Monday, March 20, 2023

Today's read... Taos Pueblo Winter illustrated by Leonard Archuleta

Today's read is one of four books aimed for the youngest readers out there. These come with the special purpose to help continue and revitalize the language of the Tiwa culture. I'm not going to say much more and just head right in.



TAOS PUEBLO WINTER
The Taos Pueblo Tiwa Language Program
Illustrated by Leonard Archuleta
7th Generation
Board Book

COMING...
MAY 30th!!!

The delightful board books, written without text, were created by the Taos Pueblo's Tiwa Language Program to preserve the Tiwa culture and revitalize the unwritten Tiwa language by teaching it to younger generations. Many other Indigenous languages also need to be revitalized, so it is the hope of the Taos Pueblo's Tiwa Language Program that other American Indian nations will find the books useful to teach their languages to their children. The beautiful, hand-drawn illustrations will also educate young children about the four seasons of the year. All proceeds of the book support the Taos Pueblo's Tiwa Language Program.

GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63247273-taos-pueblo-winter
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Taos-Pueblo-Winter-Four-Seasons/dp/1570673454



MY TIDBITS


This is one of four board books in a series, which is aimed at beginner readers out there. These books were created with the hope to assist young children as they learn the Tiwa language from their parents/guardians/teachers/elders. Each book centers around one season of the year, this one being winter.

This is a wordless book, since the language from this culture does not have a written form. Instead, this book acts as a support to those learning the language by providing illustrations of familiar scenes, activities, animals, and items found within the Tiwa culture. The older reader uses these as a guide to help young listeners recognize the word the reader gives them. A general scene is first presented with all details to let the young listener view the people/creatures in the natural setting. Then, a second illustration pin-points one specific item/animal, which the older reader can use as a clear reference. For example, there's the scene of a Tiwa dwelling after a snow, and then, just an image of snow is displayed.
These images are done with love and offer many things to view.

These books are directed to a very specific audience, in so far, that the reader does need to already know the language. However, this also can be used to learn other languages because of this. For those outside of this small circle, however, I do find another valuable aspect in these pages. The illustrations show the traditional settings and lifestyles. Everything from clothing to the important aspects of the life and meanings are portrayed. This makes these books a nice edition to those wanting to learn more about the culture or as extra material when dealing with the subject.

I'm not going to really rate these books, since I don't feel that I'm knowledgeable enough in the area to do so. But for the right reasons, I do find that they can be a valuable resource.


The other books in this series are:





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