Thursday, November 21, 2019

Fry Bread

Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard, illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal. Grades PreK-4th. Roaring Brook Press, October 2019. 40 pages. Review copy provided by my local library. 

So, this wonderful book. It's a love letter to cooking a special recipe surrounded by the people you love, who love you. It's also a powerful tool for representation of Native American people who are only part of our country's history, but part of our country's present. In bouncy text, the book goes through the process of cooking fry bread, celebrating the sounds, colors, and tastes associated with it. The illustrations depict a group of Native family members and friends who have gathered to eat together and I especially love that the illustrations show some people who don't fit the stereotypical description of "Native American" people having black hair, brown skin, and dark eyes. 

The back matter of the book is an amazing resource, going through and pointing out purposeful details in the illustration - the father's Seminole tattoos, for example, and what the symbols mean. It's amazing to me the amount of purpose and collaboration that must have come with illustrating this book. There are so many details that I wouldn't have known to look for and I surely appreciated them being pointed out. I'm sure readers familiar with the nations represented would notice and pick up on those details, so I think it's really appropriate to have the notes as part of the back matter where readers who need them can find them but they don't disrupt the flow of the story. The back matter also addresses a lot of issues surrounding Native American people that come up when teaching about Native Americans. This is an excellent tool for educators and adults who are sharing this book with the children in their lives, so do not skip it. 

One of my favorite parts of the book is the endpapers, which list the names of Native nations, some of which are federally recognized tribes (there are over 500 in the United States) and some of which are not. The back matter provides more information about how some tribes have become recognized and why not all tribes are recognized. (See? Don't skip it!)

The book includes a recipe for fry bread and author Kevin Maillard is careful to note that there are many differences in the recipes used by different people and from different nations and all are valid. I know in New Albany we got over 400 comments on a Facebook post about whether people put spaghetti in their chili (it's a thing here?), so I think that's something that's important to note. There's not just one "official" recipe for fry bread. Different people make it different ways and none of them are less "Native". 

I think this is an important book to have in libraries and classrooms, especially if you teach or discuss Native American nations as part of your curriculum. There's a lot that both kids and adults can learn from reading this book and it's perfect for sharing at this time of year when Americans are focused on sharing meals with loved ones and being with family and friends. 

Basically, I love this book and I want everyone to pick it up!