Primary (ages 6-9)

Material appropriate for primary age groups

Shi-Shi-Etko

Shi-shi-etko, a Native American girl, spends the last four days before she goes to residential school learning valuable lessons from her mother, father, and grandmother, and creating precious memories of home.

Arctic Stories

a storiesAcclaimed Inuit storyteller Michael Kusugak weaves a tapestry of tales about ten-year-old Agatha and her accidental heroism in the high Arctic of 1958. The first of Agatha’s stories is based on one of Kusugak’s real life experiences, when an eerie, black airship flew over Chesterfield Inlet in 1958. A sleepy Agatha “saves” the community from the monstrous flying object. In the second story, Agatha notices the playful antics of the winter ravens and takes an interest in the many migrating birds. As the seasons change, she begins to favor more beautiful and peaceful birds of spring, until the ravens return. The third of Agatha’s stories takes place in the fall when Agatha is sent to school in Chesterfield Inlet, an English-speaking community south of her home. During an afternoon of skating, Agatha rescues a show-off priest, who has inadvertently demonstrated the danger of thin ice. The three Agatha stories resonate with the nostalgia and affection of Kusugak’s childhood memories.

Beaver Steals Fire: A Salish Coyote Story

A long time ago, fire belonged only to the animals in the land above, not to those on the earth below. Curlew, keeper of the sky world, guarded fire and kept it from the earth. Coyote, however, devised a clever plan to steal fire, aided by Grizzly Bear, Wren, Snake, Frog, Eagle, and Beaver. These brave and resourceful animal beings raided the land above and risked all to steal fire from Curlew. Beaver Steals Fire is an ancient and powerful tale springing from the hearts and experiences of the Salish people of Montana. Steeped in the rich and culturally vital storytelling tradition of the tribe, this tale teaches both respect for fire and awareness of its significance, themes particularly relevant today. This unforgettable version of the story is told by Salish elder Johnny Arlee and beautifully illustrated by tribal artist Sam Sandoval.

The Great Serum Race: Blazing The Iditarod Trail

Ride shotgun with the heroic mushers whose bravery inspired the Iditarod. In the winter of 1925, Nome, Alaska, was hit by an unexpected and deadly outbreak of diphtheria. Officials immediately quarantined the town, but the only cure for the community of more than 1,400 people was antitoxin serum and the nearest supply was in Anchorage—hundreds of miles of snowbound wilderness away. The only way to get it to Nome was by dogsled. Twenty teams braved subzero temperatures and blizzard conditions to run over 600 miles in six days in a desperate relay race that saved the people of Nome. Several of the dogs, including Togo and Balto, became national heroes. Today their efforts, and those of the courageous mushers, are commemorated every March by the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Jon Van Zyle’s stunning oil paintings capture the brutal conditions, pristine wilderness, and sheer guts and determination demonstrated by the heroic mushers and dogs.

Tundra Mouse: A Storyknife Book

Using a traditional technique called storyknifing, two Yupik Eskimo sisters share a story about the mice that made a nest out of tinsel from the Christmas tree.

This Land Is My Land

In his own words and paintings, acclaimed Native American artist George Littlechild takes young readers back in time to the first meeting between his Plains Cree ancestors and the first European settlers in North America. Through inspiring autobiographical stories accompanied by vivid, dramatic paintings, he recounts the history of his people and their relationship to the land, relating their struggles and triumphs with sensitivity, irony, and humor. Littlechild expresses his wish to use his art to portray the wonders of his heritage and to heal the pain of his people’s history and offers hope and guidance from the Native American perspective. This Land is My Land is a winner of the Jane Addams Picture Book Award and the National Parenting Publications Gold Medal.

A Small Tall Tale From The Far Far North

small tallThis spectacularly beautiful, inventive picture-book journal of life with the Alaskan Eskimos at the turn of the century is a brilliant leap of the imagination and the embodiment of the aphorism “every picture tells a story.”

Full color throughout.

New York Times Best Illustrated Book Of The Year, Ala Notable Children’s Book

How Snowshoe Hare Rescued The Sun: A Tale From The Arctic

When the demons who live under the earth steal the sun leaving the tundra in darkness, the animals send Bear, Wolf, and finally Snowshoe Hare to bring it back.