 |
From Antonio Ramírez, color paintings by Domi (Mazateca): |
 |
|
 Napí. 2004.
At home on the bank of a river in Oaxaca, Napí loves to dream. She says she is poor, but that is belied by the richness of her land, her culture, and the community of which she is a valued part. In the shade of a pachota (ceiba) tree “that is so big, it protects our whole village,” Napí sits with her family; her naa (mother) braids her hair and her grandfather tells the old stories. In Napí’s world everything is alive, everything has volition and beauty; the afternoons dress themselves in greens, oranges and violets, and at night, “the trees on the riverbank slowly bloom with herons.” With her umbilical cord buried in the roots of her beloved pachota, this Mazateca child is tied to the land in a very real way, and when she sleeps, the pachota brings her dreams of becoming a heron, flying along the river. Domi’s gorgeous acrylic paintings, on a rich palette of jewel-like tones, perfectly complement this quiet little story of an Indian child secure and at home in the loving arms of her family and her world.
hc 19.00
Also available in Spanish, Napí va a la montaña, hc 19.00 |
 |
|
Napí Goes to the Mountain. 2006.
One evening, Napí’s namí (father) does not come home from working in the field, and his worried friends fear he might have been taken away. A nightlong search in the mountains yields nothing, so the next morning Napí and her little brother skip school and go to search for him. Upriver and in the jungle, they find themselves transformed into deer and are guided by turtles, storks, a coral snake, a bat, a mouse, and an armadillo mama, who tells them that “the family is finally together again.” Accompanied by the animals, who are “like brothers and sisters, children of the same mother, the Earth,” the children race home to a joyful reunification. “It was so good to see him,” Napí says, “that I forgot to worry about where he had been.” Again, Domi’s amazing paintings, her bold colors this time surrounded by large areas of brown wash, are perfect.
Had Napí’s father been taken by Chicón, the Lord of the Earth, or by el patrón and his thugs? We don’t know. As in Ramirez’ and Domi’s previous story, the impoverishment and terror of being Indian in Mexico (and in much of Latin America) is only hinted at, but it’s there. For many indigenous children in the south, the threat of having your parents “disappeared” is a daily reality, and these stories, while not solely “about” this terrible situation, certainly place it in its political and social context.
hc 16.00
Also available in Spanish, Napí, hc 16.00
|
|
|
Ramirez, Alex O. (Rumsien Ohlone), Tjatjakiymatchan
(Coyote). 1995, b/w illustrations.
“Coyote looked at the moon. If only he had not played
that last trick on Fox, he would have been able to join the fur
people in their games. But instead
he was here, all alone. He looked at the moon again, and howled his lonely
howl....” It's
pronounced CHA-cha-ky-uh-MAH-chan, and this little story tells why Coyote, alone,
howls at the moon. The soft pencil illustrations are lovely.
pb 6.00
|
|
|
Sanderson, Esther (Cree), Two Pairs of
Shoes. 1990, color illustrations.
Today is a special day for Maggie, for she has been given two
pairs of shoes—moccasins and patent leather. And now she must “remember when and how
to wear each pair.” A
simply told story with an important message.
pb 11.00
|
|
|
 Savageau,
Cheryl (Abenaki), Muskrat Will
Be Swimming. (1996), 2006, color illustrations.
Cheryl Savageau has written a lovely story of a child who, gently
guided by her grandfather’s stories, finds her way in the
world. “So
I don’t worry anymore,” she says, “when
kids call me Lake Rat. I know who I am, and I know about the lake,
that
we’re
part of it…”
pb 8.00
|
|
From the Sechelt
Nation |
|
|
How the Robin Got Its Red
Breast: A Legend of the Sechelt People. 1993, b/w illustrations.
This traditonal story tells how the couragous little gray robin
saves the people, and is honored with the color given him.
pb 8.00
|
|
|
Mayuk the Grizzly Bear:
A Legend of the Sechelt People. 1993, b/w illustrations.
Mayuk finally meets his match at the hands of three brothers.
Like Robin,
this story is handsomely illustrated by Charlie Craigan (Sechelt), in
traditional and modern woodcuts.
pb 8.00
|
|
From
Diane Silvey (Coast Salish) |
|
|
Little Bear's
Vision Quest. 1995, color illustrations.
Little Bear, after taunting all his animal friends, finds himself
alone. A beautiful story about friendship and forgiveness.
pb 12.00
|
|
|
Whale Girl. 1996, b/w illustrations
by Joe Silvey (Coast Salish).
This traditional story tells of a courageous little girl who,
along with Mother Whale, sacrifices herself to save her village
and animal friends from
the sea serpents.
pb 7.50 |
|
From
Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee) |
|
|
Indian
Shoes. 2002, b/w illustrations.
Here are six stories about a Cherokee-Seminole youngster named
Ray, secure in the loving care of his Grampa Halfmoon and
his extended family in Chicago
and rural Oklahoma. From trading his own high-tops so that Grampa can
have a pair of moccasins, to overcoming a really serious wardrobe
dilemma, to
finding a creative solution to a dreadful haircut, to caring for their
neighbors’ many pets on Christmas Day, to midnight fishing and finding
out that contests are not always about winning, these stories are goofy,
quirky, laugh-out-loud funny, and poignant, sometimes all together. Indian
Shoes is about belonging to family and community, about helping neighbors,
about learning life’s lessons, and about sometimes feeling different
but most times knowing who you are in the world.
hc 16.00
|
|
|
Jingle
Dancer. 2000, color illustrations.
There's not enough time
to mail-order tins to make the cone-shaped jingles so that
Jenna can dance Girls at the next powwow. So Jenna finds another
way
to make her dress sing. The illustrations by Cornelius Van
Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu are a perfect complement to this gentle,
poetic
story of reciprocity and joy. This book is a gift from a gifted
writer to all of the Indian youngsters who enter the dance
circle.
hc 17.00
|
|
|
|
Sockabasin, Allen (Passamaquoddy), Thanks to the Animals. 2005, color illustrations by Rebekah Raye.
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 Passamaquoddy names for the animals in the back, is a perfect bedtime story.
hc 17.00
|
|
|
Spang, Bently (Cheyenne), The War Shirt. 1999, color illustrations by Troy Anderson (Cherokee).
Young Troy, a budding artist,
lives with his parents in the city, far from the “many-colored
painted hills and the sweet pure air” of his home reservation
in Montana. When he gets to visit his grandparents, Troy is treated
to a summer of Cheyenne art and culture—and he also learns
that there are more than a few ways of making art and keeping traditions
alive. This beautifully illustrated, appealing little story will
resonate with Indian kids everywhere.
pb 6.00 |
|
|
Swamp, Jake (Mohawk), Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message. 1995, color paintings by Erwin Printup, Jr. (Cayuga/Tuscarora).
This is Chief Swamp's adaptation for children of the Mohawk Thanksgiving
Address, which acknowledges and thanks all aspects of Creation.
hc 16.00, pb 8.00
Also available in Spanish: Gracias
Te Damos, pb
8.00
|
|
|
Tapahonso, Luci (Diné), Songs of Shiprock Fair. 1999, color illustrations.
The huge fair at Shiprock has something for everyone. There is
a parade and carnival, and there are dances, exhibits, contests,
food and-not least-the
chance to visit with relatives. Luci Tapahonso's long poem and Anthony
Chee Emerson's luminous paintings show Nezbah and her brother Kiinèèz
and their large extended family experiencing this magical time.
hc 16.00
|
|
From Theytus Books and Yellowknife District Education #1, these stories come from generations of Dene oral tradition, whose purpose was and continues to guide the children to have a good life, and to tie the coming generations to the land and culture. Each book, in Dene and English, comes with a bilingual CD of the story. These seemingly simple yet complex traditional stories are not what most younger readers (and their teachers), who may be used to the directly stated “morals” and lessons of European-based stories, may expect. Rather, they are a glimpse into one way in which Dene children are gently guided into understanding. |
|
|
Blondin, John (Dene), as told by his father, George Blondin (Dene), Ekwó Dozhía Wegondi/The Legend of the Caribou Boy. 2007, translated into Dogrib by Mary Rose Sundberg (Dene), color paintings by Ray McSwain (Dene).
When a little boy, traveling with his parents and grandparents, has trouble sleeping at night, he realizes that the caribou spirit is so strong in him that he can no longer remain a human. But his connection to his human family is strong also, and so he gives them the gift of the caribou when they are hungry.
CD and book, hc 23.00
|
 |
|
Blondin, John (Dene), as told by his father, George Blondin (Dene), Eneéko Námbe Ik’oó K’eézho/The Old Man with the Otter Medicine. 2007, translated into Dogrib by Mary Rose Sundberg (Dene), color paintings by Archie Beaverho (Dene).
It is winter and the people, close to starving because there are no fish, seek the help of an old man with medicine power. Using his otter medicine, the old man, now an otter, dives down and frees the fish who had become entrapped.
CD and book, hc 23.00 |
 |
|
Thomas, Vital (Dene), Yamoózha Eyits’o Wets’ékeé Tsá/Yamozha and His Beaver Wife. 2007, translated into Dogrib by Mary Siemens (Dene), color paintings by Archie Beaulieu (Dene).
The Yamoózha stories, recorded in the place names of the geographical regions of the Dene peoples, help the people to remember the laws that determine proper behavior in their travels to harvest. Here, Yamoózha forgets his promise to his wife, so she turns into a giant beaver and leaves him. Following her all over Denedeh, Yamoózha shapes the land into what it is today.
CD and book, hc 26.00 |
|
From
Tim Tingle (Choctaw) |
|
|
Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship & Freedom. 2006, color illustrations by Jeanne Rorex Bridges (Cherokee).
It is the early 1800s, on the Choctaw side of the Bok Chitto
River. When her momma asks Martha Tom to fill her basket with
blackberries
for an upcoming wedding, the little girl crosses Bok Chitto,
loses her way, and encounters the calling together of a Black church
secreted in the Mississippi woods. After an enslaved Black
father instructs
his young son how to move among the white people without being
seen—“not
too fast, not too slow, eyes to the ground, away you go!”—Little
Mo escorts Martha Tom past the plantation house and back to the
river, where she shows him how to cross. The relationship between
the two
children and their respective families deepens, and when trouble
comes—“it always does, in stories or in life,
trouble comes”—magic is made, and the Black family is empowered
to cross to freedom. A beautiful story, made even more so by
Bridges’ luminous
paintings.
hc 18.00
|
|
|
When Turtle Grew Feathers. 2007, color illustrations.
Remember that time when Turtle outraced Rabbit? Well, it wasn’t
because (as you probably already know) Turtle was faster. It
was because it wasn’t really Turtle whom Rabbit was racing,
but Turkey (who was just trying on Turtle’s shell, newly-mended
by a colony of ants). In this Choctaw tale, distinguished from
that Aesop one about individual competition, nasty Rabbit gets
his comeuppance
because everyone else works together to make it happen. Even
a cheering squad of Little Bitty Turtles….
hc 17.00, CD 13.00
|
|
|
|
Thomason, Dovie (Lakota/Kiowa-Apache), The
Animals’ Wishes. 2000, color illustrations; Iroquois.
In this traditional story about the long ago, Maker decides to
allow the animals-to-be a say in their own features—but
only if their wishes are good ones. This is how the Little
One and the Noisy One came to be
who they are today.
pb 7.00
|
|
|
Toledo, Natalia (Zapotec), and Francisco Toledo (Zapotec), Light Foot/Pies ligeros, translated by Elisa Amado. 2007, color illustrations.
It all began when Death saw that all the humans and animals were having baby after baby but no one was dying, and the world was getting way too crowded. To put an end to this population explosion, Death challenges everyone to a rope-skipping contest and, being immortal, she thinks she is sure to win. One by one, Man, Toad, Monkey, Iguana, Coyote, Rabbit and Alligator keel over, and Death even manages to steal a pair of leather shoes from Man’s body. Then along comes Grasshopper….
Francisco Toledo, one of Mexico’s best-known contemporary indigenous artists, created a series of engravings of Death skipping rope with the animals, and Natalia Toledo wrote the accompanying story in Zapotec. Interpreted into English by Elisa Amado, the story appears here in Spanish and English.
Young readers will giggle as each animal is enticed into Death’s game; and they will find out why you never hear Death when she comes into a house, and why Grasshopper never did stop jumping. Light Foot/Pies ligeros is highly recommended, and is a perfect complement to celebrations of El Día de los Muertos.
hc 18.00 |
|
|
 Umpherville, Tina (Cree/Métis), The Spring Celebration. 1995, color illustrations by Christie Rice.
As the days get longer and warmer, Iskotew and
the other children of Brochet look forward to the spring celebration,
when they
can play with all their
friends on this beautiful Spring Sunday. The watercolor paintings suit
this gentle little story perfectly.
pb 10.00 |
 |
|
Van Camp, Richard (Dogrib), Welcome Song for Baby: A lullaby for newborns. 2007, color photos.
Hey ya hey
Hey ya hey
Hey ya hey
Dear one
Cherished one
Loved one
You have made the world beautiful again
It’s said in some Indian nations that babies are especially sacred because they’ve just come from the Spirit World. In making this lovely little board book, Van Camp said he went back into his heart and mind to the potlatches, giveaways and feasts to witness the honoring and spirit of celebration and becoming a family. The color photographs, of babies together with their parents, together with other babies, asleep, sleepy and looking at their new world, perfectly complement Van Camp’s lullaby.
Welcome Song is a song of hope, a song of joy, a song of celebration, an honoring song for babies and the promise they bring to the universe.
board book 10.00 |
|
From
Jan Bourdeau Waboose (Anishinaabe) |
|
|
SkySisters.
2000, color illustrations.
After putting on their warmest clothing, two Ojibwe sisters
walk out across the frozen north country to see the midnight
dancing and
shimmering of the SkySpirits, which some people call the Northern
Lights. Waboose's words combined with Brian Deines's lovely illustrations
will have young readers delighting in the chill of a northern
night, the warmth of the family circle, and the radiance of
a child's wonder.
pb 6.00
|
|
|
Where
Only the Elders Go—Moon Lake Loon Lake. 1994, color
illustrations.
In this deceptively simple story, a child hears the call of a
loon, and it brings him memories of his Mishomis, his grandfather,
who has gone to “a
peaceful, restful place where only the Elders go, Moon Lake Loon Lake.” The
lovely watercolor art by Halina Below compliments the story.
pb 7.00
|
|
From
Bernelda Wheeler (Cree/Ojibwe/Métis) |
|
|
I
Can’t Have Bannock But the Beaver Has a Dam. 1984,
b/w illustrations.
In this “add-on” story, a youngster learns the relationship
between the oven and a beaver, and how a beaver can delay the
making of bannock.
pb 11.00
|
|
|
Where Did You Get Your Moccasins? 1986, b/w illustrations.
In answer to his classmates’ questions about his moccasins, a child describes
in detail how his kookum, his grandmother, made them. Like I Can't Have Bannock,
each page builds on the previous one. Children will like the unexpected (for some) ending.
pb 11.00
|
|
From
Linda Yamane (Rumsien Ohlone) |
|
|
The Snake
that Lived in the Santa Cruz Mountains & Other Ohlone Stories.
1998, b/w illustrations by the author.
“Long ago, there was a snake that lived in the Santa
Cruz Mountains. It came up out of the sea, and would come
up into the mountains, up into its favorite redwood tree.
It had that tree smooth from climbing up and down so much—looking
for people....That snake would surround them all in a loop,
and squeeze them and eat them up! He didn't eat people
a few at a time. No! He waited 'til he could get them all
in a big bunch! But ah, the Indians were smart, as you
will see, and they got to thinking how they might kill
that snake.” These seven traditional stories will
have youngsters applauding.
pb 10.00
|
|
|
When the World Ended, How Hummingbird Got Fire, How People Were Made: Rumsien Ohlone Stories. 1995, b/w illustrations by the author.
“Once, a very long time ago, something happened to the world. The ocean rose up higher and higher, covering the land little by little, rising up and up until nearly everything was covered over with water. And Eagle, who was
the captain back in those times, was all alone....” These
stories are a gift from the Rumsien Ohlone people. As Linda Yamane
writes, “They are
here for us to live with and learn from. They are still here.”
pb 10.00
|
|
|
|
 Yazzie, Seraphine G. (Diné), Dibé Yázhí Táa’go Baa Hane’/The Three Little Sheep. 2006, translated by Peter A. Thomas (Diné); color illustrations by Ryan Huna Smith (Chemehuevi/Diné).
In this delightful Navajo-centric version of “The Three
Little Pigs,” in
Diné and English, the sheep brothers are sent out by their mother
to “learn
how to become self-sufficient.” Traveling in different directions,
the brothers erect their respective shelters. Along comes Coyote, of course,
hungry
and craving mutton ribs. After blowing down the grass hut and tepee, he arrives
at the hogan and sees the sheep brothers, “sitting around the table,
sipping coffee, and playing Navajo Ten.” You may know what happens
next. Smith’s
paintings, on a riotous palette of turquoise, purples, yellows, oranges,
blues, greens and browns, perfectly complement this hilarious story. The
sheep brothers’ expressions—ranging
from very frightened to very doubtful to very confident—are priceless,
as is the Coyote’s hang-dog look as he slinks away.
hc 13.00
|
|
|
Yee, Mary J. (Chumash), The Sugar Bear Story. 2005, color illustrations by Ernestine Ygnacio De Soto (Chumash).
Found in Yee’s journals and illustrated by her daughter,
The Sugar Bear Story, in Barbareño Chumash and English,
is a simply told yet deep little story about how people ought to
treat their guests. This treasure of a book
includes a basic glossary and pronunciation guide of Chumash words, a concise
description
of Chumash history and culture, a territorial map, and photos and brief bios
of mother and daughter.
pb 10.00
|
|
|
| |
|
