I’ve been wanting to do a story trail for some time -(since first visiting one at Dawes Arboretum in 2009!). When we discussed a late fall opening, and were thinking about a book choice, Thank You Omu! by Oge Mora leaped out as the perfect choice — a book about community, neighborhood, sharing, family, food, and kindness. I’ve been a fan of Mora’s vibrant collage artwork for several years and was delighted to be able to share this story with the community. This Story Trail is the result of a wonderful partnership with Westerville Parks and Recreation, with funding provided by the Westerville Library Foundation.
It’s Indigenous People’s Day, and I’m thinking of whose land I am standing on, as challenged to do at the recent ALSC Institute. The conference site included a “Land Acknowledgement” statement which included the following:
ALA and ALSC acknowledge the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of all Indigenous peoples that call this land home. The Institute was originally going to be held in Minneapolis, so we take this opportunity to celebrate and support Minnesota Indigenous communities.
As part of this acknowledgement, ALSC requests our Virtual Institute attendees visit https://native-land.ca/, carefully read the disclaimer, research, and answer the question: “Whose land am I standing on?” learn to recognize the Indigenous nations, communities, and organizations in your area.
The Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area is located on Wahpekute and Očhéthi Šakówiŋ land. Minnesota is home to seven Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) and four Dakota nations (MN Indian Tribes).
The maps at Native-Land (https://native-land.ca) are fascinating. I have learned that I live and work on Hopewell land, live on Shawandasse Tula (Shawanwaki/Shawnee) land, and work on land that belonged to the Myaamia (Miami). I grew up in Georgia, on land belonging to the Mvskokee (Muscogee/Creek). I have a lot to learn about these peoples and am excited by this resource.
It is the Hopewell that I feel closest to, as I live close to several earthworks, structures built by the Hopewell, including the Octagon and Great Circle Earthworks, that align in significant ways with the sun and moon cycles. Below are a few photos from a recent walk around the Great Circle. It is an awe-inspiring place, and a nominee for UNESCO World Heritage status.
This year’s Picture This program (an annual summer program on the art of children’s books) focuses on fairy tales. We began with Nick Sharratt’s The Foggy Foggy Forest, which allows children to guess what fairy tale characters are in the shadows. Then we took a closer look at German illustrator Sybille Schenker‘s magnificent cut paper illustrations.
To help the children think of a fairy tale, but distill it down to one illustration, we looked at mimimalist fairy tale posters — without the title and they tried to guess the story. I think they enjoyed the guessing aspect and also the different fairy tells helped them to pick one of their own, instead of having 20 images of Red Riding Hood.
We did suggest beginning with cutouts of trees or a forest, as these are relatively easy to make (fold a piece of black cardstock in half, cut rectangular shapes out — irregular is better — can make fatter or thinner, etc.). The results were really striking.
Can you guess what this one is?
(Hint: count the number of hats)
Does anyone feel the wind changing?
Here is “The Little Old Lady who was not afraid of anything” (by an artist with an October birthday — she tried to think of a story that went with that time of year.)
Another was inspired by Frozen:
while another stuck with a classic favorite:
and this one reflects the minimalist mindset:
and I like how this artist added branches to her trees:
Bookmuse 