Dakota

A powerful and hopeful ode to Indigenous children.

Indigenous. Native. On this land, you may roam.
Child of the sun, on this land, you are home.

Of the Sun is an uplifting and mighty poem that wraps the Indigenous children of the Americas in reassuring words filled with hope for a brighter future and reminders of their bond and importance to the land. Each page fills them with pride and awe of their cultural heritage and invites them to unite and inspire change in the world.

Paired with powerful art reflecting cultures of various Indigenous Nations and Tribes, the poem offers all readers a sense of the history and majesty of the land we live on and how we can better care for ourselves and the world when we recognize our connection to the land and to each other.

Written by Xelena González, poet and activist in the Native and Latinx communities, and an enrolled member of the Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation. Bold illustrations by prominent Anishinaabe illustrator Emily Kewageshig depict landscapes across the Americas and children from many backgrounds
Endnotes provide more information on Native and Indigenous unity and activism in younger generations

Reviews
"Of The Sun is a loving homage to the Indigenous peoples of this land—both in González’s beautiful, lyrical poem and Kewageshig’s warm, vibrant Anishinaabe-styled artwork. A wonderful read aloud you must add to bookshelves at home, at school, and in community!" - Traci Sorell, award-winning author of We Are Grateful Otsaliheliga and At The Mountain’s Base

"A luminous song, poem, promise
of cultures and connection,
of kinship and caring,
for Indigenous children across the continent." - Cynthia Leitich Smith, author of Jingle Dancer

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 3 to 5.

Subjects / Themes / Topics Included: Indigenous Peoples in the Americas; Poetry; Land Connection; Inuit Clothing; Traditional Hair Bun (tsiiyéél); Concheros Dance; Three Sisters; La Danza de la Flor de Piña; Smoke Dance; Jingle Dress Dance; Manoomin (Wild Rice); English Words from Indigenous Languages; Indigenous Farming Practices; Bison; Land Back Movement.

Additional Information
32 pages | 10.00" x 9.75" | Hardcover

A stunning account of the Sacred Stone Camp's first day, where Indigenous activist LaDonna BraveBull Allard gathered water protectors to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline

The land is sacred to the people. The people are sacred to the land.

As Water Protectors gather to defend the water and protect the land against a black snake that threatens the rivers that millions of people depend on, a young girl looks to her Unci LaDonna and Lala Miles who are leading the way to the camp.

Although she’s nervous about what might happen next, she finds strength from her family and the strangers all coming together to stand up for what’s right.

Written with love by Rae Rose, who shares many memories with LaDonna, this is a deeply moving tribute to LaDonna’s work and impact with stunning watercolor illustrations by Aly McKnight.

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 5 to 9.

Additional Information
40 pages | 11.00" x 8.50" | Hardcover

Did you know that a mainstay of American folk culture was in fact created as an advertising ploy?

Few people realize that Paul Bunyan, the legendary lumberjack, and his blue ox are the product of corporate marketing by a highly industrialized commercial enterprise.

Cartoonist Noah Van Sciver shows us the myth creation as real-life marketing man extraordinaire W.B. Laughead spins ever more wondrous tall tales. Van Sciver's story is bracketed by rich contributions from contemporary Native artists and storytellers with a very different connection to the land that the Bunyan myths often conceal. Readers will see how a lumberjack hero, a quintessential American fantasy, captures the imagination but also serves to paper over the seizure of homeland from First Peoples and the laying bare of America's northern forests. It’s a tall tale with deep roots . . . in profit-making!

Reviews
"The Paul Bunyan tall tale gets felled. . . Readers will come away ready to question what other falsehoods they’ve been fed about the history of marginalized people. . . A heightened sense of scale makes Bunyan practically leap of the page in grandeur. An accessible and important reminder of how easily the truth can be coopted." -- Kirkus Reviews, STARRED

"Enlightening. . . . [A] frank and accessible depiction of the environmental and economic impact of boom-bust industries . . . and how the Bunyan fiction perpetuated these systems." —Publishers Weekly

 "The combined cartoon and folk art styles work well to capture the giant lore of Paul Bunyan . . . A mighty attempt to take on a giant topic of forgotten history".--Booklist

“A fast-paced and enjoyable book that captures the cadence and evolution of tall tales in oral history. The bookend contributions by Native authors provide a nuanced and essential critical exploration of the impact of American logging on Native American land.”—SHING YIN KHOR, author of The Legend of Auntie Po, a National Book Award Finalist

"Logging culture may have produced some great stories. But it also cost America, and especially the indigenous people whose land all those trees once stood on, greatly. Both facts are important parts of our history. Van Sciver’s Paul Bunyan tells them both, and he does so in a way that is both potent and fun." – SLJ's Good Comics For Kids

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 7+

Additional Information
48 pages | 7.75" x 10.00" | Paperback