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.
Primary (ages 6-9)
Material appropriate for primary age groups
Itse Selu: Cherokee Harvest Festival
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.
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.
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.
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.
Yamozha And His Beaver Wife
In this legend, Yamozha forgets his promise to his wife and as a result she turns into a giant beaver. He follows her all over Denedeh but is unable to catch her. This story tells of how this great medicine man shaped the land in the Tlicho region and its surrounding areas into what it is today.
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.
The Snow Bear
“The bear came into town in the Autumn to feed at the dump. Her cubs had been killed by hunters and she was weary. Only Bruun saw her plight…” So begins a friendship between two unlikely companions Bruun, an Inuit Eskimo boy, and a snow bear from the wild. As they spend the winter out on the sea-ice together, Bruun learns the ways of the polar bear. But when spring comes, he must return home to the ways of his own people. What will happen, years later, when the two meet again and Bruun has become a hunter?