Children of the First People: Fresh Voices of Alaska's Native Kids

by Tricia Brown (Text by), Roy Corral (Photographer)

Overview

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of Alaskan favorite Children of the Midnight Sun, the same author and photographer join again to collaborate on this new book Children of the First People to present the voices of a new generation of young Alaska Natives and how they celebrate their unique cultures and traditions.

From the Southeast rainforest to the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta tundra, to the reaches of the far north, Alaska Native kids live a life that mixes ancient traditions with modern culture. Inside this book you’ll find ten profiles accompanied by beautiful color photographs of kids of various ages and from diverse cultures and backgrounds, as well as a map and a glossary of Native terms. No other book for children delves into all ten Native cultures with expert authority, making Children of the First People a one-of-a-kind treasure.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781513261997
Publisher:	West Margin Press
Publication date:	04/09/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	48
Lexile:	990L (what's this?)
File size:	24 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	8 - 10 Years

About the Author

Award-winning journalist, writer, editor, and program and book developer Tricia Brown has been nationally honored for compassionate, insightful depictions of Alaska Natives and for children's literature. She was the founding editor of Heartland, the Sunday magazine of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, and later wrote for the Anchorage Daily News and edited the popular monthly magazine Alaska. She is also the author of Children of the Midnight Sun. Brown lives in Anchorage, Alaska.
Roy Corral is the photographer of several books, including My Denali, A Child’s Glacier Bay, and Children of the Midnight Sun. He lives in Eagle River, Alaska.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Tyler Kramer, Iñupiat - Kotzebue

Aaliyah Tiedeman, Eyak - Cordova

Ethan Sparck, Yup’ik - Bethel

Juuyāay Christianson, Haida - Hydaburg

Hunter McCarty, Athabascan - Fort Yukon

Cyanna Bereskin, Unangax̂ (Aleut) - Unalaska

Leah Moss, Tlingit - Hoonah

Alyson Seville, Alutiiq - Chenega Bay

James Williams, Tsimshian - Metlakatla

Allyssa Asicksik, Siberian Yupik - Anchorage / Savoonga

Glossary of terms

Interviews

"Long before the words of Alaska’s first people were written in books, elders taught lessons by word of mouth and by example. Each new generation learned their culture’s ways of living and how to thrive in their distant homes. Their foods and housing and cultural memories were vastly different, but still, all were Alaskan. Through the centuries and across the cultures, these important lessons have remained unchanged: show respect, take care of where you live, have patience, pray for guidance, share what you have, honor your elders, and more. The children in this generation have been handed the precious gift of ancient heritage to carry into the future. We hope you enjoy meeting them."

Editorial Reviews

"An excellent book profiling youth in Alaska Native cultures. A good first purchase for libraries and schools with an interest in geography or Indigenous peoples."
—School Library Journal

"An engaging portrait of the diversity of Alaskan Native life."
—Horn Book

"Author Brown and photographer Corral trek across Alaska to a sample selection of children from 10 Indigenous cultures of Alaska. Each chapter looks at the life of one child as representative of their culture. The stories tell of the day-to-day activities of each child, how they engage with their families, their traditional culture, and their aspirations."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Alaska is a mythic land brought closer through stories of Native kids doing both familiar (basketball, playing trombone) and far-flung (seal hunting, dog sledding) things, in environments as disparate as the verdant south and the icy north."
—Scholastic Teacher

Praise for Children of the Midnight Sun:

"Children of the Midnight Sun acknowledges the drastic changes of the last few decades, with the advent of satellite television, access to transportation, and the Internet, but focuses on the preservation or reawakening of culture through each child."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Author and artist successfully communicate the common thread linking these eight lives: the importance of Native traditions, family bonds and the wisdom and experience of preceding generations as they navigate in modern times."
—Publishers Weekly

"For Native children, growing up in Alaska today means dwelling in a place where traditional practices sometimes mix oddly with modern conveniences. Children of the Midnight Sun explores the lives of eight Alaskan Native children, each representing a unique and ancient culture. This extraordinary book also looks at the critical role elders play in teaching the young Native traditions."
—Children's Book Council

"Brown seems to have anticipated the kinds of things kids would want to ask about these Alaskans, given the chance, and offers readers a glimpse at eight distinct personalities and ways of life. . . All who read Children of the Midnight Sun will come away with an enriched view of the lives of young native Alaskans."
—School Library Journal

"The violet-and-crimson photo of a sunset on the jacket immediately dispels the narrow image of Alaska as a stark, uninviting place. Inside are more excellent photos, all taken by Roy Corral, which show Alaska's vibrant contrasts—snow-swept villages and manicured city gardens, native dances and trips to the mall."
—Booklist

From the Publisher

"An engaging portrait of the diversity of Alaskan Native life."

Horn Book

"Alaska is a mythic land brought closer through stories of Native kids doing both familiar (basketball, playing trombone) and far-flung (seal hunting, dog sledding) things, in environments as disparate as the verdant south and the icy north."

Scholastic Teacher

2019-01-29

Twenty-one years after Children of the Midnight Sun, Brown and Corral reteam for a follow-up.

Before one gets to read the stories of the Alaska Native children highlighted in this book, the introduction makes the case that Alaska Native kids are "just like any other kid," as if to normalize Indigenous children for the evidently non-Native audience that the book seems to imagine. Author Brown and photographer Corral trek across Alaska to a sample selection of children from 10 Indigenous cultures of Alaska. Each chapter looks at the life of one child as representative of their culture. The stories tell of the day-to-day activities of each child, how they engage with their families, their traditional culture, and their aspirations. The overview is in Brown's voice, and interspersed within that narrative are snippets of quotes from the children. Photographs highlight the children with their family members, engaged in sports, having fun outdoors, or dressed in traditional clothing. Though the book attempts to celebrate these children and their respective cultures, the depictions at times feel objectified, seen through an ethnographic lens. Mention of the harsh colonial impact on their cultures is minimized; for example, readers learn that the missionary William Duncan established a rigidly evangelical Christian community on a Tlingit-populated island with a group of Tsimshian but not that he profited from their labor.

Readers come away wishing for more of the children's voices and less of Brown's. (glossary) (Nonfiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews