Buffalo Bird Girl: A Hidatsa Story

This fascinating picture book biography tells the childhood story of Buffalo Bird Woman, a Hidatsa Indian born around 1839. Through her true story, readers will learn what it was like to be part of this Native American community that lived along the Missouri River in the Dakotas, a society that depended more on agriculture for food and survival than on hunting. Children will relate to Buffalo Bird Girl’s routine of chores and playing with friends, and they will also be captivated by her lifestyle and the dangers that came with it.
Using as a resource the works of Gilbert L. Wilson, who met Buffalo Bird Woman and transcribed her life’s story in the early 20th century, award-winning author-illustrator S. D. Nelson has captured the spirit of Buffalo Bird Girl and her lost way of life. The book includes a historical timeline.

Count Me In!: A Parade of Mexican Folk Art Numbers in English and Spanish

Practice your numbers in English and Spanish when you count the beautiful dancers, playful musicians, and happy children of Oaxaca as the Guelaguetza parade goes by! Pronounced Gal-a-get-zah, the lively celebration—full of traditional dancing and music—takes place every July deep in the heart of southern Mexico. ONE band leader with a big white balloon! DOS hombres with firecrackers! THREE musicians! FOUR giants! All exquisitely handcrafted by the Mexican folk art masters Guillermina, Josefina, Irene, and Concepción Aguilar, in collaboration with author and scholar Cynthia Weill. Bienvenidos!Welcome to the parade!


Chinese and English Nursery Rhymes

A collection of nursery rhymes in English and Chinese, some originating from each tradition, interspersed with facts about Chinese culture and traditions.

Tashi and the Tibetan Flower Cure

A young Tibetan American girl helps her grandfather recover from an illness through the use of a traditional cure that focuses on spiritual as well as physical recovery and brings together a caring community.

The Mummer’s Song

Don’t seem like Christmas if the mummers are not here, Granny would say as she knit in her chair. But on a cold, clear Newfoundland night shortly after Christmas, several outlandishly costumed mummers do appear and Granny’s house suddenly erupts in a burst of joking and tomfollery, raucous singing and exuberant dancing. Granny and her two young charges are instantly caught up in the merriment,  When the evening’s festivities come to a close, the mummers are bid a fond farewell until next year.

Popular singer Bud Davidage wrote “The Mummer’s Song” as a tribute to a centuries-old custom in danger of disappearing.  Since its publication in 1973, it has fostered a revival of mummering, as noted author and Newfoundland son Kevin Major points out in his afterword.  The sparkling illustrations in this picture book adaptation are by the well-known Canadian artist Ian Wallace.

Talking Eagle And The Lady Of Roses

This is the traditional story, told simply and elegantly, of how Juan Diego meets the beautiful Lady on a windswept hilltop in December and carries her message to the disbelieving bishop. The Lady fills Juanz’s cloak with full-blooming roses and impresses her image on its fibers as a sign for the bishop to fulfill her request of building a house of prayers. The story tells of how, over many years, countless hands built the great church dedicated to the Lady of Roses, Nuestra Senora Guadalupe on the hill of Tepeyac. Everyone will enjoy the story of Talking Eagle and the Lady of Roses and the wild and glorious illustrations of award-winning, Taos, New Mexico, artist Amy Cordova. Also included is an informative afterword by Gene Gollogly.

Crouching Tiger

A Chinese-American boy gains a new understanding of his Chinese grandfather in this celebratory story of family, martial arts, and the Chinese New Year. Vinson is very excited when his grandfather comes from China for a visit. When Grandpa practices tai chi in the garden, Vinson asks to learn, hoping it will be like kung fu, full of kicks and punches. But tai chi’s meditative postures are slow and still, and Vinson quickly gets bored. He can’t understand why Grandpa insists on calling him by his Chinese name, Ming Da, or why he has to wear a traditional Chinese jacket to the Chinese New Year parade. As the parade assembles, however, he notices the great respect given to his grandfather and the lion dancers under his training. And when Vinson is offered a role in the parade, he realizes that being part Chinese can be pretty cool—and is ready to start learning from his grandpa’s martial-arts mastery in earnest.

The Whispering Cloth: A Refugee’s Story

A young Hmong girl in a Thai refugee camp in the mid-1970s finds the story within herself to create her own pa’ndau.

Songs From The Loom: A Navajo Girl Learns To Weave (We Are Still Here : Native Americans Today)

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.