Celebrate the holidays with a story

Page 15

If you enjoy reading Christmas stories to your children as part of your holiday celebration and you're looking for something new to supplement the tried and true Christmas classics, here are a few Christmas books written by Aboriginal authors that you might want to check out.

Baseball Bats for Christmas

By Michael Arvaarluk Kusugak

Annick Press Ltd.

24 pages

$6.95 sc/ $15.95 hc

In his book Baseball Bats for Christmas, author Michael Kusugak draws on his own experiences growing up in Repulse Bay. Set in 1955, the book focuses on the experiences of Arvaarluk, a seven-year-old boy with severe asthma that limits the number of physical activities in which he is allowed to take part. One of the things he can do, however, is play baseball, which he does as often as he can with his friends Peter, Jack and Yvo.

The only problem is that playing a game of baseball means that first they have to find a good stick to use as a bat, no easy task in a land where no trees grow. At least it's a problem until a Christmas tree delivery from the south, combined with a little ingenuity on the part of the boys, provides not only baseball bats for Christmas, but for well into the New Year.

For the book, published in 1990, Kusugak teams up with illustrator Vladyana Krykorka, who has provided the pictures for many of his books, starting with his collaborative effort with Robert Munch, A Promise is a Promise. Krykorka also provided the illustrations for Kusugak's books Arctic Stories; Hide and Sneak; My Arctic 1, 2, 3; Northern Lights: The Soccer Trails; and Who Wants Rocks?

Baseball Bats for Christmas is recommended for children age 4 to 7, but children of all ages will appreciate the colorful illustrations and the author's sharing of recollections of Christmases past. They will also enjoy the humor of a situation in which the boys in the story are presented with an object that on the surface appears inherently useless, until they use their resourcefulness to turn it into exactly what they need.

A Candle for Christmas

By Jean Speare

Groundwood Books

32 pages sc

$4.95

When he wakes up in the morning of Christmas Eve, Tomas is cold and anxious; cold because he is in pajamas and sleeping on sheets-if he were at home he'd be wearing his thick underwear and be wrapped up in warm gray blankets-anxious because he is worried about his parents.

Tomas' parents have gone to the place where their cattle are wintering to check on his uncle, who had not yet come to the reserve for his Christmas supplies. When they left two weeks before, they sent Tomas to stay with the community's nurse, and promised they would be home in plenty of time for Christmas.

In A Candle for Christmas, Tsihqot'in author Jean Speare paints a picture of what life might once have been like for a little boy living on a reserve on British Columbia's Chilcotin Plateau, where Speare herself lives. In the book, we follow Tomas throughout his day as he tries to concentrate on school but can only think of his parents, missing them and hoping they make it home for Christmas. And we see how the love shared between family members can shine brighter than a candle flame, helping to guide Tomas' parents home.

The text is complemented by watercolor paintings by award-winning illustrator Ann Blades. She has created the pictures for a number of other children's books, including two she wrote herself-Mary of Mile 18 and A Boy of Tache.

Jean Speare's other published works include The Days of Augusta, in which she shares stories and remembrances told to her by 80-year-old Mary Augusta Tappage, the daughter of a Shuswap Chief.

A Candle for Christmas, first published in 1986, is suitable for children age two to five. It is a heartwarming story that reminds us that what makes the holiday season special is sharing it with the people that you love

Santa's Helper

By Grant S. Anderson

Pemmican Publications Inc.

36 pages, (s/c)

$9.95

Yet another Christmas tale comes from Metis author Grant S Anderson, who combines with illustrator Sheldon Dawson to create Santa's Helper. The book tells the story of Sarah, a young chipmunk who, with the help of her grandmother, learns what Christmas is truly all about.

Sarah is confused when Santa comes to the school play and hands out gifts to everyone in the class except Andrew, a young boy whose family doesn't have a lot of money. Then, when her older sister tells her there's no such thing as Santa Claus, she goes to the one person who would know the truth-her Grandmother.

Sarah's grandmother doesn't just tell Sarah the truth about Santa, she helps Sarah discover it for herself, allowing her to not only reaffirm her belief in Santa, but also to discover the rewards of being one of his helpers.

The book is aimed at children in grades 2 to 6, and with its colorful illustrations, menagerie of characters and heartwarming story is sure to become a seasonal favorite.

Another Christmas-themed book is The Crying Christmas Tree by Allan Crow also published by Winnipeg-based Pemmican Publications Inc., a Metis cultural and educational publishing house.

For more suggestions of books by Aboriginal authors and illustrators that you can share with your children, or just enjoy yourself, the Internet is a valuable resource. Here are just a few Web sites that will help you in your search:

The Native Book Centre Web site contains a list of more than 1,500 titles of Native American Indian books, videos, audio recordings and CD-ROMs and, while not all the entries are written by Native people, a fair number are. The site lets you search the listing by category, so if you're looking for books on a specific topic, this site might be a good place to begin your search. You can find it at http://www.nativebooks.com.

The University of Manitoba Web site features a bibliography of recommended Aboriginal books, most of which have been written and illustrated by Aboriginal people. The list can be found at http://www.umanitoba.ca/outreac/cm/cmarchive/vol20no4/aboriginalbooks.html

Malaspina University College has a listing of books by British Columbia First Nations authors and illustrators on their site at http://www.mala.bc.ca/www/discover/firstnat/print.html.

Oyate, a California-based organization that works to ensure the lives and stories of Native people are portrayed truthfully within published works, also has a list of books it recommends, as well as a list of books it suggests you steer clear of. The recommendations can be found at http://www.oyate.org/catalog/index.html

The National Education Association in the United States has developed a list of books to celebrate Native American Heritage Month (November). They have sorted them into age-suitable groupings and each group includes a variety of fiction, non-fiction and poetry.

Aboriginal Canadian authors haven't been completely excluded from this list.

What's the Most Beautiful Thing You Know About Horses by Richard Van Camp makes the list of recommended reading for Kindergarten to Grade 4, as did Michael Kusagak's My Arctic 1,2,3. His Northern Lights: The Soccer Trails is recommended for readers in grades 5 to 8.

On the list for Grades and up are such titles as Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King and Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heavean by Sheman Alexie.

If you'd like to visit the NEA Web site, you can find it at:

http://www.nea.org/readacross/resources/nabooklist.html.

And of course, don't forget the best place to find the books you're looking for-your local public library.