fry bread a native american family story

That lack of understanding, she says, starts in our elementary schools.ĭEBBIE REESE: Native writers will often say that they are writing the books they wish they had when they were children.

That's something most Americans know little about, says Debbie Reese, a researcher who studies Indigenous representation in children's literature and a member of the Nambe Pueblo. They could look like Asians, right? So there's no real way that Native people should look.īREWER: Being Indigenous in America is largely based on tribal citizenship, not simply race. They can look like what people think of as Latino. MAILLARD: 'Cause people can look like white people. Through the story and the book's beautiful pictures, the two also capture the complexity of Native identity. So I did one of these naive things where I was like, I think I'll write my own children's book.īREWER: In 'Fry Bread,' a Native American family story, Maillard and Caldecott honoree Juana Martinez-Neal tell the story of a modern Native family making fry bread - a fluffy, slightly crunchy and a little greasy bread commonly made in Indigenous communities. MAILLARD: Nothing about people alive that were wearing sneakers, that were eating candy, or making cakes with their grandma. But then when it came to finding books about Native people, it was so difficult.īREWER: Maillard had no trouble finding books about Thanksgiving or Pocahontas or Sacagawea. MAILLARD: I was looking for, like, African American books. So he wanted to find books that reflected his family. He's a member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, and his wife is Taiwanese. And so I wanted him to really love reading as much as I do, too.īREWER: Maillard is both black and Indigenous. KEVIN NOBLE MAILLARD: And I live in a Manhattan apartment so it's just, like, wall-to-wall books, floor to ceiling. GRAHAM LEE BREWER, BYLINE: In 2012, as he was expecting his first child, writer and Syracuse Law professor Kevin Noble Maillard was on the hunt for children's books. Graham Lee Brewer reports from Norman, Okla. In his debut children's book, called, 'Fry Bread,' Kevin Noble Maillard tries to change that. When Native American children read books, they do not often have chances to see people like them.

Fry bread a native american family story