Welcome to the Underground Bookshelf Book Club! We have two books on the docket for the upcoming month of November. The first book is a children’s picture book called Keepunumuk: Weeachumun’s Thanksgiving Story by Danielle Greendeer, Anthony Perry, and Alexis Bunten and illustrated by Garry Meeches Sr. The second book is Indian No More by Charlene Willing McManis and Traci Sorell. Both books are by Indigenous American authors and center Indigenous American characters and perspectives. Keepunumuk is a beautifully illustrated and beautifully written retelling of Thanksgiving and weaves together the story of a present-day Wampanoag family and the gifts given by Corn and her sisters four hundred years ago. Indian No More is written for ages nine and up and discusses a time when the US government revoked the statuses of various tribes like those living in Grande Ronde. We’ll read Keepunumuk this week since it’s nice and short and read Indian No More throughout the rest of the month. You can find these books using the links below. Happy Reading!
Keepunumuk: Weeachumun's Thanksgiving Story
(Danielle Greendeer, Anthony Perry, Alexis Bunten, illustrated by Garry Meeches Sr.)
Indian No More
(Charlene Willing McManis and Traci Sorell)
Week 1: Keepunumuk: Weeachumun's Thanksgiving Story
Happy November! Both of our Book Club books for this month are written by Indigenous authors. This week, we read Keepunumuk: Weachumun's Thanksgiving Story, a Wampanoag retelling of the first Thanksgiving. This book carries on the tradition of storytelling as a way to share beliefs, practices, and history. In this children's picture book, Thanksgiving is told from the perspective of Corn, known by the Wampanoag word, Weeachumun, and her sisters, Beans and Squash. In it, the spirits of Weeachumun, her sisters, and forest animals agree that they must send the First Peoples to teach the Pilgrims how to grow and nurture the Three Sisters because they have agreed to feed people in return for humans caring for the land they share. In the back of the book, the authors share some information about the Wampanoag tribes, storytelling traditions, and harvest feasts, as well as a Wampanoag recipe and a tradition for giving thanks. It's a really beautiful resource and I highly recommend seeking this book out. My question for this week isn't really a question as much as a suggestion to consider the Wampanoag telling of Keepunumuk (Harvest) and why their stories aren't more widely known.
Week 2: Indian No More
Happy Friday and welcome back to book club. This week, we started reading Indian No More by Charlene Willing McManis and Traci Sorell. It is a chapter book written for ages nine and up and it discusses a period of time in which the U.S. government revoked the statuses of a large number of tribes. The story and its characters are loosely based on Charlene Willing McManus' own family and their experiences when this happened to the people living in Grande Ronde.
Today's question is based on chapters one through six. This section introduces the reader to life for Regina Petit whose family is Umpqua. Although they don't have much, Regina and her family have strong ties to their identity and their community. When the government terminates their tribe's official status, they lose their reservation, their community, and formal recognition of their identity. They enter a government program that is supposed to help them relocate and assimilate. Right off the bat, this book asks the question, "Who gets to say who you really are?" This question gets asked repeatedly, throughout the story. My question is, how do the authors get the reader thinking about this question in the first six chapters of this book? And on another level, I encourage readers to think about what it means for a government to say that you no longer exist.
If you're reading along, come back next week and I'll pose a discussion question for chapters seven through fourteen.
Week 3: Indian No More
Welcome to book club Friday! This week, we continued reading Indian No More by Charlene Willing McManus and Traci Sorell. Our question today is based on chapters seven through fourteen. In this section, Regina and her sister, Peewee, meet their neighbors. For the first time, they interact with people who have never met a native person. While their neighbors are friendly and well-meaning, they sometimes ask uncomfortable questions and play games that hurt Regina's feelings. Their assumptions are often based on incomplete and tropey television representations of Native Peoples. My question is, what do the authors do to help young readers process the way common tropes hurt people like Regina? And as a follow-up question, why is it important to make these conversations accessible and engaging for young readers?
Week 4: Indian No More
Welcome back to book club! Today is the last day of November, and the last prompt for the book, Indian No More by Charlene Willing McManus and Traci Sorell. This book ends with two traumatic events: the death of Regina's grandmother and the cutting of her hair. These losses are compounded because of the way both her grandmother and her hair had tied her to her culture, heritage, and community. The authors use these events to illustrate both the tangible and intangible ways that Indigenous peoples can struggle to maintain access to these things in societies that force assimilation. My questions to close out this month's book club are: How do the authors show Regina coming to terms with loss and seeking to embrace her heritage and identity? And how do these struggles continue to exist in our world today?
Thanks for joining me for this month's book club! In December, we will be reading Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler. Talk to you soon!
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