Native American, American Indian, First Nations Canadian, and Indigenous Books for Kids.
The recent family separation of some 14,000 children is not a new policy for the United States. Involuntary assimilation was a policy during the late 19th century when the U.S. and Canadian governments forced nearly 150,000 Native American and Indigenous children into Residential Schools reminiscent of Oliver Twist’s orphanage. In fact, the Residential Schools’ conditions were…
You might have missed the drama caused when Nancy Bo Flood was invited to join the “Indigenous Experience in Children’s Literature” panel. Native American children’s book blogger, Debbie Reese objected: “As regular readers of AICL know, I’ve been studying the ways Native peoples are depicted in children’s literature for decades. In that time, I’ve come…
I, along with Jump Into a Book, Franticmommy, am working on a Multicultural Children’s Book Day eBook of diversity, multicultural, and inclusive books lists from bloggers and authors including: All Done Monkey, Books My Kids Read, Crafty Moms Share, Colours of Us, The Educators’ Spin On It, Growing Book by Book, Imagination Soup, InCulture Parent, The Jenny…
This we know; the earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. All things are connected. Chief Seattle’s Thoughts In honor of Native American Heritage Month, I rounded up some newly published books that speak to the speech made…
I went for the first time to Plimoth Plantation as a chaperone for my son’s third grade field trip. I somehow managed to avoid it for my girls. It was really a great trip and the kids were very well prepared. My son said that he preferred learning about the Native American (and Wampanoags specifically) over…
Since reading about Children of the Tipi: Life in the Buffalo Days by Michael Oren Fitzgerald and hearing pushback by Debbie Reese that contemporary life of Native Americans was not included, it got me thinking. While the premise of Children of the Tipi was to document life in the bygone buffalo days, she has a…
I chose a Creek folk tale today for Picture book of the Day and wanted to explore both the story, its influences, and make connections to learn more about the Muscogee (Creek) people. I hope you enjoy this exploration! The Muscogee (Creek) people are descendents of a remarkable culture that, before 1500 AD, spanned all…
This is part 2 of the 3 part series on Top 10: Best Native American Children’s Books by Debbie Reese. For her Top 10 list of Picture Books, please click here.
In eerily similar circumstances, young Navajo Americans were forced to relocate to attend boarding school where great attempts were made by the school to purge them of their ethnic identity, particularly their language. Both children’s books that are featured talk about harsh punishments for speaking in their native tongue. This forced relocation is not unlike the Japanese Americans during WWII. Is this really America, the home of the free?! This is the ugly underbelly that doesn’t get much press coverage. Am I the only one who didn’t learn about the Navajo Code Breakers at school in U.S. History? I am glad for these books to teach a new generation, and our nation, that the differences that make us unique make our country more powerful. Imagine if that boarding school were successful in wiping out the Navajo language? It’s really not inconceivable if the timing of the war were different!