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As
part of its Baby Raven Reads program, Sealaska Heritage Institute
will release six culturally-based children's books that reflect
the Native worldview.
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As part of its Baby Raven Reads program, Sealaska Heritage Institute
released six culturally-based children's books that reflect the Native
worldview.
Included is a three-book set derived from ancient creation stories
that have been passed down from generation to generation for thousands
of years. The set includes Raven and the Box of Daylight, Raven
Brings us Fire, and Origins of Rivers and Streams. The books were
adapted from oral histories by Pauline Duncan and illustrated by
Lindsay Carron.
There is also a book that teaches the Lingít words for
colors. "In the Lingít language, words for colors come from
comparisons to animals, plants and natural objects found in Southeast
Alaska," SHI President Rosita Worl said in a press release. "For
example, the word for 'blue' comes from the Steller's jays common
to the region, so to describe something as blue, you would say 'it
is like a Steller's jay.' "
The words in Colors were compiled by Yarrow Vaara, and the book
was illustrated by David Lang.
The final books being released are Tlingit Alphabet, a two-book
set edited by Katrina Hotch, Linda Belarde and Keri Eggleston, reviewed
by traditional scholar Dr. Walter Soboleff and illustrated by Crystal
Worl. Readers who want to hear the sounds that comprise the Lingít
alphabet may do so through SHI's new app Learning Tlingit or through
an interactive tool on the institute's language resources page at
SealaskaHeritage.org.
Illustrator David Lang will be signing copies of Colors on Friday,
December 2 from 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Walter Soboleff Building
in Juneau, Alaska. All are welcome. Those enrolled in Baby Raven
Reads, a program for Alaska Native families with children up to
the age of 5 that promotes language development and school readiness,
will receive copies of the books on Saturday, December 10 at the
program event from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
SHI has called the release of these books "groundbreaking" because
so few culturally-relevant books from Southeast Alaska exist that
are not tailored to a commercial market. Worl pointed out how research
has shown that Native students do better academically when their
cultures are incorporated into learned materials.
"We know that schools sometimes allow our children to fail and
that they've stumbled in the past by supplying books with distorted
depictions about Native cultures," Worl said. "With this series
we are aiming to meet the demand for books that reflect the Native
worldview and to give our children some of the tools they need to
succeed."
Tlingit Alphabet and Colors are geared toward children up to
age 3, and the creation stories are intended for children up to
age 5. All the books will be available in the Sealaska Heritage
Store in Juneau this month. In May, SHI released three other books:
the counting book 10 Sitka Herring, and Baby Raven and Baby Eagle,
which teach the English and Tlingit words for clan crests. SHI plans
to also release books that will teach the English and Haida words
for Haida crests.
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