
By Muriel Ammon
Keep your eyes out for a new Scholastic Reader, written by Northern California’s very own Geena Talley (Karuk, Yurok). The Land We Love follows a Karuk girl who goes swimming in the creek, accompanied by her grandmother and brother. Their serenity is interrupted when visitors arrive, littering and causing noise pollution. The young heroine works with her family to communicate to these visitors that this creek is to be respected, for it is a special place. This is a story right out of many of our lives, with powerful messaging that a person of any age can make a positive impact in their community.
An absolute treasure for those looking to expand their Indigenous children’s shelves, this book represents Talley’s home community through language, people, and place. Central to the story is the cultural ideology ‘living in a good way.’ Down to the afternoon snack of smoked salmon and the one-eleven tattoos on Grandma, this book provides the Indigenous representation of my home that I yearned for as a child. Talley places serious focus on portraying the complex diversity of her community, including addressing the concept of ‘what makes a family.’ Not every family is homogenous. Siblings can have different colored hair, different complexions, different body types. A wide range of family members may take part in raising a child. I know this is true for my family. To have a children’s book that normalizes these traits is largely unique and widely meaningful. Talley incorporates Karuk language, using common words and phrases like Chémyaach (hurry), Chaas (little brother), and Kachakáach (blue jay). The closeness of family speaking Karuk together shows insight into the deeply personal connections that are made when revitalizing a language, on the individual level. It can be joyful. It can be part of your everyday life. That Talley is able to cover such a comprehensive range of representation in subtle ways is a gift.
Talley has a unique skill of eliciting emotion. As the heroine maneuvers through her thoughts and feelings, the reader is pulled along a parallel emotional journey. She shares the serenity, sensorial experience, and sense of attachment that comes from being on your homelands. This sentiment is conveyed so deeply that it’s a shock to the nerves when out-of-towners pile off their bus laughing and shouting about. As the conflict progresses, her sense of distraught is apparent. This is a sensitive topic for all. Many Native children have already experienced a similar conflict to that shown in this story. Talley is eliciting the real emotions that stem from their lived experience. Talley does not shy away from the racial elements underlying this conflict. Non-Native people are acting disrespectfully while visiting this Native family’s homelands, and the product is a riverbar full of garbage. Through this pain, the girl is supported by her community to take a stand. Their plans prove successful, and the riverbar is cleared. Such emotional depth culminates in the tenderness of two children meeting each other where they are, then working together to rectify the situtation. Talley is not playing the blame game. Rather, she is able to identify an issue in her community and represent a reality in which a resolution occurs. As for us readers, we all have a home, a place we live and a place we love. We all want to protect the beauty and integrity of our homes. This message speaks on a global level, while bringing attention to the unique position of Indigenous people in a settler colonial society. There is certainly a call back to our peoples’ history of fighting for our rights. I think of the fierce activists of the Fish On! movement, preserving the right for our families to fish as their families had done since time immemorial. The right to practice food sovereignty. I see those protesting, speaking out, and writing policy in reaction to MMIP, in the effort to provide safety for our peoples.
The Land We Love has now joined the world of Indigenous children’s literature. It’s wonderful to have Northern California tribes represented in such a beautiful and strong way. This book is one of twenty four in Scholastic’s ‘Our Stories Decodables,’ written for readers from underrepresented backgrounds. For those interested, more information can be found through the link below.
https://education.scholastic.com/education/programs/our-stories-decodables.html#sample

Geena Talley (Karuk, Yurok)