Buffalo Dreamer by Violet Duncan is a middle grade novel that confronts the painful and traumatic history of the Indigenous residential school system. Duncan, a member of the Plains Cree and Taino from Kehewin Cree Nation, addresses not only the horrors of the past, but also the resilience and strength of Indigenous communities who persevered through this painful history and found ways to maintain both their culture and identity. Sharing this history is very personal to Duncan whose father, grandparents, aunts and uncles were all survivors of the residential school system, Sixties Scoop, and Indian Day Schools. Duncan states that she too is a survivor. Continue reading
WOW Recommends
WOW Recommends: Book of the Month
WOW Recommends: Looking for Smoke
Looking for Smoke is K.A. Cobell’s debut novel for young adults. A member of the Blackfeet nation, Cobell takes on the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) that haunt the Indigenous nations within the western USA. As Geraldine, the grandmother of one of the missing/murdered notes, “If you want to get away with murder, do it on an Indian reservation” (p, 39). Told through the perspective of four teens, the novel focuses on the teen’s reactions to one missing girl and another murdered girl who they knew intimately as either a friend or relative. In connection to the story of the missing or murdered young women, the novel includes issues of identity, drug-usage, poverty, and family dynamics that are part of these young people’s lives. It also addresses the pride of community and tradition that allow for a well-rounded sense of people and place. Continue reading
WOW Recommends: Grandma’s Roof Garden
Set in contemporary Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan province in southwest China, Grandma’s Roof Garden tells a heartfelt story of Granny’s love for gardening and sharing food with her family and neighbors, while also highlighting the theme of sustainability. Granny tends to a rooftop garden atop her apartment building, where she lovingly nurtures a variety of vegetables. She collects discarded produce from the market to feed baby chicks, hens and geese or to create compost for her garden. Granny is energetic and powerful: “Swift and agile like a cat, / and tough and sturdy as an ox.” She digs, waters, and weeds all day in her garden and even builds a wooden fence. During harvest times, Granny shares fresh vegetables with her neighbors and cooks delicious dishes for her family, making them healthy, strong, and happy. Continue reading
WOW Recommends: Born Naughty: My Childhood in China
Born Naughty: My Childhood in China gives children an understanding of the culture and experiences of a child growing up in China in 1982. From the very first page, Jin’s story hooks the reader. “When I was young I lived with my family in a mud house so tiny we barely fit inside. Our house had just one room, filled mostly with the bed we all shared—my mother, Ma, Die (meaning “father”) my two younger brothers, and I.” When I read this aloud to a class of 3rd and 4th graders, they immediately had questions about how five people could sleep together on such a small bed in a tiny one-room house. The black and white illustrations by Anisi Baigude helped them imagine the scene. The illustrations are expressive and action packed, adding details that illuminate the story.
Each chapter in the book evoked more questions from the students especially the description of what water was available to drink. “Because we had so little of it, water was a big, big thing… To save it, my family drank hardly any. Ma set most aside for cooking and washing clothes. We took baths once, maybe twice a year and shared about three cups of water each day for washing hands. I let my hands get very dirty before I washed them. But—Ma’s big rule—always before we ate we had to wash our hands.” The children listening to this part of the story were incredulous — a bath once or twice a year? Continue reading
WOW Recommends: The Rock in My Throat
The Rock in My Throat by Kao Kalia Yang and illustrated by Jiemei Lin takes a stance of resistance with an ending that challenges the privileged status of English and the treatment of immigrants in the U.S. This autobiographical picturebook tells the story of Kalia’s childhood decision to be selectively mute in speaking English. Kalia and her family came to the U.S. as Hmong refugees, comfortable in speaking their beautiful native language in their home. When she witnesses a cashier’s demeaning treatment of her mother who struggles to communicate in English, a rock grows in her throat. Kalia stops speaking in school, causing concern and confusion among her teachers and classmates, and growing loneliness in the isolation she feels in this place where English dominates. At recess, she finds solace in the beauty of nature and a relief from the constant scrutiny and embarrassment she feels in the classroom. She is unable to explain to her teachers or parents why she has stopped speaking, and the book ends with Kalia still not speaking in school, but with the hope of a connection to a classmate who invites her to play. Continue reading
WOW Recommends: The Eyes and the Impossible
The Eyes and The Impossible by Dave Eggers is the story of Johannes, an independent stray dog that lives in the park eating the delicious food left by picnickers on the ground or in trash receptacles across his daily route of surveillance. He is, after all, the “eyes” of the park, informing the other nonhuman inhabitants who share the park with him of the changes he notes or of issues of which they should be informed. In many ways, Johannes is the caretaker of those with whom he shares his life.
For the most part, Johannes lives a wonderful life with all manner of possibilities. He runs fast, oh so fast, and sees, yes, sees so much, sees everything, of which he is the first to let the reader know. He reports his findings to the three buffalo who are the oldest and wisest of the inhabitants of the park. Johannes also accepts those around him. He appreciates them and councils with them, and only occasionally disparages the ducks, who seem to be not quite connected to, or concerned with, the rest of the world around them. Continue reading
WOW Recommends: Spirit Sleuths, How Magicians and Detectives Exposed the Ghost Hoaxes
For many people, October includes activities around spirits, ghosts and supernatural beings. On a related theme, although not to take away from the fantasy and fun of autumn, this month’s recommended book is Spirit Sleuths, How Magicians and Detectives Exposed the Ghost Hoaxes. Author Gail Jarrow invites readers to investigate the history behind particular supernatural activities.
This account begins in 1848 with two sisters in upstate New York who claimed that mysterious tappings in their house were communications from ghosts. As this story grew and traveled to nearby communities, the girls gained popularity, as did the séances they held. The author provides narrative detail that describes the experiences of their family. Jarrow continues her account to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when other people such as Ira and William Davenport, Henry Keller, and William Mumler claimed supernatural powers. The stories of their mystic experiences are documented in narrative form and include particular seemingly magical events, such as spirit cabinets, spirit photographs, planchette which led to the Ouija Boards, mind reading and fortune-telling. Each chapter ends with a section titled “How Did They Do It?”
These fraudulent spiritualists traveled nationally and internationally, holding meetings and giving false hope to grieving individuals that they could communicate with their dead loved ones. Eventually, suspicion of these experiences led to exposure of spiritual mediums and the fraudulent opportunities they provided emotional people. Continue reading
WOW Recommends: The House Before Falling Into The Sea
The House Before Falling Into the Sea by Ann Suk Wang is a picturebook that tells a story from Korean history that is seldom found in children’s books. In 1950, the Korean War broke out. North and South Korea were at war for 3 years. People fled southward to escape from the war. Korea is geographically a peninsula, with Busan located at the southern tip of the peninsula. Beyond Busan, there is no further land to which people could flee; it was the last refuge on the peninsula.
In the story, Kyung’s family has long resided near Busan, next to the sea. Her family has owned a cozy house shielded from the war which, fortunately, had not reached that far. However, Kyung’s parents opened their home to the refugees fleeing from the war. Kyung’s home is not intended to be a shelter, yet it became a sanctuary for the refugees. Kyung’s family welcomed them with open arms and shared their intimate space. Continue reading
WOW Recommends: The Enigma Girls
The Enigma Girls: How Ten Teenagers Broke Ciphers, Kept Secrets, and Helped Win World War II by Candace Fleming is an outstanding contribution to the history of World War II. Fleming tells the true story of the Girls who worked secretly at Bletchley Park, a World War II cryptology center in Britain. “There the team gathered intelligence of the most crucial nature. They strove to outwit the Nazis and break into German codes and ciphers.”
The hundreds of Girls, some of them as young as sixteen, and young women who worked there struggled to decode the messages sent by the Nazi forces. In doing so they made a major impact on the outcome of the war. Some estimates concluded that the work at Bletchley Park shortened the war by two years.
When they went to work at Bletchely Park, each of the workers were told, “You will never mention the name of this place, not to your family, not to your friends, not to anyone you may meet… You will never disclose to anyone the nature of the work you will be doing. Nor will you mention anything about the location of the place.” Each worker had to sign a document. They were told, “This is the Official Secrets Act. It clearly states that if you disclose the slightest information about this place or you work… you will committing TREASON.”
For that reason no one told about their war work or the place where they worked until many years later. Continue reading
WOW Recommends: Disagreement
Disagreement by Nani Brunini is a thought-provoking visual portrayal of the evolution, consequences and resolution of a disagreement. Originally published in Portugal as Discórdia, Brunini uses a limited color palette to visually convey the way a disagreement began with a thought exchange between two individuals, but eventually sucks in and escalates to involve a whole group of people shouting at each other, and becoming consumed with the disagreement.
Brunini starts and ends the story on the end pages, using double-page spreads throughout the book. The story begins with a young woman offering a thought bubble about something, represented by a small blue nest of squiggly lines. On the following spread her male companion offers a response, represented with orange blurry lines and smudges. On the next spread the blue nest and orange smudge become bigger as the characters put hands on hips and stand firm. Two characters watch from the side at first, but on the following spread they join in with their own thoughts which have become even bigger as the characters ball their fists and point fingers. On the next spread the disagreement with now six individuals spills across half of the image, the orange and blue weaving in and out and on top of each other. Each following spread adds characters contributing to the disagreement until the disagreement becomes personified as an enormous cat-like monster that chases and consumes the individuals. Continue reading