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.
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.
Arctic Stories
Acclaimed 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.
Byron Through The Seasons: A Dene-English Story Book
This Dene-English story book was produced by the students and teachers of Ducharme Elementary School in La Loche, Saskatchewan, with assistance from local advisors and elders. Together, they wrote the story, translated it, and worked on the pictures. Their goal was to highlight some aspects of Dene culture that were vital in the past and are still important today. They wanted to show the continuity of a genuine and successful way of life, and emphasize culturally-significant events and attitudes.To produce the book, over 400 hundred students provided ideas for the story line and art samples for the illustrations. Two hundred letters went out to the community families, asking for ideas and information with regard to story content. A dozen elders were consulted to provide accurate and culturally-correct information. A teacher committee of six worked on the project for two years.Byron Through the Seasons is a story told by Grandfather Jonas and imagined by his grandson, Byron. The balloon diagram in each picture represents the symbolic journey taken by Byron as he listens to stories of what Dene life is like during the four seasons of the year.
The Seven Fires
Presents the history of the colonization of the Ojibway people through a series of seven prophesies.
Where Did You Get Your Moccasins?
Children in an urban school are curious about a classmate’s moccasins.
Ms. Frizzle’s Adventures: Ancient Egypt
Ms. Frizzle and her tour group are transported to ancient Egypt, where they learn about the pyramids, mummification, flooding of the Nile, and other aspects of life in Egypt long ago.
Rhino Romp
Simu, a young white rhinoceros, gets lost while playing on the African plains, but is rescued by his mother and aunt.
Gary And Ray
Gary the gorilla is the only animal in the jungle who is lonely — all the other animals seem to have companions — and even the people of the village are frightened of him so they stay well away. But Gary has nightmares that hunters catch him, and he wishes that everyone could see how lonely and afraid he is. Then one day a tiny sunbird hamed Ray thinks he looks so sad that he ventures to talk to him. Soon this unlikely pair are best of friends, but Ray has a family and Gary can’t help wishing for one too. Then one day Ray doesn’t show up as usual, only to return days later with a wonderful surprise for Gary. In this delightful story of friendship, Ray’s resourcefulness in support of his fearsome friend has a touching and satisfying ending.
A Song for Jamela
The summer holidays are here and Jamela is bored as a girl can be! All she can think about is the Afro-Idols TV final, so when she lands a job at Divine Braids hair salon, she can’t believe her eyes when Afro-Idols celebrity Miss Bambi Chaka Chaka arrives at the salon to be coiffed. But while Jamela’s idol dozes and Aunt Beauty designs her starry hairdo, a buzzy fly appears on the scene and threatens to ruin everything.
See the review at WOW Review, Volume 5, Issue 3.