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WALKING IS A WAY OF KNOWING

Name: WALKING IS A WAY OF KNOWING
Author: Madhuri Ramesh
ISBN: 978-93-83145-60-7

IN A KADAR FOREST

by Madhuri Ramesh & Manish Chandi ; illustrated by Matthew Frame ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 15, 2018

Like many oral folktales, the stories meander, but here the craft is also in perfect synchrony with its content: “Good...

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A lyrical, dreamy picture storybook of five interlocking outings among the Kadar adivasi (indigenous) community in the Anamalai hills in southern India.

The Kadar tribes were historically nomadic hunter-gatherers, but 40 years ago, according to the authors’ note, they were “forced to live in small permanent settlements at the edges of [the] forests”; today, they act as guides to tourists and traders who want to traverse their lands. Researchers Ramesh and Chandi spent hours with tribal elders, and the result is this magical collection, exquisitely illustrated by Frame. The stories are mostly narrated by Madiyappan, a Kadar elder, as well as his uncle, Krishnan, and his cousin Padma. They guide the narrator, presumably an urban visitor, through a dramatic and philosophical forest walk: “Paths have character: there are easy ones, challenging ones, unforgiving ones, one that encourage you to walk with a steady swinging rhythm and other that tease your stride with odd twists and turns,” Madiyappan says. The book introduces the hills’ and forests’ flora and fauna—bison, monkeys, hornbills—and uses Indigenous words unapologetically, although many can be deciphered in context or found in the book’s short glossary.

Like many oral folktales, the stories meander, but here the craft is also in perfect synchrony with its content: “Good forest people are curious,” says Padma. “We constantly explore.” (Folktales. 8-12)

Pub Date: April 15, 2018

ISBN: 978-93-83145-60-7

Page Count: 56

Publisher: Tara Publishing

Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018

Categories:

TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT NONFICTION

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TURTLE ISLAND

THE STORY OF NORTH AMERICA'S FIRST PEOPLE

by Eldon Yellowhorn & Kathy Lowinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 12, 2017

Overall, the book offers an appealing introduction to the diverse nations and remarkable resilience of the original...

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A comprehensive overview of the Indigenous populations of North America from 100,000 years ago until the present in just over 100 pages is an ambitious undertaking.

Happily, this one is surprisingly successful. A collaboration between Yellowhorn, a Piikani professor of First Nations Studies, and Lowinger, a white children’s author, the text engages readers through a variety of means: stories from different nations, straightforward scientific and historical information, and sections labeled “imagine,” portraying slices of life in various times and places. From captivating origin tales to mind-boggling advances in archaeological technology, there is a little something here for everyone, with stock images that complement the text. It is a pity that the final chapter on modern times was not fleshed out more, leaving out much Native political and environmental activism from the 1960s to the present day as well as continuing struggles over demeaning sports team names and mascots. The list of notable people skews heavily toward men (where are Maria Tallchief and Louise Erdrich?). Oddly, this chapter also consistently refers to Indigenous people as “they” rather than “we,” depriving young Native readers of a more intimate reading experience.

Overall, the book offers an appealing introduction to the diverse nations and remarkable resilience of the original inhabitants of this continent and is likely to inspire respect, pride, and a desire to learn more. (maps, sources, further reading, index not seen) (Nonfiction. 8-12)

Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-55451-944-6

Page Count: 116

Publisher: Annick Press

Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017

Categories:

TEENS & YOUNG ADULT NONFICTION | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT HISTORY

- BOOK REVIEW
SKY WOLF'S CALL
by Eldon Yellowhorn & Kathy Lowinger

- BOOK REVIEW
WHAT THE EAGLE SEES
by Eldon Yellowhorn & Kathy Lowinger

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DARK SKY RISING

RECONSTRUCTION AND THE DAWN OF JIM CROW

From the Scholastic Focus series

by Henry Louis Gates Jr. & Tonya Bolden ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 29, 2019

Well-intentioned, well-researched, but awkwardly written considering the caliber of the scholar and his expected scholarship.

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“In your hands you are holding my book…my very first venture in writing for young readers,” Gates writes in a preface.

And readers can tell…though probably not in the way Gates and co-author Bolden may have aimed for. The book opens with a gripping scene of formerly enslaved African-Americans celebrating the Emancipation Proclamation. It proceeds to engagingly unfold the facts that led to Reconstruction and its reaction, Jim Crow, until it disrupts the flow with oddly placed facts about Gates’ family’s involvement in the war, name-dropping of other historians, and the occasional conspicuous exclamation (“Land! That’s what his people most hungered for”). Flourishes such as that last sit uneasily with the extensive quotations from secondary sources for adults, as if Gates and Bolden are not sure whether their conceptual audience is young readers or adults, an uncertainty established as early as Gates’ preface. They also too-frequently relegate the vital roles of black women, such as Harriet Tubman, to sidebars or scatter their facts throughout the book, implicitly framing the era as a struggle between African-American men and white men. In the end, this acts as a reminder to readers that, although a person may have a Ph.D. and have written successfully in some genres and media, that does not mean they can write in every one, even with the help of a veteran in the field.

Well-intentioned, well-researched, but awkwardly written considering the caliber of the scholar and his expected scholarship. (selected sources, endnotes, index) (Nonfiction. 8-12)