Indigo's Bookshelf: Voices of Native Youth

I like poetry. I was attracted to this book because of the beautiful cover. The outline of a girl of Color blowing a dandelion that releases the names of the poets in rainbow colors. Yes, illustrator Marlena Myles (Spirit Lake Dakota/Mohegan/Muscokee Creek) did beautiful work. This book contains a diversity of poems and poets, some of them Native. The first poem, "Giving Thanks," by Joseph Bruchac, is dedicated to the memory of Chief Jake Swamp, whose book GIVING THANKS, A NATIVE GOOD MORNING PRAYER, is in most of our homes and some of our schools. It's a Reading Rainbow book. Bruchac offer a shorter version that begins: "Thanksgiving is more/ that just one day, so a Mohawk elder/ said to me."                           The back of the book includes part of the Bruchac poem--love that girl's hair! Th@nksgiving is in the background of this book. ...

Rewatching Debbie Reese’s Arbuthnot lecture, “An Indigenous Critique of Whiteness in Children’s Literature” By Alexis, 19, Eduardo, 19, Michael, 17, Charlie, 16 and Ashleigh, 13 ( We start watching the lecture again, stopping the video, taking notes and texting) Eduardo: There is a bit missing at the beginning, but it comes in just in time for Ms. Debbie to talk about teaching kindergarten and first grade. Alexis: Ms. Debbie shares photos of reading to her daughter. “We read A LOT.”   So important for Indigenous elders and children to share books, which is why AICL is the best resource. Ashleigh: There she is! She looks so beautiful and such a warm voice. Eduardo: In 1993, her family moved on campus and encountered a racist ‘Indian’ mascot. “Trying to understand why people were so moved by that clearly ridiculous image changed me. I started studying and talking about Native depictions in children’s books.” Alexis: Her daughter Liz pointed out to a tea...

We decided as a team that every time one of us posts a review, that person is also going to pick a Hall of Fame book, author or series. Although the reviews are one member's opinion, the Hall of Fame books have been unanimously voted as essential Native #ownvoices and kidlit & YALit classics. Michael, 17 picks...THE HIDDEN ROOTS, by Joseph Bruchac. Bruchac is the one Native author that we were all assigned in school. At least one of his books has appeared on the influential (in Florida) SSYRA lists. I love his scary books. SKELETON MAN was one of the first books I was able to read cover to cover all by myself. I didn't lose my dyslexia, but I was so fascinated by it, I barely struggled to get it read and I wanted to talk to everyone about it and read the first few pages aloud to freak people out. HIDDEN ROOTS (#ownvoices/Abenaki) was a slower read for me. I kept going back over it, because I didn't want to miss anything. It is a book where the 11 year old ...