Material appropriate for primary age groups
For Native children, growing up in Alaska today means dwelling in a place where traditional practices sometimes mix oddly with modern conveniences. “Children of the Midnight Sun” explores the lives of eight Alaskan Native children, each representing a unique and ancient culture. This extraordinary book also looks at the critical role elders play in teaching the young Native traditions. 40 color photos.
When the giant Winter came down from the North to live in eastern Canada the land became frozen and white. Glooskap, mythical lord and creator of the Micmac Indians, saves his people from endless cold when he brings a beautiful Queen to his country. Her name is Summer and she persuades Winter to relax his icy grip every Spring while she awakens the land from its deep sleep and bestows life on everything that grows.
Wily trickster Coyote is having his friends over for a little solstice get-together in the woods when a little girl comes by unexpectedly. She leads the friends through the snowy woods to the mall — a place they had never seen before. The trickster goes crazy with glee as he shops with abandon, only to discover that filling a shopping cart with goodies is not quite the same thing as actually paying for them. The trickster is tricked and goes back to his cabin in the woods — somewhat subdued — though nothing can keep Coyote down for long. Thomas King is known for his fiction featuring Canada’s Native people, while Gary Clement’s artwork has appeared in several popular children’s books. “A Coyote Solstice Tale” blends King’s brilliant deadpan humor and Clement’s evocative watercolors in this witty critique of consumerism and consumption aimed at all ages.
When the spirit guide changes her into a seal, Tiktala learns the ways of seals and how harmful humans can be.
Never having seen trees, the children in Repulse Bay decide that the funny things sent them one year must actually be baseball bats. An autobiographical tale from Michael Kusugak’s childhood tells a story of life in the arctic, and easily different cultures can interpret things differently.
Brilliant, colorful paintings depict children of the Yukon at work and play: snaring rabbits, feeding ravens, racing on snowshoes and hunting moose, panning for gold in famous Bonanza Creek, and exploring the ruins of Dawson City.
This is the story of Nanabozho and how he brought fire to the Indians. Nanabozho transformed himself into a rabbit, tricked his way into a warrior’s wigwam and stole a torch of fire enabling his people to warm themselves in winter and cook their food. So that he would always be remembered for what he had done, Nananbozho worked his magic on the trees and every fall we still see the flaming colors of fire in their leaves.
Three brave young hunters befriend a maiden who is then changed into a white caribou. Includes instructions for performing the story as a shadow play.
Beginning readers are introduced to the land and peoples of the far north.
A young Inuit vows revenge when a wolf kills his dog.