Using Comic Books to Teach Reading and Language Arts
November is Native American Heritage Month and numerous states are participating in this observance. The National Congress of American Indians describes Heritage Month every bit "an opportune time to educate the full general public about tribes" also as an occasion to acknowledge past and nowadays challenges that Ethnic people face. Moreover, Heritage Month highlights how "tribal citizens have worked to conquer these challenges" over the years.
President Joe Biden previously issued a proclamation ahead of Indigenous Peoples' Day, and he did the same at the cusp of Native American Heritage Month. President Biden officially declared "November 2021 every bit National Native American Heritage Month." Federal support for America'south Ethnic population is certainly appreciated, but there are likewise numerous other ways to testify support.
Attending rallies for Indigenous-led climate justice efforts, supporting the Land Back movement, and providing mutual help funds to Indigenous-led organizations are also keen ways to honor Heritage Month. You can also educate yourself past reading the works of Ethnic authors and poets. Here, we've compiled a list of must-read works by incredible writers. Of class, cocky-education isn't all most learning history; while agreement history from other perspectives is essential, these works, which range from coming-of-historic period memoirs to renowned poetry collections, capture the varied, nuanced experiences of Ethnic folks living in the present-day United States.
"Crazy Dauntless," "How We Became Human" & More by Joy Harjo
Most likely, y'all're familiar with Joy Harjo considering of her award-winning poetry. In fact, Harjo is serving her second term as the 23rd Poet Laureate of the U.s. — and for expert reason. From her acclaimed collection An American Sunrise to How We Became Homo, Harjo'southward poesy is essential reading.
Only the talented creative person and performer has as well penned ii incredible memoirs, Crazy Dauntless and Poet Warrior. "I think the story is the story of a lot of Native people and the story of a lot of women, she says, noting that Crazy Brave, in all its raw, dauntless beauty, was difficult to write. Informed by tribal myth and ancestry, Harjo'southward memoir illustrates her journeying of becoming a young artist, of reclaiming a lost spirituality and the "intricate and metaphorical language of my ancestors."
You may remember Tiffany Midge's "An Open Letter to White Girls Regarding Pumpkin Spice and Cultural Cribbing," a passage from her memoir, Bury My Centre at Chuck E. Cheese'due south. As the title of this excerpted work suggests, Midge is an incredible humorist — but she doesn't shy abroad from critique or commentary, either.
Bury My Heart at Chuck East. Cheese'south is composed of standalone musings, but all of the passages add up to a unified whole, all while "driv[ing] a spear into the stereotype of Native American stoicism," as David Treuer, author of The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee, puts it. Honest, moving, and rife with satire, this volume gives David Sedaris' all-time a run for its money.
"At that place There" by Tommy Orange
Heralded as i of the best novels of 2018 by The New York Times Volume Review, NPR, the San Francisco Chronicle and others, Tommy Orange'southward There There is a "brilliant, propulsive" (People Magazine) bestseller. The volume centers on 12 characters, all of whom Orange calls "Urban Indians," living in Oakland, California.
These characters' distinct stories (and lives) end up colliding on one fateful twenty-four hour period. Despite grappling with several centuries' worth of pain, Orange also infuses the text with sense of humour and beauty. Without a doubt, There There is a modern classic — and about-incommunicable to put down one time you first reading information technology.
"Abandon Me" past Melissa Febos
Winner of the Lambda Literary Jeanne Cordova Prize for Lesbian/Queer Nonfiction, Abandon Me centers on author's need for connection. This incredibly vulnerable collection of memoirs sees Melissa Febos examining her own journey of cocky-discovery, which is marked by both passion and obsession.
In reference to the titular story, The Chicago Review of Books notes that the "memoir is the map" — 1 that helps u.s. understand Febos, fifty-fifty if the on-page version of her is lost. In fact, Febos is particularly deft at exploring the simultaneous thrill and fear that come along with losing yourself in some other person — or people.
"Black Indian" past Shonda Buchanan
For equally long as Shonda Buchanan can remember, she has cherished her multi-racial heritage. At the aforementioned time, Buchanan and her family suffered — not just because of America's ongoing racism and ostracizing attitudes, just because there was so much they didn't know about their past.
In this searing memoir, Buchanan digs into her family's past, exploring what it ways to be an African American person, an Indigenous person — and a Black Indigenous person. While her search for truth may non encapsulate the experiences of all biracial folks, Buchanan's story deeply resonates due, in part, to its specificity and the way the author openly shares her lived experiences.
"We Are Water Protectors" by Carole Lindstrom
"H2o is the first medicine," reads We Are H2o Protectors. "It affects and connects us all." Inspired past the myriad Indigenous-led movements happening across North America, this scenic picture show volume is a sort of call to action, wrapped in lyrical prose and watercolor illustrations crafted by #OwnVoices writer Carole Lindstrom and artist Michaela Goade.
Booklist notes that the book was "written in response to the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline [and] famously protested by the Continuing Rock Sioux Tribe" and that "these pages carry grief, but it is overshadowed by hope in what is an unapologetic call to action." No matter ane's historic period, We Are Water Protectors is a must-read, one that gets to the middle of the things that affair and puts Indigenous ideas, groups, creators and leaders rightfully at the center of the movement to safeguard our planet from human-acquired climate change and devastation.
"As Long Every bit Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Ecology Justice, From Colonization to Standing Stone" past Dina Gilio-Whitaker
While Indigenous activists accept always led the fight for climate and environmental justice, their efforts take get more than widely best-selling by media, the federal regime and allies. From the Standing Rock protestation to #StopLine3, these fights are far from over — and they're happening all across the country.
Inspired by these fights, Indigenous researcher and activist Dina Gilio-Whitaker authored Equally Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice in 2019. In the text, Gilio-Whitaker explores the ways the federal government has violated tribal treaties, destroyed the land it stole, and made food and h2o inaccessible to many native peoples. Additionally, the book highlights the leadership of Indigenous women in these fights for environmental justice.
"Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers" by Jake Skeets
Selected as the All-time Poetry Book of 2019 by the likes of Electric Literature, Entropy Magazine, Auburn Avenue and others, Optics Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers is a masterful drove. The publisher calls Jake Skeets a "dazzling geologist of queer eros" — and that certainly feels like an apt description.
In the book, "Drunktown, New Mexico" has been shaped by violence — non just the violence that occurs in that location, but the violence washed to it. Skeet writes that "the closest men become is when they are covered in blood / or nothing at all" in this boondocks. This committed portrait of a place that's been ravaged and forgotten likewise highlights the resilience of the people who live there — and the want to reclaim what's been taken.
"The Beadworkers: Stories" by Beth Piatote
Called a "poignant and challenging look at the way the past and present collide" by Kirkus Reviews, Beth Piatote's debut story drove, The Beadworkers, is fix in the Native Northwest. From the Battle of Wounded Human knee to the Fish Wars of the 1960s, many of the stories in the collection stem from, or meditate on, events from the by.
One of Piatote'due south narrators notes that, "it's surprising how much textile tin be mined from making Indian versions of things" and, in other stories, Piatote does just that, retelling classical stories, like Sophocles' Antigone, from an Indigenous perspective. With vibrant characters and a beautiful mix of both verse and prose, Piatote's debut is a must-read collection — and we can't wait to read more than of her stories in the future.
"The Only Good Indians" by Stephen Graham Jones
Stephen Graham Jones (Ledfeather) wrote one of the 2020'southward most highly anticipated horror novels — and all that apprehension certainly paid off. The Only Proficient Indians centers on the tale of four childhood friends who grow upwards, move abroad from abode and then, a decade later, find that a vengeful entity is hunting them for an act of violence they committed long ago.
The novel combines horror, drama and social commentary quite flawlessly, proving NPR'due south argument that "Jones is ane of the best writers working today regardless of genre." Rebecca Roanhorse, the bestselling author of Trail of Lightning, wrote that "Jones boldly and bravely incorporates both the hard and the beautiful parts of contemporary Indian life into his story, never in one case falling into stereotypes or easy answers just also not shying away from the horrors caused by cycles of violence."
"An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Undoubtedly, understanding our collective history is essential to agreement our present. For example, the movements to abolish Columbus 24-hour interval or stop Line iii stem from how the first colonizers treated Native people and the land we all alive on today. Today, in that location are more than 500 federally recognized Indigenous nations; roughly 3 million people comprise these nations, merely, before the centuries-long genocide by white colonizers, fifteen million Indigenous people lived on land that's the nowadays-day U.South.
In An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United states, historian and Indigenous rights activist Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz tells the story of the U.South. empire'due south rise from an Indigenous perspective — a landmark first. Dunbar-Ortiz's 2015 bestseller was afterwards adapted, with the help of Jean Mendoza and Debbie Reese, into a book aimed at center-course and immature-adult readers.
Whether you're reading one of these books yourself or looking to outset a discussion with younger students, these texts allow readers to think critically and examine the way nosotros learn virtually our history. Filled with archival images and maps, An Indigenous Peoples' History of the Usa for Young People does an exceptionally skillful job of highlighting 400 years of Indigenous peoples' resistance and resilience in the fight against colonialism.
"Streaming" by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke
Honor-winning poet Allison Adelle Hedge Coke explores loss, memory and the hereafter of our planet in this multi-accolade-winning collection. Joy Harjo, the U.S. National Poet Laureate, noted that the poems in Streaming are "the songs of righteous anger and utter dazzler."
Lauded for her musicality, Hedge Coke uses structure and imagery to great result, crafting poems that are singular. "Hedge Coke uproots the order of verse and song," Jennifer Martelli writes in Light-green Mountain Review "— or, she finds its massive roots deep below the soil of America."
"Feed" by Tommy Pico
Tommy Pico has won the Whiting Honor, an American Book Accolade, and was a Lambda Literary Accolade finalist. Now, Feed completes his Teebs Cycle, a series of four books. This riveting collection is aggressive, to say the to the lowest degree, and tackles everything from pop civilisation to food to being friends with your ex.
Shelf Awareness chosen it "a dazzling fusion of civilization," noting that "Feed is equally much well-nigh what we consume equally how we consume. Pico'south lines are always-growing, ever-expanding. And while nosotros might seem lost in the affluence, the sheer diverseness, Pico is a skilled enough poet to ground usa."
Source: https://www.ask.com/culture/books-by-indigenous-writers?utm_content=params%3Ao%3D740004%26ad%3DdirN%26qo%3DserpIndex
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