Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard

Bibliography

Maillard, K. N., & Martinez-Neal, J. (2019). Fry Bread: A Native American family story. Roaring Brook Press. 

Plot Summary

In this poetic book, author Kevin Noble Mallard tells about the creation and meaning of fry bread. Accompanying the words are beautiful illustrations by Juana Martinez-Neal. 

Critical Analysis

Maillard describes the variety of ways that this traditional fry bread can be made with “Perhaps milk, maybe sugar” and “flat like a pancake” or “round like a ball”, “Golden brown, tan, or yellow” or “Deep like coffee, sienna, or earth”. It can be served with “beans or soup”, “tacos, cheese, and vegetables”, or “honey and jam”. It can be eaten at many times including “Powwows and festivals”, and it is made in many places, “Alaska, Kansas, all the way to Maine”, by many nations, “Narragansett, Navajo, Nipmuc”. The story ends with the characters coming together and the words “FRY BREAD IS US”. Even though it is a book about Fry Bread, it’s a book about the diversity of Native American people, and about what connects them: community and love.

The illustrations by Juana Martinez-Neal bring life to the words and feature a multitude of Native American characters with a variety of skin colors, hair colors and textures, and distinctive features, but all with expressions of joy as they participate in the traditional making of fry bread. Characters include those with dark curly hair, red hair, straight blonde hair, dark braided hair, and more. Their facial features show the variety seen in Native American people of various tribal associations and descent. 

The book includes a complete recipe in the back that readers can use to make the traditional Native American fry bread. Also included in the book is a list of the hundreds of individual Native American tribes. 

Review Excerpts and Awards

American Indian Youth Literature Award, 2020 Honor

From Kirkus Reviews: “Broken down into headings that celebrate what fry bread is, this story reaches readers both young and old thanks to the author's note at the back of the book that dives into the social ways, food ways, and politics of America's 573 recognized tribes. Through this topic that includes the diversity of so many Native peoples in a single story, Maillard (Mekusukey Seminole) promotes unity and familiarity among nations. Fry bread is much more than food, as this book amply demonstrates.”

From School Library Journal: “This warm and charming book shows and affirms Native lives. The informational text and expressive drawings give it broad appeal, making it a first purchase for all libraries.”

Connections

Use Kevin’s Fry Bread recipe at the back to make fry bread!

Research one of the individual tribes mentioned in the story. What can you learn about their history, traditions, current trends, etc.?

How I Became a Ghost by Tim Tingle

Bibliography

Tingle, T. (2017). How I became a ghost: A choctaw trail of tears story. CNIB. 

Plot Summary

Isaac, a ten year old Choctaw, and his family must leave their home. He begins seeing ghosts of Choctaw neighbors and people who have passed away from diseases and fires. His family and the rest of the Choctaw people are making their way from their homes to Oklahoma, where the Nahullos, or white people, have forced them to move. Along the way, the dangers that the ghosts have pre-warned Isaac about become reality. 

Critical Analysis

In this historical fiction book, author Tim Tingle tells the story of the Choctaw Trail of Tears through a ten year old boy. The narrator retells the story from the moment that his tribe is forced to make a treaty with the white settlers who are forcing them out of their homes. Shortly after, Isaac starts seeing ghosts that reveal the way his neighbors will die, and let him know that he too will die soon. This book includes elements of Choctaw spirituality with ghosts/spirits, shapeshifting people, and ceremonial events as the Choctaw people say goodbye to their homes. The ties of family and community are strong as they travel the trail of tears together. For example, Isaac must save another character, and afterwards he says, “Our deeds touch not only the living. We did more than save Naomi today. We made our people proud. That is the highest honor a Choctaw can ever earn, to make the ancestors proud.” Though this story is about the tragic and horrific experience of the Choctaw people during the forcible removal from their home, it speaks to the strength and hope of the Choctaw people. 

Full of ghosts, suspense, and historical fact, this book is a great read for middle grade readers!

Review Excerpts and Awards

American Indian Youth Literature Award, Winner 2014

From Kirkus Review: “Storyteller Tingle's tale unfolds in Isaac's conversational voice; readers "hear" his story with comforting clarity and are plunged into the Choctaw belief system, so they can begin to understand it from the inside out. The beginning of a trilogy, this tale is valuable for both its recounting of a historical tragedy and its immersive Choctaw perspective.”

Connections

See this author interview: https://youtu.be/EoGoRLA3Il0 

See these resources for teaching more of the historical context of the book: https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/resources/The-Trail-of-Tears-A-Story-of-Cherokee-Removal

Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac

Bibliography

Bruchac, J. (2006). Code talker: A novel about the Navajo Marines of World War Two. Speak, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 

Plot Summary

Based on real events during World War II, Ned Begay tells the story of how he and his comrades served in the military as the Navajo Code Talkers. From their Navajo language, once unvalued and shamed, they created and used a code to send important messages to and from military leaders during World War II. 

Critical Analysis

Written as an oral storytelling by a Grandfather to his grandchildren, the structure of Code Talker is unique. Each chapter occurs as a story told. While the stories sometimes stray from chronological order, mentioning things from the present time or jumping to later parts of the story, each chapter moves in chronological order. As the narrator states in the book, “a story is better if you have to wait a little bit for it to be spun out”. 

The characters include Navajo people, white people, or bilagáanaas, and people from the variety of places that the Navajo code talkers traveled to during WWII. In the beginning of the book, the main character and storyteller, Ned Begay, is sent to boarding school where he is forced to change his name, cut his hair, stop speaking his Navajo language, and assimilate into white culture. Teachers would make comments such as “Neddie, you are almost as bright as a little white child”. Customary signs of respect for Navajos such as looking down when an elder is speaking to you were seen as disrespectful and quickly punished, and speaking Navajo language at any time was unacceptable. Despite this experience, years down the line, Ned Begay was enthusiastic about joining the military and fighting for the land on which he grew up. Although he was not old enough to legally join the army, Ned enlisted with the support of his parents, a “blessingway”, a protection ceremony, is performed by people in his family and community, and his service begins. After finishing boot camp, where all of the Navajo enlistees train with more ease and resilience than their white counterparts, Ned is sent with many of his fellow Navajo marines to begin training as a code talker. The book describes the process of learning and then using this Navajo code to send secret messages through the military that the Japanese cannot decipher. Ned enjoys the importance of his task and the fact that it uses the language he loves. What was once punished at boarding school is integral to the success of the U.S. military. Even after noble service to the country, Ned still experiences racism unconsciously from his friends, like the one who calls him “chief”, and the conscious and purposeful exclusion and hate from people in civilian society as well. 

This book is an incredible historical account of the Navajo code talkers as well as a story with characters to fall in love with. 

Review Excerpts and Awards

From School Library Journal: “In the measured tones of a Native American storyteller, Bruchac assumes the persona of a Navajo grandfather telling his grandchildren about his World War II experiences...Bruchac's gentle prose presents a clear historical picture of young men in wartime, island hopping across the Pacific, waging war in the hells of Guadalcanal, Bougainville, and Iwo Jima.”

From Kirkus Review: “Telling his story to his grandchildren, Ned relates his experiences in school, military training, and across the Pacific, on Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Guam, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. With its multicultural themes and well-told WWII history, this will appeal to a wide audience.”

Connections

Watch this interview with author Joseph Bruchac https://www.scholastic.com/teacher/videos/teacher-videos.htm#3193529731001/1688365625 

See the Native 360 Smithsonian resources including these images of Navajo artifacts https://americanindian.si.edu/collections-search/search?edan_q=code+talkers

Dreamers by Yuyi Morales

Bibliography

Morales, Y., & Sananes, A. (2019). Dreamers. Findaway World, LLC. ISBN 0823440559

Plot Summary

A mother and son leave their home of Mexico to journey to the United States. When they arrive, they discover a place, “Suspicious. Improbably. Unbelievable. Surprising.” It’s a place full of stories, the public library. It’s based on the actual journey that author Yuyi Morales made with her son. This story celebrates stories, love, and home in beautiful words and beautiful illustrations.  

Critical Analysis

Dreamers is the immigration story of a mother and her child. When they first leave the home they love, they are uncertain. The customs of this new place seem strange. There are moments where the characters unknowingly step outside these norms, such as when an illustration in the book features the characters swimming in a public fountain. Some illustrations show how some people purposefully make them feel unwelcome, like one that readers “speak English” in the clouds in the sky of an illustration of a cityscape. The illustrations include many intricate and colorful scenes like the one previously mentioned, but the characters are simple and faceless, as if they could be anyone with a similar story. 

The bulk of the story revolves around a discovery that the characters make in their new home, the public library. While initially unsure of it, the library becomes the place where they discover books of all kinds. In the detailed illustrations, one can see many hispanic books featured in the library’s displays, a nod to the importance of having books that honor the cultures of its patrons. In words the author states, “Books became our language. Books became our home. Books became our lives. We learned to read, to speak, to write, and to make our voices be heard.” 

The back of the book features a note from the author telling her story in prose. She describes the journey from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico to El Paso, Texas that she and her two year old son made, and how libraries changed their lives. At the end, she lives readers with this message, “Now I have told you my story. What’s yours?”. This book is sure to delight for its words, for its pictures, and for its message of hope and books. 

Review Excerpts and Awards

Tomás Rivera Book Award, 2019

Pura Belpré Award, Illustrator Winner 2019

From School Library Journal: “This excellent memoir encapsulates the fears, hopes, and dreams that come along with immigrating to a new place and building a new life in an unfamiliar and often hostile landscape. A timely and much-needed selection.”

From Kirkus Reviews: “Based on her experience of leaving Mexico for the United States, Morales’ latest offers an immigrant’s tale steeped in hope, dreams, and love.... No word is unnecessary, each a deliberate steppingstone onto the next...A resplendent masterpiece.”

Connections

See this great resource from the Anti Defamation League for activities: https://www.adl.org/media/12244/download

Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl's Courage Changed Music by Margarita Engle

Bibliography

Engle, M. (2019). Drum dream girl: how one girl's courage changed music. Findaway World, LLC. ISBN 0544102290

Plot Summary

Girls can’t be drummers. It’s been the rule for as long as anyone can remember. That is, until the drum dream girl. She loved to play her drums, and she was good too. She had to keep her drums a secret until the day when her music was heard, and people decided that anyone should be able to play the drums. Inspired by the real life story of Millo Castro Zaldarriaga, Drum Girl Dream will inspire readers to follow their dreams no matter what people say.  

Critical Analysis

Based on the real life story of Milo Castro Zaldarriaga, this book inspires anyone, but especially girls, to follow their dreams no matter who says they should not. Based in the Cuba, or as it is called in the book “an island of music in a city of drumbeats”, this story features beautiful descriptions of a lively, musical, community, with “outdoor cafés that looked like gardens”, “wind-wavy palm trees in a flower-bright park”, and carnivals. These illustrations are equally as colorful and whimsical featuring bright, folk-art style images. As she moves around the city, communities of people including those of African, Chinese, Taino and Spanish descent are featured in this Chinese-African-Cuban girl’s story. While this story is about one girl’s dream, men throughout the story, including her father, are featured saying that only boys should play drums with stern, authoritative expressions on their faces. Her father relents and hires a teacher for the girl. She plays well, and learns so much more; and in the end, her community decides “that girls should be allowed to play drums and bother girls and boys should feel free to dream”.  

This is a beautiful read about a unique culture with a message that will inspire. 

Review Excerpts and Awards

Pura Belpré Award, Illustrator Winner 2016

From School Library Journal: “Engle's spare, rhythmic text gets at the heart of the struggle to achieve a dream in this picture-book biography about a Chinese African Cuban girl who aspired to play drums even when society's double standards stood as a barrier.”

From Kirkus Reviews: “The rhythmic text tells Millo's story and its significance in minimal words, with a lyricism that is sure to engage both young children and older readers. López's illustrations are every bit as poetic as the narrative, a color-saturated dreamscape that Millo dances within, pounding and tapping her drums. Though it's not explicit in the text, her mixed Chinese-African-Cuban descent is hinted at in the motifs Lopez includes. A beautiful account of a young girl's bravery and her important contribution toward gender equality in the creative arts…”

Connections

Have older students explore the topic of gender roles. Consider reading Bad Boy by Walter Dean Meyers, and have students list things that both girls and boys “can’t do” according to the society within which they live. 

Play Cuban music, let students dance. If possible, invite Cuban Musicians to visit in person or virtually. 

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

Bibliography

Acevedo, E. (2020). Clap when you land. HarperTeen, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 0062882767

Plot Summary

Camino lives in the Dominican Republic with her aunt. She sees her father a few months out of the year. Yahaira lives in New York City with her mother and her father. Her father spends three months in the Dominican Republic, where he is from, each year. When a plane from New York crashes on its journey to the Dominican Republic, both girls’ worlds are shattered. Not only have they lost their father, but they discover that he has two families, they have a sister in each other, and life will never be the same. This novel in verse by Elizabeth Acevedo, inspired by the real plane crash in 2001, is sure to stay with readers long after the last pages. 

Critical Analysis

Clap When You Land includes the perspective of both Camino, a Dominican teenager who, with the financial support of her father, is able to pursue opportunities that many in her community can not. She attends school, is kept safe from a man in the neighborhood who has questionable dealings, and dreams of one day moving to New York to become a doctor. Her aunt, whom she lives with, practices as a healer in her community, and Camino assists her. At one point, they help deliver Camino’s friend’s baby when she gives birth in the middle of the night, or “dando a luz”, as it is called. Camino’s aunt is often seen burning incense, praying to the saints. She prepares dishes such as stewed goat. Camino describes their home as a place where “the street doesn’t have sidewalks”, “water rises to the tile floors of your home”, and a place where people learn “the language of survival”. 

Yahaira, a first generation Dominican American, lives a very different life with her mother. She lives in a New York apartment and is an excellent chess player. Her girlfriend, Dre, lives next door and grows plants on her balcony. She attends school like everyone else in her community, and does not live in want. She is learning what her identity is as a Dominican-American who was “raised so damn Dominican. Spanish my first language, bachata a reminder of the power of my body, plátano & salami for years…” Yet she asks herself “Can you be from a place you have never been?”

Throughout the story, family is treasured including those who are related by blood, and those of the community that become family. The lessons learned by the characters show how important those ties are. It highlights the strength and struggles of womanhood too from which readers of many different backgrounds can relate. The writing is beautiful and full of metaphors that bring life to the characters and situations both good and bad. For instance, the character Camino states, “He must have realized his laugh was like one of those paper shredders making sad confetti of my hopes”. Or Yahira who states, “A queen offers her hand to be kissed, & can form it into a fist while smiling the whole damn time.” There are Spanish phrases woven beautifully throughout as well. Most readers will be able to determine the meaning of these through context, and it adds a rich authenticity to the stories of Camino and Yahira. This novel in verse is perfect for both YA and adult readers who love great stories. 

Review Excerpts and Awards

From Publisher’s Weekly: “Returning to verse, Acevedo subtly, skillfully uses language and rhythm to give voice to the sisters' grief, anger, and uncertainty; Camino's introspective openness; and Yahaira's tendency toward order and leadership. Raw and emotional, Acevedo's exploration of loss packs an effective double punch, unraveling the aftermath of losing a parent alongside the realities of familial inheritance.”

From Kirkus Reviews: “Every line is laced with betrayal and longing as the teens struggle with loving someone despite his imperfections. A standing ovation.“

Connections

Check out Elizabeth Acevedo’s other novels: 

• Acevedo, E. (2020). The poet x. HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 0062662805
  
• Acevedo, E. (2021). With the fire on high. Harpercollins Children's Books. ISBN 006266283X
  

Have students research the plane crash that inspired this story. They can find connections to the book or share stories they learned of when researching. 

Share readings from the author: https://www.teachingbooks.net/book_reading.cgi?id=18893