get it. And keep an eye out for Bridget George's books! I see she's doing Too Much with Laurie Goodluck. It'll be published by Simon & Schuster in 2024.
The Fire Written by Thomas Peacock (Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe) Illustrations by Anna Granholm Published by Black Bears & Blueberries Published in 2021 Reviewer: Jean Mendoza Review Status: Highly Recommended
I'm very happy to add a title to our 2021 Recommended Books list: Thomas Peacock's The Fire. This is my "short and sweet" review. As you may remember, "short and sweet" reviews are not in-depth; they cover four reasons for our decision about a particular book.
Here's how the publisher, Black Bears & Blueberries, describes The Fire.
This story is a fictionalized account of the Great Fire of 1918 based on an interview of Elizabeth (Betty) Gurno, a Fond du Lac Reservation elder. Betty was a little girl when the fire swept the area. The Fire of 1918 destroyed the city of Cloquet, Minnesota and surrounding communities, including the Fond du Lac Reservation, and resulted in the loss of many lives.
Author Thomas Peacock frames Betty's telling of the story within a later-day classroom scene in Minnesota. Betty has come to her grandchild's classroom to share her memories of the fire.
First reason to recommend The Fire: It focuses on Indigenous people's experience during a catastrophic event, and joins a fairly small pool of exciting and moving historical fiction picture books told from an Indigenous perspective. In The Fire, Ojibwe oral history is at the center. The author uses some words in Ojibwemowin and refers to Ojibwe traditions (such as offering asemaa, tobacco, to an elder who shares wisdom).
Second reason: It's timely. Wildland fires have affected communities around the country in recent years. Children are wondering how such fires can happen, how people survive them, and what happens afterward. Young readers may want to do further research about the Great Fire of 1918, using sources like the National Weather Service article and a dedicated page on the Library of Congress Web site.
Third reason: The illustrations amplify the storytelling. There's plenty of drama in the pictures. Burning boards fly through the air; dozens of animals join the people in the river as the fire rages. But there are also some important, more subtle touches. Look closely at the page that shows Betty's grandparents warning her family about the fire. The hazy trees and yellowish sky behind the horse and buggy aren't just meant to be pretty. That's the smoke, already drifting into Fond du Lac, a silent warning.
Fourth reason: The story manages to locate modest, honest hope and affirmation in the aftermath of the disaster. Readers learn that no Ojibwe people died, but "more than four hundred fifty of our non-Native neighbors were lost in the fire," and several non-Native towns burned to the ground. (For comparison, I checked the estimated death toll of the Chicago Fire of 1871 -- around 300.) Grandma Betty recounts that her grandmother's home escaped the fire, and she shared what food she had with other Fond du Lac families, most of whom had lost everything. I love the final words of Grandma Betty's storytelling: "We help each other. That is what we do." (It reminds me of the values behind Richard Van Camp's little board book, May We Have Enough to Share.)
I also love that when Betty ends her storytelling, the children line up to hug her. Maybe that's a classroom custom. But I think it also shows that the children are moved by this elder's story of the trauma she and their community endured, and they are caring for her in their way, years afterward.
The Fire is a valuable book to have on your shelves, and to share with children you know.
written by Denise Lajimodiere (Citizen, Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe)
illustrated by Dr. Angela Erdrich (Citizen, Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe)
Published in 2021
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press
Status: Highly Recommended
Reviewer: Debbie Reese (Nambé Owingeh)
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I'll just say it: I love Josie Dances. That sense of love that readers experience with some books, is where I'll start. Why, I wonder, does this book give me that feeling?
As I turn the pages to try to figure that out, I think it is the same things that I noted yesterday (May 3) in my review of Angeline Boulley's Firekeeper's Daughter. Those things: community, and women. Specifically, Native community, and Native women. To be precise: Ojibwe community, and Ojibwe women!
Here's the description of Josie Dances from the publisher:
Josie dreams of dancing at next summer’s powwow. But first she needs many special things: a dress, a shawl, a cape, leggings, moccasins, and, perhaps most important of all, her spirit name. To gather all these essential pieces, she calls on her mom, her aunty, her kookum, and Grandma Greatwalker. They have the skills to prepare Josie for her powwow debut.
As the months go by, Josie practices her dance steps while Mom stitches, Aunty and Kookum bead, and Grandma Greatwalker dreams Josie’s spirit name. Josie is nervous about her performance in the arena and about all the pieces falling into place, but she knows her family is there to support her.
The powwow circle is a welcoming space, and dancers and spectators alike celebrate Josie’s first dance. When she receives her name, she knows it’s just right. Wrapped in the love of her community, Josie dances to honor her ancestors.
In this Ojibwe girl’s coming-of-age story, Denise Lajimodiere highlights her own daughter’s experience at powwow. Elegant artwork by Angela Erdrich features not only Josie and her family but also the animals and seasons and heartbeat of Aki, Mother Earth, and the traditions that link Josie to generations past and yet to come.
As I sit here and read through the book again, I pause at what is (at the moment) my favorite page:
I carry memories of my grandmother sewing traditional clothes for us to wear for our dances at Nambé. She had an old sewing machine that was powered by her feet pushing a large pedal that made her machine work. Fascinated with the process, I asked her if I could try it. It isn't a clear memory but it seems she told me something like "this is not like your mom's sewing machine." She was right about that. My mom's sewing machine looked like the one in Josie Dances. She, too, sewed our traditional and everyday clothes. I sew them, too. And so does my daughter. She's made traditional dresses for her cousin's little girls.
Josie and her family spend a year getting ready for her to dance. With each page turn, readers move through the seasons with them. Early in the book, we see the moccasins that Josie will wear--but without beads. On the page with the sewing machine, it is winter and we see the moccasins partially beaded. Turning the page we see Grandmother Greatwalker asleep (and covered with a beautiful quilt!), dreaming. Josie's name will come to her, in a dream. The next page shows us Josie and her mother picking spring berries. Then... it is time for the powwow and we shift from a seasonal framework to one that takes place over a day and night. First, we see people in t-shirts and shorts at the site where the powwow will be. Josie is wondering if she'll be dancing, after all. We see her in a night scene, lying down in a bedroll in her tent. Did all her clothing get finished? Did Grandmother Greatwalker dream of her name? She wakes the next day with messy hair. Glancing to the trees nearby, she sees an eagle. The answer to all her questions is yes, and it is conveyed quietly on this page:
----
With each year, I see more and more children's books with Native words in them. That's part of why I'm highly recommending Josie Dances. When Josie asks her mom to help her, her mom replies "Eya, nindaanis!" The glossary tells us that means "Yes, my daughter!" We have that same sentence structure several times. Josie asks her aunty if she will bead her cape; her aunty replies "Eya, ikwezens!" Josie asks her kookum (grandmother) if she'll make her moccasins and leggings, and she replies "Eya, noozhishenh!" And she asks a tribal elder (Grandmother Greatwalker) about her name, and hears "Eya, abinoojinh!" Lajimodiere's writing teaches us all a few Ojibwe words--and that's a terrific part of what we are offered in this picture book.
I think what I'm trying to get at is this: the story given to us by Denise Lajimodiere and Angela Erdrich -- both, citizens of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe -- is so real, and so full of Native life and love.
Denise Lajimodiere
Angela Erdrich
Josie Dances is published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press. They've done several books that I highly recommend, including Marcie Rendon's Powwow Summer, Cheryl Minnema's Hungry Johnny, Thomas Peacock's The Forever Sky, Art Coulson's The Creator's Game,and Brenda Child's Bowwow Powwow. If you don't have those yet, get them when you order copies of Josie Dances.
Johnny's Pheasant is written by Cheryl Minnema (Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe) and illustrated by Julie Flett (Cree-Métis). New in 2019, it is a picture book I am pleased to recommend.
Grandma's are special, aren't they? Mine was, and I know my mom is special to my daughter and all her other grandchildren. In some families, grandma's make things. When I was a kid, I hung out with my grandma, a lot. I have such fond memories of those times, helping and watching her make things.
Back in the 1960s when the US government was putting a blacktop road on our reservation, they also strung barbed wire fencing to keep livestock off the road. That barbed wire came on wire spools that are about the size of a 5 gallon bucket. The end parts of the spool looked like flower petals. Here's a photo that sort of looks like what I have in my memory:
I walked with my grandmother for miles and miles, gathering up empty, cast off spools. At home, she bound them together in an array that she attached to a wood frame. These then became charming gates to the porch, and to the garden. She also worked with feathers. She especially liked peacock feathers. She'd trim them and attach them to fabric wall hangings. They were so pretty!
In Johnny's Pheasant, we see a grandma and grandson, out and about. Johnny spies something in the grass. Turns out, it is a pheasant! Grandma thinks it is dead and that she can use its feathers in her craft work. But Johnny thinks the pheasant is ok. He's right!
The pheasant comes to from its seemingly-dead state, and flies about the house, at one point, landing on Grandma's head! Johnny thinks the pheasant, lying there in Grandma's house, had heard his grandma say she was going to use its feathers--and her words roused it!
From grandma's head, the pheasant flies out the open door. Johnny and his grandma go outside and watch it fly away. But, a single feather flutters to the ground. When Johnny hands it to his grandma, she exclaims "Howah."
Howah is an Ojibwe expression meaning 'oh my!' I enjoyed reading this story, but when I read "Howah," I paused. Ojibwe kids are gonna love that! Johnny's Pheasant is a delight on many levels. Published by the University of Minnesota Press in 2019, I recommend it for every family, Native or not, who tells stories about grandma's. Its quite a heartwarming story!
Update from Debbie, Oct 26, 2019: Unfortunately, the endpapers include some state recognized groups (I won't call them tribes or nations) whose website information makes me cringe. I hope the team who put the endpapers for Fry Bread together can make edits immediately. I am in the process of looking at them carefully and am considering creating a post that tells you how/why I am saying I would not personally call them tribes or nations.
All across social media, friends and colleagues are saying "Happy Book Birthday!" to Kevin Maillard and Juana Martinez-Neal. That's because their book, Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story is officially available, today, October 22, 2019.
There's a lot inside the covers of Fry Bread! What you find when you turn the pages is why I highly recommend it.
I wish I had slick video and video-editing skills so I could offer you a short and compelling film about the book. I don't have those skills, so... here's what I have:
Here's a screen capture (from my kindle copy of the book) of the last page I showed you in the video:
See those adults pointing out names of Native Nations? That's so wonderful! Mine--Nambé--is there, too. Here's my finger, pointing to it:
Those of you who follow AICL know that we emphasize the importance of sovereignty... Of knowing that Native Nations pre-date the United States. So many names inside this book! It will be empowering to so many readers!
There's more, though, to say about Fry Bread.
A few weeks ago, I gave a talk at the Santa Fe Indian Center, in Santa Fe, NM. I talked about the names of nations but I also talked about the range of hair color and skin tone in the book. See?
After the lecture, a family approached me to say how deeply moved they are by seeing a child with lighter skin and hair. Fry Bread pushes back on the expectation that Native people look the same (black hair, dark skin, high cheekbones etc.). That expectation means that adults don't hesitate to tell a Native child like the girl holding the cat that they are "not really an Indian" (or some variant of that phrase). That's such a damaging statement! When you hear an adult say that to anybody--but especially a child--stop them.
The final pages of Fry Bread can help you interrupt that kind of harmful statement. There, Maillard wrote that:
Most people think Native Americans always have brown skin and black hair. But there is an enormous range of hair textures and skin colors. Just like the characters I this book, Native people may have blonde hair or black skin, tight cornrows or a loose braid. This wide variety of faces reflects a history of intermingling between tribes and also with people of European, African, and Asian descent.
It is quite the challenge to impart substantive information in an engaging way, but Maillard and Martinez-Neal have done it, beautifully, in Fry Bread. I highly recommend it! Published by Roaring Book Press (Macmillan) in 2019, I hope you'll order several copies for your bookshelves, and to give to Native families, too.
Update: October 23, 2019
In a comment, I was asked if the book has information about the history of fry bread and its impact on health of Native people. It does--and that is yet another aspect of what makes this book stand out.
One double paged spread shows Native people in shadow. The woman on the cover is telling kids about the long walk. The text is:
Fry bread is history
The long walk, the stolen land
Strangers in our own world
With unknown food
We made new recipes
From what we had
In the Author's Note, Maillard provides teachers and parents and librarians who do not know this history, with information they can use to prepare to use the book with kids. It is an exquisite author's note! It spans eight pages that correspond with the illustrated pages that are the heart of Fry Bread. And--they're footnoted! I don't recall seeing footnotes in an Author's Note before.
Maillard writes that people think the Navajo (Diné) were the first to make fry bread. He talks about how, across the country, Native people and our ways are resilient and here, today, in spite of efforts to weaken and destroy our nations and communities.
He writes that there are some Natives who are pushing back on the making and eating of fry bread. He wrote:
For these critics, fry bread is an easy target for a much larger problem of being forced to deviate from a traditional Indigenous diet.
The larger problem, he writes, is a reality many Native communities face. There are no fresh food markets nearby, fast food is more readily available, and access to health care (like markets) is difficult. We know that fast food is unhealthy when eaten every day. Maillard makes that point about fry bread, too. Eating it everyday will lead to health problems.
As noted above, the Author's Note is exquisite for the depth of information it provides. I quoted that one sentence, but will also note that the sentence has a footnote! It goes to Devon Mihesuah's article, "Indigenous Health Initiatives, Frybread, and the Marketing of Nontraditional 'Traditional' American Indian Foods." In his Author's Note, Maillard provides 15 footnotes! Like I said... exquisite. And--I think--groundbreaking.
We Are Water Protectors written by Carole Lindstrom and illustrated by Michaela Goade is due out in 2020. Today's post is the twitter thread I did yesterday (September 23, 2019) about We Are Water Protectors, an exquisite book by two Indigenous women: Carole Lindstrom is of Anishinaabe/Métis descent and is tribally enrolled with the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe. Michaela Goade is of Tlingit descent and is tribally enrolled with the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.
****
I love seeing threads about new books by Native writers! @elissawashuta has one going right now. As you see, she's added WE ARE WATER PROTECTORS by @CaroleLindstrom, illustrated by @MichaelaGoade, to her thread.
I saw Carole when I was in DC on Sept 7 at the Indigenous Peoples' Day Curriculum Teach-In, held at the National Museum of the American Indian. She gave me an ARC (advanced reader's edition) of her book. WE ARE WATER PROTECTORS is due out March 17, 2010 from Roaring Book Press (Macmillan). I'll have a review of it at American Indians in Children's Literature but for now, I'm over here telling you to pre-order this exquisite book. (us.macmillan.com/books/97812502…)
Those of you who follow Native resistance to exploitation may recall an iconic photo taken in 2013 when Royal Canadian Mounted Police raided a camp of Native people who were there to protect their water from drilling. (newsmaven.io/indiancountryt…)
Similar photos were taken at Standing Rock in 2016. Here's one taken by @dallasgoldtooth.
In the photographs of these moments, we see a Native point of view as Water Protectors stand in the face of exploitation.
On the cover of Lindstrom and Goade's book we see the person holding the feather, but behind her... see all the people holding hands? Some are children.
In the photographs we see armed police; in the art we see what those armed police saw: unarmed people--young and old--standing together to protect their water.
Both, the photo and Goade's art... take my breath away.
