Books...Children's Books!

The library day was interesting...I was lost for a while and read questions again. Then,  I was wandering around and looking all different kinds of books about Alaska. There were also many documents, CD, magazines, new papers, and including children's books! I picked several children's books. First, I was attracted to all colorful, cute, pretty drawings, and began to read these books.

                Because the children books were fictions, I could not strongly disprove our culture's contemporary view of the indigenous lifestyles as "wonderfully horrific" and difficult. However, the books were based on the real life of Alaskan Natives and gave well descriptions of their lifestyles through good stories and beautiful pictures. When I was reading the books, I saw some hardships, such as hunting and fishing for food, but I felt that their life was happy.

                 These Alaska native children's books had nature as an important element to people. Native people were fishing in seas and hunting in forests, observed nature and felt happiness, and believed that they were belong to nature. I loved that the writers used various adjectives and details to tell about nature, and I could clearly visualized what they were saying about. These Alaskan children's books also highlighted relationships between people. Some stories were about their families and people in communities. People cared each other and shared things they had. Their relationships were tight and showed true love. There were no anger, jealousy, hate, and envy between people. I felt that people were thankful to little things, such as thankful for catching a whale and thankful for being with family. Their thankful mind made their life happier, and I thought that this could be one of "certain knowledge about how to live."

 Arctic Son:
"The stars were enormous bonfires in the sky. Then, silently and slowly, yellow, rose, and green lights fountained up and filled the sky."
"You and I live where the lights are born."

Whale Snow:
"Momma, I feel happy inside. Inside is like a giant smile."
"... the spirit of the whale goes after... the people leaves." "Whale happiness is the gift the whale leaves."