A backward glimpse to pre-Colombian Cherokee Indian life as Little Wolf and his family work, play, and prepare for the harvest festival, Itse Selu. Includes Cherokee language.
Itse Selu: Cherokee Harvest Festival
Primary (ages 6-9)
Material appropriate for primary age groups
Skysisters
Two Ojibway sisters set off across the frozen north country to see the SkySpirits’ midnight dance. It isn’t easy for the younger sister to be silent, but gradually she begins to treasure the stillness and the wonderful experiences it brings. After an exhilarating walk and patient waiting, the girls are rewarded by the arrival of the SkySpirits — the Northern Lights — dancing and shimmering in the night sky. This powerful story, with its stunning illustrations, captures the chill of a northern night, the warmth of the family circle and the radiance of a child’s wonder.
Anna’s Athabaskan Summer
The everyday lives of the Athabaskan Indians come to life in the story of Anna’s family and their annual journey to a salmon fish camp as they remember the ways of their people by listening to Grandmother’s wise words.
Dance On A Sealskin
In today’s Alaskan Yupik Eskimo communities, villagers still gather in the kashim to sing, drum, and dance, carrying forward the ancient traditions of their forebears. This is the heartwarming fictional story of Annie’s “first dance,” a coming-of-age ceremony to signify official entry into the Eskimo community. 20 color illustrations.
My Kokum Called Today
A telephone call from her grandmother has a young native girl in the city looking forward to visiting the reserve. In gentle, joyous ways we see how women — especially grandmothers — are often the spiritual glue when families are separated by long miles.
Where Did You Get Your Moccasins?
Children in an urban school are curious about a classmate’s moccasins.
Building An Igloo
In crisp black-and-white photographs, Ulli Steltzer documents the beauty and precision of an igloo’s construction – from stacking blocks of snow to cutting a door – in this informative picture book.
How The Robin Got Its Red Breast: A Legend Of The Sechelt People (Legends Of The Sechelt Nation)
These traditional teaching legends come straight from the oral traditions of the Sechelt Nation. Simple enough to be understood by young children, yet compelling enough for adults, they are gentle, beautifully presented cautionary tales. You’ll want to read them again and again – and you’ll learn a few words of the Shishalh language while you’re at it. Charlie Craigan is a young Sechelt artist who works in a tiny studio set up in his bedroom. He studied traditional wood carving with Sechelt Nation carvers, but learned to draw and paint by studying books.
Ice Drift
The year is 1868, and fourteen-year-old Alika and his younger brother, Sulu, are hunting for seals on an ice floe attached to their island in the Arctic. Suddenly they hear the terrible sound of the floe breaking free from land. The boys watch with horror as they start drifting south–away from their home, their family, and everything they’ve ever known. Throughout their six-month-long journey down the Greenland Strait, the boys face bitter cold, starvation, and vicious polar bears. And yet, in this moving testament to the bond between brothers, Alika and Sulu remain hopeful that one day they’ll be rescued . Includes a map, a glossary of Inuit words and phrases, and an author’s note.
The Sacred Harvest: Ojibway Wild Rice Gathering (We Are Still Here: Native Americans Today)
Glen Jackson, Jr., an eleven-year-old Ojibway Indian in northern Minnesota, goes with his father to harvest wild rice, the sacred food of his people.