United States

Materials from United States of America

Nutik and Amaroq Play Ball

Amaroq is a lively Eskimo boy who fives at the top of the world with his best friend, Nutik, the wolf pup. Amaroq was named after a great wolf leader; Nutik is the wolf leader’s grandpup. The boy and the wolf pup are like brothers.One day Amaroq and Nutik want to play football, but their ball has disappeared. What shall they do? Listening to and observing Nutik’s wolf talk, Amaroq follows him outside. The two friends wander out onto the tundra, where there are no trees, no paths, and no landmarks to help them find their way home again. Amaroq is afraid they are lost, but then he remembers what the great wolf leader he was named after would do. By observing nature and following what it says, Amaroq and Nutik are safe again-but not before finding a surprise for both of them!Amaroq and Nutik’s adventure follows the first picture book about them, Nutik, the Wolf Pup, and continues the Arctic saga about these characters originally drawn from Julie’s Wolf Pack, sequel to the Newbery Medal-winning Julie of the Wolves.

Stealing Buddha’s Dinner

As a Vietnamese girl coming of age in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Nguyen is filled with a rapacious hunger for American identity, and in the pre-PC-era Midwest (where the Jennifers and Tiffanys reign supreme), the desire to belong transmutes into a passion for American food. More exotic- seeming than her Buddhist grandmother’s traditional specialties, the campy, preservative-filled “delicacies” of mainstream America capture her imagination. In Stealing Buddha’s Dinner, the glossy branded allure of Pringles, Kit Kats and Toll House Cookies becomes an ingenious metaphor for Nguyen’s struggle to become a “real” American, a distinction that brings with it the dream of the perfect school lunch, burgers and Jell- O for dinner, and a visit from the Kool-Aid man. Vivid and viscerally powerful, this remarkable memoir about growing up in the 1980s introduces an original new literary voice and an entirely new spin on the classic assimilation story.

Adventure On Thunder Island (Blue Kite Series)

In this book, children of the Ojibwa First Nation learn the stories of their culture by living them.Jessica takes a ride on her brother’s raft and is washed ashore on Thunder Island. Jack Waboose meets a troll in Colony Creek and trades a golden walnut for a Frisbee. Troy accepts a dare to catch birds on Pidgeon Bridge and gets trapped. Milton Whitehawk takes a walk in Ebony Forest and meets a mysterious girl who says that she’s his sister.These are the stories that you will read about in Adventure on Thunder Island, tales in which the supernatural is everywhere, and exciting events happen every day.

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

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.

 

“Just Talking About Ourselves”: Voices Of Our Youth (Just Talking About Ourselves)

The prose that comprise these anthologies are true depictions of the lives of Native youth in urban and reserve settings. Volume 2.

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.

Smiler’s Bones

Provides the story of an Eskimo boy who, after being brought from his home in Greenland to New York City by explorer Robert Peary, was forced to deal with the death of his father, and the loss of everything familiar to him.