Joe Bruchac: Storyteller

Is it too early to think about November? No! Mark your calendar now so you won’t forget to come on Saturday, November 2, 1-2:30 pm, to hear well-known storyteller and author Joseph Bruchac. His books and stories reflect his Abenaki roots and his lifelong interest in American Indian histories and cultures. Most of Joe's books are based on Native traditional teachings, and many of his stories are ones he’s learned from the elders. His enthusiastic storytelling is amazing; you “see” the animals, people, and events in his stories. Joining him to tell a story or two, are local storytellers, Trudie Lamb Richmond (Schaghticoke) and Candyce Testa (Pequot). Free with Museum admission, free to Museum members.

Check out Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. #BookLoversDay

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, first published in 2007 by Little, Brown, is among my favorite books. Lots of readers know about the novel because it has won many awards including the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and the American Indian Youth Literature Award for Young Adults. It’s a great read – one that makes you laugh and cry along with Junior as he makes his way in a new school and at home on the reservation. But it continues to show up on lists of banned books. Read it and see what you think – I join many others in loving it.

New Books for Teens

Here are three books we recommend in case you’re looking for good books to read for the “Summer Reading” you need to do for school.

How I Became a Ghost by Tim Tingle (Choctaw), Roadrunner Press, 2013

      Tim Tingle's new book is about a young boy and the Choctaw Trail of Tears; here’s how it starts:

            Maybe you have never read a book written by a ghost before. I am a ghost. I am not a ghost when this book begins, so you have to pay very close attention. I should tell you something else. I see things before they happen. You are probably thinking, “I wish I could see things before they happen.”

            Be careful what you wish for.

If I Ever Get Out of Here by Eric Gansworth (Onondaga), Scholastic, 2013 

      Lewis Blake lives on the Tuscarora Reservation and is starting junior high school and wants to make friends and he does, with George Haddonfield, an army

kid who shares his love for the Beatles.

Debbie Reese writes about it on her blog:

It is, however, a rare but honest look at culture and how people with vastly different upbringings and identities can clash. And dance. And laugh. Gansworth informs readers about cultural difference, but he doesn't beat anyone up as he does it.

Him Standing by Richard Wagamese (Ojibway), Orca, 2013

      One of Canada’s award-winning authors, Richard Wagamese‘s new book is an Orca Rapid Reads book and it is a quick, yet compelling story about what happens when Lucas Smoke, extraordinary woodcarver, is asked to carve a spirit mask by a mysterious man dressed all in black.