Congratulations to Michaela Goade! She’s just been awarded the Caldecott Honor Award for her picture book Berry Song, which she both wrote and illustrated. Published in 2022 by Little, Brown, the book is a luscious feast of storytelling centered around a grandmother and her granddaughter picking wild berries. It celebrates the bounty of nature, the cultural and spiritual connections between people and their environment, and the continuity of Tlingit teachings about that relationship.

Not surprisingly, given Goade’s skills as an illustrator, the pictures are gorgeous, as lush, dreamy, and detailed as the rainforests of Southeast Alaska, where she grew up and lives. In 2021 Goade received the Caldecott Medal for her work in the book We Are Water Protectors, written by Carol Lindstrom, thus becoming the first Alaska Native and indigenous artist to win the prestigious award.

The text, too, is lovely. Rhythmic, with rich words, deliberate pacing, and concise phrasing, it subtly conveys an overall pattern and themes that reflect the values of the Tlingit Nation, of which she is a member. Gratitude and interconnectedness permeate the book; a recognition that we humans are not just part of nature, but live in a deeply reciprocal relationship with our environment. As Goade states in a two-page Note from the Author, “Berries hold great symbolic and spiritual significance. They connect us to land, community, and culture. They remind us of home.”

Though the main text is in English, a few Tlingit words are smoothly tucked into the narrative, such as gunalchéesh (thank you). Tlingit names for berries appear in an illustration, in the author’s note alongside photos of berries and, more extensively in both Tlingit and English, in the endpapers, which are beautifully illustrated with a variety of berries.

Goade’s work melds artistry with deep roots to landscape and culture that are life-affirming and heartening. Berry Song is a gift to readers. Gunalshéesh! Thank you for your work, Michaela Goade, and congratulations!

Baby Raven Reads Board Books

Sealaska Heritage continues to publish beautifully crafted books in Tlingit, Tsimshian, and Haida, the Native languages of Southeast Alaska. Three titles from 2019 provide engaging material for children under five and their families to learn about these languages and the cultures they express in that sturdiest of form, the board book.

Xanggáay: Learn the Colors in Xaad Kíl introduces readers to the Haida words for basic colors using examples from nature that children in Southeast Alaska will be familiar with: plants, animals, and the sun. Many of the illustrations, which were created by David Lang, employ a traditional formline style. The colors are vibrant and engaging. Words are presented first in Xaad Kíl, with English below. Skíl Jáadei (Linda Schrak) and K’uyáang (Benjamin Young) chose the words for the very simple text.

From the Sealaska Heritage website, a link to pronunciation can be heard here.

Xanggáay: Learn the Colors in Xaad Kíl

Similarly, Wilgyigyet: Learn the Colors in Sm’algyax, uses the same format and illustrations by Lang to present the Tsimshian words for colors. In this case, the Haayk Foundation contributed the text. The link to pronunciation is here.

Wilgyigyet: Learn the Colors in Sm’algyax

Cradle Songs of Southeast Alaska, illustrated by Crystal Kaakeeyáa Worl, is a more complex book. Not only is it tri-lingual, with three lullabies each in Lingit (Tlingit), Xaad Kíl (Haida), and Sm’algyax (Tsimshian), it includes English translations for each and comes with a CD. Some songs have been passed down from elders, some were adapted from older texts, and some are new creations.

Cradle Songs of Southeast Alaska

The artwork in Cradle Songs, while still appropriate for a board book’s young audience, is more complex. The style combines traditional and modern elements to compliment the snippets of story in each song. I particularly enjoy the illustration of a young girl, drawn in formline style, “packing something up the hill” — an armful of books!

I love the work that Sealaska Heritage is doing to create beautiful, engaging, and useful books that authentically represent Southeast Alaska Native cultures and promote these living languages. These and other books can be purchased from the Sealaska Heritage website, which contains an array of language materials in Tlingit, Tsimshian, and Haida.

Little Whale

Little Whale by Roy A. Peratrovich, Jr. melds family history with imagination in this slim chapter book about 10-year-old Kéet, a young Tlingit boy who accompanies his father on a 200-mile journey by canoe from present-day Sitka to Ketchikan. Though fiction, the story is based on a voyage taken by Peratrovich’s Tlingit grandfather, Andrew Wanamaker, as a young child.

The book begins with a map of their route, a glossary of eight “words to know,” and an introduction that gives background information on the Tlingit people and their way of life, effectively setting the stage for the story that follows. The tale is thus able to unfold naturally, without excessive interruptions for explanations that would be necessary for young readers unfamiliar with Tlingit culture and Southeastern Alaska.

Kéet, whose name means “Killer Whale” in Tlingit, is the youngest and smallest member of his family. Normally left behind while his father and brothers hunt and fish, Kéet is thrilled when one morning his father takes him halibut fishing. On that excursion, they discover and successfully free a baby whale caught in a strange net, probably belonging to the “pale people” who have begun to appear in Tlingit country. Shortly after this brave and compassionate act, Kéet stows away in his father’s canoe, secretly joining a large party of men led by his father on a mission to seek recompense for a wrong committed by a member of the Ketchikan clan. Suffice to say, adventures involving weather, whales, and their reception in Ketchikan ensue.

Little Whale by Roy A. Peratrovich, Jr.
Published 2016, Snowy Owl Books
University of Alaska Press

While most of the story is told in a straightforward narrative style, one chapter contains an element of the fantastic, which Peratrovich identifies in his author’s note at the end of the book as his own embellishment.

Much of the interest of the story is found in the details of daily life, customs, tools, language, and attitudes among the Tlingit of that place and time. Peratrovich, who is the son of renowned Alaska Native civil rights leaders Elizabeth and Roy Peratrovich, thanks noted Tlingit scholar Rosita Worl for authenticating his inclusion of Tlingit words and customs. Blurbs by Dr. Worl and Tlingit leader Randy Wanamaker further support the high level of authenticity found in both the text and the drawings. 

Peratrovich’s drawings enhance the story, with most chapters containing one black-and-white spot illustration. While several of the drawings would benefit from cleaner lines and better contrast, the details they depict are informative and interesting.

Little Whale is a valuable addition to the small body of authentic literature for children about Tlingit people and culture. While the book has an educational tone, the author’s storytelling style is strong enough to convey a tale that should be of interest to most children ages eight to ten. As well, it offers numerous possibilities for discussion about topics such as the impacts of Western colonization upon Alaska Natives, subsistence living, settlement of disputes, survival at sea, and values such as courage, compassion, and respect. 

The Smell of Other People's Houses

We’ve all heard the saying “It takes a village to raise a child.” In Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock’s new young adult novel, The Smell of Other People’s Houses, that village is 1970s Fairbanks, Alaska. The story interweaves the lives of an extensive cast of characters, connected by blood, friendship, and circumstance, as narrated by four teens.

Each of these teens has problems – mostly big ones. Ruth’s father is dead, her mother “gone,” so she and her younger sister Lily live with their strict, emotionally distant grandmother. Dora, from an alcoholic, abusive home, wants to feel part of a family where people like each other and she can sleep safely at night. Alyce, whose parents are divorced, can’t bring herself to disappoint her commercial-fisherman father by asking to skip part of the fishing season in Southeast Alaska to pursue her dream of dancing. And Hank shoulders the responsibility for himself and his two younger brothers as they decide to escape a dismal situation at home since their father died.

Underlying all these characters’ personal difficulties is Hitchcock’s awareness of the effects of poverty, racism, and stereotypes. Some harsh words are spoken. And yet The Smell of Other People’s Houses is anything but depressing. The novel is not so much about the characters’ problems but about how they live through the tough parts, finding hope in small moments, holding on to whatever they can find -- and how people help each other to do that, sometimes in surprising ways.

And that is what’s finally uplifting about this book – all those people, whether Alaska Native or non-native, young or old, caring enough about each other to help each other through.

Having grown up in Fairbanks, commercial fished, and worked for public radio, Hitchcock portrays Alaska with all its warts, charms, and eccentricities. Not surprisingly, the power to nurture and heal found in a relationship with the land, through traditional subsistence and small-scale commercial fishing, is a theme throughout the novel. The author’s heavy reliance on synchronicity sometimes stretches credulity — but I found myself ready to overlook this fault in exchange for hopeful outcomes for these young people I’d come to care about.

The voices of the teens are compelling, forthright and distinct. Some may object to the harsh depiction of Dora’s parents, with no explanation of how they reached such a sorry state. Perhaps more could have been done to flesh out those two characters. But overall the author represents a rich variety of Alaskans with insight and affection, without sugarcoating the very real problems teens face. Whether you’re 16 or 60, if you’ve lived in Alaska any length of time – even if you didn’t grow up in 1970s Fairbanks – you’ll recognize familiar people, places, and ways of being in The Smell of Other People’s Houses.

For more information about the book and the author, check out her website.

Mary's Wild Winter Feast

An on-going challenge in Alaska is finding authentic, place-based, and culturally relevant books for children. Mary’s Wild Winter Feast by Hannah Lindoff, illustrated by Nobu Koch and Clarissa Rizul, fits that bill.

Snowy Owl Books/University of Alaska Press

In six short chapters the book introduces readers to the bond between a family and their Southeast Alaska homeland through the wild foods they gather and preserve. On a rainy winter day, when Mary questions why they live there, her father takes her to the pantry. Jars of food on the shelves — salmon, deer, seaweed, blueberries, and smoked salmon — inspire brief, one-chapter stories about how the food was harvested and preserved the previous summer. Told primarily by Mary’s father, the stories are saved from didacticism by their realistic details, genuine affection between father and daughter, and a conversational style that incorporates Mary’s comments and memories, as well as Dad’s.

The book is unusual in that it is illustrated by two artists, both from Juneau (as is Lindoff). Nobu Koch’s background in 3-D animation renders graphic-novel style illustrations that form the visual backbone for the story. Clarissa Rizul, a Tlingit artist currently living in Colorado, contributed beautiful formline collages, which Koch integrated into her artwork. Rizul’s images add a layer of depth that enrich the illustrations both culturally and artistically.

Though not explicitly stated in the story, readers presume the family is Alaska Native, based on the art and the introduction, which explains that the story reflects the author's family. Lindoff's husband is Tlingit and Haida and the author was adopted into a Tlingit clan.

Mary’s Wild Winter Feast is all about relationships — a people to their homeland, a family to their environment and traditions, a father and daughter to each other. It captures the joy of those relationships and the satisfaction of participating in the web of life through harvesting, preserving, sharing and eating wild foods. Best of all, it does that through authentic stories a child can relate to.

Raven House Mouse

The subtitle for this unique book reads “How a lonely orphan came to be accepted into a Tlingit clan.” Who is this orphan? A mouse!

First, a little background for non-Alaskan readers. The Tlingit Indians are indigenous people of Southeast Alaska. The Raven House of the book’s title is a clan house, used by the Indian community, in Haines, Alaska. You may have seen a photograph of the beautiful carving of a raven by renowned carver Nathan Jackson, which is attached to this building.

The story, a picture book, is told from the perspective of an orphaned mouse who stumbles into Raven House, attracted by the warmth emanating from a dryer vent as winter is setting in. Soon the little mouse observes the traditional dancing, drumming and singing practices that take place in the house, which is occupied by a man called “the caretaker.” Impressed by the dancers’ regalia, the mouse makes his own button-blanket, head band and drum from salvaged scraps. Soon he is practicing along with the Tlingit dance troupe, unobserved (he believes). Adventures and friendship ensue…

This interesting little story amuses and intrigues as much as it teaches. Tlingit cultural values are integral throughout, portrayed thoughtfully through the plot, characters, language, foreward, author’s note, glossary and art, rather than heavy-handed didacticism. Robert Davis, a Tlingit artist from the small village of Kake in Southeast Alaska, employs a traditional style of designs based on carving to represent all the characters, both people and animals.

Coupled with clean lines and plenty of white space, the overall effect is direct, unpretentious and engaging, the type of art that supports and enhances the story rather than overwhelming it with gorgeousness. This highly symbolic style of art, best known outside of Alaska in totem poles, is surprisingly effective, though it may require some interpretation for children unfamiliar with it. In terms of synthesizing the traditional and the modern, I especially enjoy the illustrations of the “dryer vent with glorious blast of steam,” the Christmas tree, and the caretaker, snoozing in his recliner amidst his regalia.

Author Jan Steinbright dedicates Raven House Mouse to elder Austin Hammond (Daanawáak in Tlingit), who was the caretaker of Raven House for many years and “freely shared his wisdom and knowledge with all people.” He died in 1993. Steinbright explains in her author’s notes that inspiration for the story came from a little mouse that lived at Raven House with Mr. Hammond’s approval. This attitude of acceptance taught her a lesson about respect for all living things, which is reflected in this story.

Raven House Mouse includes a foreward, author’s notes, glossary, and three photos.