Materials from United States of America
Celinda McKelvey, a Navajo girl, participates in the Kinaalda, the traditional coming-of-age ceremony of her people.
This book is featured in the October 2018 My Take/Your Take.
Jaclyn Roessel live in Kayenta, Arizona, on the Navajo reservation. Like most young girls, Jaclyn has many interests. She likes her math class, she plays basketball and volleyball, and she loves in-line skating. She is also interested in rug weaving, and she has asked her grandmother to teach her how to weave. For the Navajos, weaving is more than a craft or hobby. It is an important part of the culture and history of the Dine–the people. Jaclyn’s grandmother has explained that she wants Jaclyn to learn not just the technique of weaving but the stories and songs that go along with it. These stories about Spider Woman and Changing Woman have been passed down from generation to generation. In Songs from the Loom, photographer and writer Monty Roessel accompanies Jaclyn and her grandmother as they shear sheep, gather plants to dye wool, and weave a rug. Navajo rugs are highly valued and hang in museums around the world. This book looks at what the beautiful rugs mean to the Navajos.
Members of a Tewa Indian family living in Santa Clara Pueblo in New Mexico follow the ages-old traditions of their people as they create various objects of clay.
John’s mother is geting married and he has to leave the reservation. John’s grandfather tells him he has the special unbreakable code to take with him. This story portrays the quiet pride of a Navajo code talker as he explains to his grandson how the Navajo language, faith and ingenuity helped win World War II.
This story reveals the life of a Yavapai-Apache boy named Wassaja, who was kidnapped from his tribe and sold as a slave. Adopted and renamed Carlos Montezuma, the young boy traveled throughout the Old West, bearing witness to the poor treatment of American Indians. Carlos eventually became a doctor and leader for his people.
The annual seasons and rhythms of the desert are a dance of clouds, wind, rain, and flood—water in it roles from bringer of food to destroyer of life. The critical importance of weather and climate to native desert peoples is reflected with grace and power in this personal collection of poems, the first written creative work by an individual in O’odham and a landmark in Native American literature.
Tells how several animals failed in their efforts to steal fire for the Hopis, but eventually Vulture succeeded.
Describes the traditional coming-of-age ceremony for young Apache women, in which they use special dances and prayers to reenact the Apache story of creation and celebrate the power of Changing Woman, the legendary ancestor of their people.
A mouse couple, in search of the mightiest husband for their daughter, approach the sun, the clouds, the wind, and a butte, before the unexpected victor finally appears.
When Marta ruins her homework and breaks her glasses, her grandmother soothes her with an ancient story and one of her delicious tortillas.