Describes the family life, games, hunting and fishing techniques, homes, clothing, beliefs, and means of travel of the Indians of the Northwest.
Americas
Materials from the Americas
Touching Spirit Bear
Within Cole Matthews lie anger, rage and hate. Cole has been stealing and fighting for years. This time he caught Alex Driscal in the, parking lot and smashed his head against the sidewalk. Now, Alex may have permanent brain damage’and Cole is in the Biggest trouble of his life.
Cole is offered Circle Justice: a system based on Native American traditions that attempts to provide healing for the criminal offender, the victim and the, community. With prison as his only alternative, Cole plays along. He says he wants to repent, but in his heart Cole blames his alcoholic mom his, abusive dad, wimpy Alex — everyone but himself — for his situation.
Cole receives a one-year banishment to a remote Alaskan island. There, he is mauled by Mysterious white bear of Native American legend. Hideously injured, Cole waits for his death His thoughts shift from from Anger to humility. To survive, he must stop blaming others and take responsibility for his life. Rescuers arrive to save Cole’s but it is the attack of the Spirit Bear that may save his soul.
Ben Mikaelsen paints a vivid picture of a juvenile offender, examining the roots without absolving solving him of responsibility for his actions, and questioning a society in which angry people make victims of their peers and communities. Touching Spirit Bear is a poignant testimonial to the power of a pain that can destroy, or lead to healing
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.
The Frog Princess: A Tlingit Legend From Alaska
Many men begin to flock to the Tlingit village hoping to make the headman’s beautiful daughter their bride, then retreat in disgrace as none is ever good enough for her. Weary of the suitors and their presents, she proclaims that she’s sooner marry a frog from the lake than any of the men after her heart. One night soon after, a very handsome young man–with slightly bulging eyes–appears on her threshold to fulfill her words, and she follows him underwater to her new home amongst the Frog People. But her peace is interrupted when her parents demand her return to the village, and the maiden finds herself caught in a clash between the worlds of land and sea. In Kimmel’s captivating retelling of the Tlingit legend, with breathtaking illustrations by Rosanne Litzinger, a maiden struggles to find the place where she truly belongs.
The Light On The Tent Wall: A Bridging (Native American Ser)
Mary Tall
Mountain is a Native writer whose “lantern voices seek to lead us out of the given darkness,” and “her work, like seasoned oak, is full of heat and fire, simplicity and compassion,” writes poet and scholar Alfred Robinson. The poems in this collection confront death and engage the sacred. Joy Harjo calls each poem “a track, and the series of tracks makes a bridge back to the ‘light on the tent wall,’ which is the sacred place of the songs, the stories that created us.”
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.
Mayuk the Grizzly Bear: A Legend of the Sechelt People
This is a story of how one great-grandfather decides to give his great-grandson his special name in the Sechelt language. These traditional teaching legends come straight from the oral traditions of the Sechelt Nation.
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.
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.
My Name Is Seepeetza
Her name was Seepeetza when she was at home with her family. But now that she’s living at the Indian residential school her name is Martha Stone, and everything else about her life has changed as well. Told in the honest voice of a sixth grader, this is the story of a young Native girl forced to live in a world governed by strict nuns, arbitrary rules, and a policy against talking in her own dialect, even with her family. Seepeetza finds bright spots, but most of all she looks forward to summers and holidays at home. This autobiographical novel is written in the form of Seepeetza’s diary.