South Sound Review Council │ Celebrating the Chinook Tribes

"Celebrating the Chinook Tribes by Anne Accardi is part of a Mitchell Lane series highlighting Indigenous American Cultures. This series is geared towards elementary with a reading level of grade 3 and 4 (sited on the Mitchell Lane website), with full color pictures. This book is 32 pages long.

This book includes not only a table of contents, but also headings, bolded words, glossary, index, further reading, and websites to explore on the internet.

I was really impressed with this book and how it presented the people of Chinook tribe (whose lands are close to where I currently teach) and the history in our area. I appreciated that the text also mentioned that people with Chinook ancestry can live all across the nation, not just where their people lived since time immemorial. In this book you’ll find each chapter focuses on a part of the Chinook tribes traditions including present and past tribal lands, celebrations, and language.

Although this book does a good job of bridging the time before colonisers entered their land, to famous people enrolled in the Chinook tribes, I did notice that there was no language stating the tribe had been residing in the Pacific Northwest since time immemorial (a phrase that is used in our indigenous education throughout the PNW). I would have also preferred the term colonizers to settlers that the book highlights on page 8. I think the definition in the glossary would also match the word colonizer better than settler.

The author, Anne Accardi, has a biography in the back and it does not say she is affiliated with any tribe herself. Although I think the book is well done, as a librarian, I would prefer to buy books about indigenous tribes by people who are members or affiliated with the tribe. I understand this is not always possible, yet.

This series also includes a cut out in the beginning (before the Table of Contents) that gives a parent or caregiver tips for reading non-fiction with their reader, and for encouraging them to read more nonfiction. This is always helpful as many guardians would like help knowing what to ask, what text features are called in non-fiction and how to encourage their young readers.

I found this book well done, even though I think there are improvements that could be made. If you need to update your books highlighting indigenous cultures, I would definitely take a look at this series. There are six books in the series so far. Each book is available in hardcover, paperback and as an ebook.

If you need to update your books on indigenous tribes, I recommend looking to see if this book would fit into your library collection."