Seven new books are appearing this fall through the Sealaska Heritage Institute\u2019s early literacy, Library of Congress-recognized program, Baby Raven Reads.<\/p>\n
Launched in 2014 in Juneau, the program encourages adults in the lives of Alaska Native children ages 0-5 to speak, listen, and read to their children to get them ready for kindergarten and be successful in school. Part of this mission is achieved through the culturally-relevant books SHI releases through the program, which usually feature Northwest Coast art, language, and stories.<\/p>\n
\u201cOften-times books that are used in school unfortunately portray Native cultures erroneously, and that creates a disconnect for Native students. These books tell Native stories from the Native point of view and that is so important,\u201d said SHI Media Specialist Kathy Dye.<\/p>\n
Browsing the shelves <\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cShany\u00e1ak\u2019utlaax \u2014 Salmon Boy,\u201d one of the recently released seven, is a traditional Tlingit story. The version in this book was edited by Johnny Marks, Hans Chester, David Katzeek, Nora and Richard Dauenhauer, and illustrated by Tlingit artist Michaela Goade. SHI\u2019s Education Director Jackie Kookesh said it\u2019s her favorite of all the books because it is written both in English and Tlingit and the illustrations are beautiful.<\/p>\n \u201c(Salmon Boy) is a very special project that brought a lot of people together,\u201d Goade said. \u201cWith such respected and knowledgeable elders contributing to the text, I felt honored to have played my part in bringing it to life. Salmon Boy is a traditional Tlingit story of the Kiks.\u00e1di clan. That\u2019s my clan as well, and I was actually visiting family in Sitka (Kiks.\u00e1di territory) when reading the text and creating the sketches for the book. It felt very special.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s Go! A Harvest Story\u201d is an original text written by Hannah Lindoff and illustrated by Michaela Goade. Lindoff has been close to this program since it began when she signed her children up for Baby Raven Reads.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve attended events, workshops, received books in the mail, etc. It was about a year ago that the organizers asked me to work on some books for the program,\u201d Lindoff said. She feels greatly honored to be on the Baby Raven Reads team.<\/p>\n \u201c(It) takes on a noble, important mission, striving to increase early childhood education and literacy,\u201d Lindoff said.<\/p>\n One of her favorite moments since being involved with the program was when her son received the Tlingit alphabet books. Her daughter has since graduated out of Baby Raven and is now a Tlingit language student in the Tlingit Culture, Language and Literacy program.<\/p>\n \u201cShe picked up the books and said to her little brother \u2018Let me read these to you.\u2019 I know that I didn\u2019t teach her any of those letters or sounds. That\u2019s these programs working together, a perfect dove-tailing. The impact is huge and it\u2019s a joy to watch,\u201d Lindoff said.<\/p>\n The creative process for \u201cLet\u2019s Go\u201d began when Lindoff was asked to produce a story about harvesting traditional foods, something her husband is known to be passionate about, and when possible, he involves the whole family in what Lindoff calls a \u201csoul feeding\u201d activity.<\/p>\n Over the course of a year, the book takes the reader on a journey with the use of an imperative narrator who calls for others to join in different harvesting activities such as gathering cedar, picking berries, and fishing.<\/p>\n \u201cMy favorite part of the process on this book was seeing it come to life with the illustrations. Michaela really captured the beauty of the landscape we are lucky to inhabit,\u201d Lindoff said.<\/p>\n She turned it into something relatable for those who grew up in Juneau and were lucky enough to participate in some of that harvesting.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has a bit of nostalgia for the adults, excitement for kids, and joy for everyone, thanks to Hannah\u2019s wonderful poem,\u201d Goade said.<\/p>\n Lindoff is also the author of \u201cPicking Berries\u201d and teamed up with illustrator and Tsimshian artist David Lang to bring it to life.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause the use of rhyme is often so helpful to remember new words it seemed like a good fit that in this fun, rolling rhyme the book could incorporate and teach Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian words for different berries. My daughter helped me with the pronunciation so I could get the rhymes right. She was very patient with me and it was fun to work together,\u201d Lindoff said. \u201cThe coolest thing about working with an illustrator is knowing that their influences, their memories are also coming to life, making the scope of the book twice as broad. I love the way David Lang brought his heritage to the book and added beautiful formline birds and other elements into the illustrations. It\u2019s stunning.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNative Values: Living in Harmony\u201d was written by SHI president Rosita Worl and has photography from SHI staff and contractors.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Woman Who Married the Bear\u201d is a traditional Tlingit story adapted by writer and playwright Frank Kaash Katasse and illustrated by Haida artist Janine Gibbons.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Woman Carried Away by Killer Whales\u201d is a traditional Haida story also illustrated by Gibbons.<\/p>\n \u201cAm\u2019ala\u201dis a traditional Tsimshian story adapted by Katasse and illustrated by Lang. It\u2019s not yet released, but is coming this fall.<\/p>\n SHI has previously released other books through the Baby Raven Reads program. Once \u201cAm\u2019ala\u201d is released, it will total 18 different books.<\/p>\n The books are available through SHI\u2019s store in Juneau and on their website: sealaska-heritage-store.myshopify.com.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u2022 Mackenzie Fisher is a freelance writer living in Juneau. Capital City Weekly staff writer Clara Miller and editor Mary Catharine Martin contributed to this story.<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Seven new books are appearing this fall through the Sealaska Heritage Institute\u2019s early literacy, Library of Congress-recognized program, Baby Raven Reads. Launched in 2014 in Juneau, the program encourages adults in the lives of Alaska Native children ages 0-5 to speak, listen, and read to their children to get them ready for kindergarten and be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":7,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[74],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-33051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","tag-arts-and-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33051\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33051"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=33051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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