biography

Where are we going?

Sophie Rosen , , , , , ,

Skrypuch, Marsha Forchuk with Tuan Ho. Adrift At Sea: A Vietnamese Boy’s Story of Survival. Toronto: Pajama Press, 2016.
In 1981, six-year-old Tuan escaped with his mother and two of his sisters. In the middle of the night, they got on a boat which took them far out to sea where they were rescued by sailors on an American aircraft carrier. Illustrated by award-winning Brian Deines, this powerful picture book tells the true story of one child’s journey as a refugee from Vietnam to Canada. Accompanied by historical and biographical information, as well as numerous photographs, this informative and inspiring story is recommended for readers 8 years old and up.

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Sequoyah’s Syllabary

Sophie Rosen , ,

Some languages use alphabet letters to make written sounds.
Some languages use characters.
But did you know there is another brilliant system of writing?
It doesn’t use either alphabet letters or characters.
Instead, it has symbols that stand for syllables.
Over a billion people in the world speak languages that use syllable symbols for writing.

This picture book tells the story of one of those languages.

Cherokee uses 84 symbols or signs to make all the sounds of the language.
This writing system was invented by a man called Sequoyah who lived over 150 years ago.
Full-page colour illustrations and a Cherokee translation by Anna Sixkiller Huckaby accompany this compelling true story told by award-winning James Rumford.
Highly recommended for readers of all ages.

Rumford, James. Sequoyah: The Cherokee Man Who Gave His People Writing. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2004.

More books about indigenous people HERE.

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