Two Picture Books Celebrating Daily Life of Native People

Roaring Book Press, 2019

FRY BREAD: A Native American Family Story is raking in well-deserved awards. It is written by Kevin Noble Mailard and illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal, a talented pair who together created a modern miracle. There are not enough words of praise to offer, but I'll give it a try.

This remarkable book is an outstanding example of a picture book for every age. The seemingly simple premise of defining a staple food product- fry bread- is expanded and exposed, in phrase after phrase, with each page turn exploring various aspects of this unifying yet diverse food and the distinct practices and customs involved in its preparation and sharing. What seems, on first glance, to be an attempt to define a food product succeeds, in fact, in embracing the vast and intimate connections among indigenous people, their varied histories,  and their individually distinct relationships with friends and family.
Fry bread has rich symbolism and cultural significance to people who were deprived of millennia of authentic traditions only to be replaced with inadequate and alien ingredients. The adaptation of those many people is celebrated here, honoring fry bread's most significant ingredients -family, friends, love, support, survival, and resilience. 
The author's recipe and notes in back matter sparked memories of a few family heritage foods of my own- Aunt Sally's biscuits and cornbread, pots of ham hocks and beans, among others, each of which claimed superiority to any other versions. And yet even those variations are evocative of the broader landscape of time, place, and people to which I am connected. 
I had the pleasure of hearing the illustrator speak at a workshop before her first books were released, before they garnered stars and awards. Her message then (in her talk) and now (in her work) is that the heart of any story is the HEART of it- the connections within the pages and reaching beyond to the hands holding those pages. This book is an incredible experience, and one that should be shared. 
If not with fry bread, then with whatever fills your own family's hearts as fully as your bellies.

University of Minnesota Press, 2019

From this expansive story of a staple of daily life, shift gears to enjoy a very particular small moment in one day in the life of one small family. JOHNNY'S PHEASANT is written by Cheryl Mennema with pictures by Julie Flett.This, too, has won attention and awards, each of which is well-deserved. 
The text provides a superb example of the potential for writing powerful versions of "small moments". It's a story of noticing, of curiosity, of gentle caring, of reasonable doubt, of imagination, and oaf faith. This is mentor text for any and every age, with each word in the spare narrative serving its purpose perfectly. The images in the illustrations pair well, providing enough detail to feel intensely familiar but remaining lean in line and tone.
Heartwarming, hopeful, packed with with life lessons and a feather-light-touch of humor, this book should also be shared, again and again.
Both are also windows to slices of life in modern Native family culture, laying an inviting  path to connection and appreciation for the diversity of our world.