When the Shadbush Blooms

In warm and glowing paintings, two Native American girls from different times--the past and the present--live through the seasons, side by side, in the warm embrace of their families. The past is nearly 400 years ago, when the Lenape people lived a traditional life barely touched by European traders. The present is contemporary America, as the Lenape continue to adapt to a changing world but remain close to the land and to each other.

 Includes afterword about the culture and history of the Lenni Lenape (formerly known as the Delaware Indians). Reviews"This format and warm acrylic illustrations beautifully challenge the false notion that Indians vanished."—School Library Journal Awards:The Best Children's Books of the Year 2008, by the Children's Book Committee for Bank Street College of EducationRecipient of the 2008 Skipping Stones Honor Award

 

My grandparents’ grandparents walked beside the same stream where I walk with my brother, and we can see what they saw.

Today when a Lenape Indian girl ventures to the stream to fish for shad, she knows that another girl did the same generations before. Through the cycle of the seasons, what is important has remained: being with family, knowing when berries are ripe for picking, listening to stories in a warm home.

Told by Traditional Sister and Contemporary Sister, each from her own time, this is a book about tradition and about change. Then and now are not so very different when the shadbush blooms.

My grandparents’ grandparents walked beside the same stream where I walk with my brother, and we can see what they saw.

Today when a Lenape Indian girl ventures to the stream to fish for shad, she knows that another girl did the same generations before. Through the cycle of the seasons, what is important has remained: being with family, knowing when berries are ripe for picking, listening to stories in a warm home.

Told by Traditional Sister and Contemporary Sister, each from her own time, this is a book about tradition and about change. Then and now are not so very different when the shadbush blooms.

Carla J. S. Messinger is a Lenape cultural educator and the director of Native American Heritage Programs. She lives in Allentown, Pennsylvania, with her husband Allan and daughter Joy. When the Shadbush Blooms is her first children’s book.

Susan Katz has written five children’s books, including the prize-winning novel, Snowdrops for Cousin Ruth. She lives with her husband and a house rabbit in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

David Kanietakeron Fadden, Wolf Clan Mohawk, grew up in a traditional family of artists, naturalists and storytellers. His illustrations have appeared in books, periodicals, animations, and the Discovery Channel’s “How the West Was Lost: Always the Enemy.” Dave lives with his family on Kawenoke, also known as Cornwall Island, at Akwesasne Mohawk Territory, a community located on the Canadian-U.S. border.