Today, 29 December 2015 marks the 125th anniversary of the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890, when the US Seventh Cavalry killed the Lakota Chief Big Foot and more than two hundred of his followers in South Dakota, ostensibly for their adherence to the Ghost Dance religion.
The post Atoning for the Wounded Knee Massacre: General Nelson A. Miles and the Lakota survivors’ pursuit of justice appeared first on OUPblog.
What a whirlwind November has been! From national events like Native American Heritage Month, The Polar Express 30th Anniversary Edition Book Review & Giveaway and my week+ adventure doing author appearances at the Frances Hodgson Burnett Sesquicentennial Event, November has been an exciting and “book-filled” month! Here’s a quick recap of the highlights of November.
Native American Heritage Month links and booklists:
November is Native American Heritage Month, or as it is commonly referred to, American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month.
The month is a time to celebrate rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories and to acknowledge the important contributions of Native people. Heritage Month is also an opportune time to educate the general public about tribes, to raise a general awareness about the unique challenges Native people have faced both historically and in the present, and the ways in which tribal citizens have worked to conquer these challenges.
As always, the amazing authors and bloggers have gone above-and-beyond in sharing the best-of-the best in quality Native American booklists, activities and reviews.Go HERE to view some of my top picks along with some great posts from the JIAB archives.
The Polar Express 30th Anniversary Edition Book Review & Giveaway
Has it really been 30 years since that magical Christmas tale of a train pulling up into a young boys front yard and hurling him over hill and dale until he reaches the North Pole? To my astonishment, it’s true. Thirty years later, The Polar Express has become a holiday Caldecott Medal-winning classic leaving children all over the world laying quietly in their beds on Christmas Eve, hoping to catch a ride on that magical train. For 30 years author/illustrator Chris Van Allsburg has inspired us to “believe.”
In honor of this event, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has released a 30th anniversary edition complete with a new jacket design, expanded interior layout meaning we get to see and experience more goodness, a letter from Chris Van Allsburg, a downloadable recording of the story read by none other than renowned actor Liam Neeson and a gorgeous golden keepsake ornament. AND….I get to give one copy away to one lucky winner thanks to this The Polar Express 30th Anniversary Edition Book Review & Giveaway!! Go HERE for details and to enter-to-win.
Author Appearances at Frances HodgsonBurnett Sesquicentennial Event:
You may remember my mention of the upcoming Frances Hodgson Burnett Sesquicentennial Event Celebration. If you read that post you know how excited I was to celebrate an author who has touched my life in so many ways, and also one who is from my home state of Tennessee.
This year the New Market/Knoxville areas are celebrating 150 years since Frances Hodgson Burnett’s moved to the United States in 1865. On hand will be her great grand-daughter Penny Deupree, as well as her great great grandchildren. Penny Deupree, Frances Hodgson Burnett’s great-grand daughter, is coming from her home in Texas to give three free public presentations and display some of Burnett’s personal belongings. You can see all the places I made author appearances here.
As you can imagine, this event was absolutely spectacular and it was such an honor to be invited by Frances Hodgson Burnett’s family! Here are some pictures and highlights from this memorable event:
I was fortunate enough to meet, and spend time with, Frances Hodgson Burnett’s great granddaughter, Penny.
The young readers at the New Market School were some of the many groups that enjoy book extension activities from my book A Year in the Secret Garden.
What were some of your November highlights?
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Attention K-8th Teachers! Get a FREE Diversity Book for Your Class!
2016 Multicultural Children’s Book Day Classroom Reading Challenge begins November 1, 2015!
Multicultural Children’s Book Day Classroom Reading Challenge is a special project connected to Multicultural Children’s Book Day (1/27/16) that gives classrooms the opportunity to earn a FREE Diversity Book for their class!
Teachers: We want to help you build your classroom library with diverse, inclusive and multicultural books! Here’s how to get a free book through Multicultural Children’s Book Day during the month of January. Teachers and classrooms can also win a Skype author visit with a children’s book author and the drawing will be made from the pool of teachers who signed up before 1/27/16. {author to be announced} This special project is free of charge to all teachers and schools and helps MCCBD achieve their mission of getting multicultural books into the hands of young readers and teachers.
What is it:
The Classroom Reading Challenge is a new project for us but it is a way for teachers to sign up, read up to four multicultural books in their classroom and earn a free multicultural book from us.
All Books are pre-screened and approved by the Junior Library Guild: Having Junior Library Guild on board assures that the free book that classrooms earn from MCCBD is a pre-screened, library-quality book that maps to Common Core. This is a HUGE and exciting benefit for this project.
The MCCBD team would like to take a moment to say a huge “Thank You!” to Junior Library Guild, for allowing us to tap into their collection of library-quality books for kids. Their development and book review service relied upon by thousands of schools and public libraries and we are grateful they are sponsoring Multicultural Children’s Book Day Classroom Reading Challenge by donating the books for the classrooms!
The Junior Library Guild editorial team reviews more than 3,000 new titles each year, in manuscript or prepublication stage. They have a keen sense for finding the best of the best. Over 95 percent of their selections go on to receive awards and/or favorable reviews.
Go HERE to view some of the books that teachers can earn and win as part of our Multicultural Children’s Book Day Classroom Reading Challenge and sign your classroom up to earn a few book!!!!
The post Weekend Links: The Highlights of November appeared first on Jump Into A Book.
November was officially recognized as National Native American Heritage Month and Alaska Native Heritage Month in 1990 when President George H.W. Bush signed it into Public Law. There are some amazing and breathtaking books for children that share the beliefs, journey, histories and struggles of Native Americans and also Alaskan Natives. As always, I round up the best-of-the-best of the books, activities and crafts that I have found over the course of the week and share them with my readers. ENJOY!
Mia at PragmaticMom has and awesome booklist on Top 10: Native American Children’s Books (ages 2-16)
DARIA Music has some excellent Native American musical instrument crafts on her site. Families can enjoy making a Drum Beater
For Pow-wow Drum or for the Lenape Hoop Game and a Turtle Shell Rattle.
We’ve had several wonderful Native American bookreviews and activities here on Jump Into a Book and Children of the Tipi Series-Tipi: Home of the Nomadic Buffalo Hunters is one of my favorites.
MN Tree: Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Free Resources and Free Activities
20+ Native American Folktale Picture Books for Kids from What Do We Do All Day.
The NEA.org has great tools and resources for American Indian Heritage Month as well.
See these sites for more information.
Do you remember the first time you read Charlie and
The Chocolate Factory as a child?
Do you recall the thrill of discovering that magical gateway into Willy Wonka’s world inside the pages of a book?
A world with geese that laid golden eggs, squirrels that could sort nuts, and colorful little people called Oompa Loompas? Would you like to re-live that experience with one of the greatest children’s books of all time like never before?
Then come along on a magical adventure into The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!
Chapter by chapter we explore all of the wonders of Willy Wonka’s World and give you all the tools you need to play along!
Want to know more and get your copy?
The post Weekend Links: Celebrating Native American and Alaska Native Heritage Month (NOV) appeared first on Jump Into A Book.
By Adam Jortner
Early in November was the 200th anniversary of a disaster.
The weather in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, played along and delivered a dreary, wet morning—just as it had on November 7, 1811, when a hodgepodge collection of frontier whites exchanged fire with Native American forces. The Americans “won” the Battle of Tippecanoe when the Indian soldiers retreated, but U.S. forces under William Henry Harrison had to evacuate their position the next day. What’s worse, they were only in the area to enforce the Treaty of Fort Wayne—a land seizure of questionable legality that Harrison himself had crafted by haranguing reluctant Native American leaders and, when necessary, plying them with alcohol. In addition, Tippecanoe touched off a long campaign of guerilla warfare between Native Americans and whites on the frontier that literally bled into the War of 1812.
An unnecessary war based on questionable treaties with an ambiguous result: not the finest hour for America.
The organizers of the 200th were well aware of Tippecanoe’s dubious history, and were adamant that this year’s gathering was a commemoration, not a celebration. The service included prayers from both a Christian clergyman and a Wea chief. The featured speaker was Governor George Blanchard of the Absentee Shawnee, the same tribe who provided the Indian leadership (Tecumseh and his brother, the Shawnee Prophet) that frustrated Harrison two hundred years ago. Reenactors portrayed both white militiamen and Indian soldiers.
Not everyone wanted such a dour memorial, however. One reenactor whipped up an enthusiastic crowd by praising the patriotism of white forces who had fought at Tippecanoe for “liberty.” A sharp-eyed gentleman told me (politely) that people who didn’t like Harrison’s little war of 1811 might as well leave Indiana of 2011. One invited speaker solemnly requested listeners to remember the blood of “two nations” that had watered the battlefield—and then proceeded to give a triumphal account of his own (white) ancestors who patriotically settled the land after the Indians had been forcibly removed.
It’s an understandable urge to want all American military exploits to be the story of a successful quest for liberty. And there is a lot to admire about the American past. But to assume that Americans always fought for good causes—to assume every war is just and every commander selfless—is bad history. It’s true that the American forces fought hard at Tippecanoe, and that there was bravery on both sides. It’s also true that the battle was probably a huge mistake. Harrison’s bungling at the battle, the subsequent success of Native American forces, and the near-destruction of the United States in the War of 1812 should make any patriot pause before celebrating the events at Tippecanoe—leaving aside the question of whether Americans should take pride in the duplicitous nineteenth-century land treaties with Native Americans. And whatever else the battle was, it was not about liberty: no American freedoms (such as they were in 1811) were at stake at Tippecanoe—only the refusal of a collection of Indians to recognize a treaty brokered under bad faith. In fact, the Indians who fought under the Shawnee Prophet had a better claim to be fighting for liberty—many of the warriors who battled Harrison’s men had left their own families to join the Prophet’s struggle to prevent white expansion at Indian expense.
Telling the story of Tippecanoe as a battle of American liberty against Native American tyranny is an imagined past. This imagined past yields an imaginary present—one where “patriotism” solves everything. Our ancestors, we are told, loved liberty, and had patriotism, and they won. Presumably, if we had patriotism and loved liberty, we too would easily
