Meet Naiche: A Native Boy from the Chesapeake Bay Area (My World-Young Native Americans Today Series) [Hardcover]

Gabrielle Tayac (Author), John Harrington (Photographer)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up | Series: My World-Young Native Americans Today Series

In this first entry in the National Museum of the American Indian series My World: Young Native Americans Today, Naiche Woosah Tayac, a member of the Piscataway tribe, takes the reader through his day at school, traces the history of his tribe and ancestors, and describes his people’s ceremonies and customs. Produced in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution, Meet Naiche offers a rare glimpse into the modern culture and family life of an ancient tribe while celebrating Native American history and traditions.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-6-A promising beginning to a new series. Tayac opens with a short introduction about her background and an overview of the Piscataway people. The rest of the narrative is told from the point of view of her cousin Naiche, who lives in rural Maryland. He shows how his life is similar to that of any other American child and at the same time incorporates his unique Native American heritage. (His mother is Apache, his father, Piscataway.) He describes a typical day at school, where he learns about fractions and photosynthesis, but afterward attends the Piscataway Nation's Awakening of Mother Earth celebration. The bulk of the book describes the ceremony, interlacing the details with family anecdotes. The white borders surrounding Harrington's full-color photographs add to the scrapbooklike feel of the volume. Historical paintings and reproductions provide additional information. Sidebars are not always placed logically throughout the text. An appendix, "A Piscataway Year," describes the annual cycle of festivals and provides a broader context for the Awakening of Mother Earth. Though this book is of limited use for reports, it is a great resource for teachers who want to give a human face to Native American studies, and the style is lively enough that kids may just want to read it on their own.
Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Maryland School for the Deaf, Columbia
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 5-10. Part of the new series My World: Young Native Americans Today, this large, handsome, full-color photo-essay leaves generic stereotypes behind and focuses on a contemporary Hopi teen, Mindy Secakuku, weaving her personal story together with the history and culture of her nation. The author is Mindy's aunt, who was born and raised on the Hopi reservation and works with the National Museum of the American Indian. After the introductory overview, she lets Mindy tell her own story. At times Mindy sounds like an adult talking about "her personal goals." Still, the first-person narrative and the lively photos bring readers close to Mindy and her people, past and present. Mindy goes to high school near Phoenix, Arizona, and several pages show her as a "regular American kid," working at the computer, chatting with friends. But Mindy says she's "a Hopi and Tewa kid first," and most of the book is about her traditional culture on the reservation, beginning with her young woman's rite of passage in the Corn Grinding Ceremony, and including much about the history, art, religion, dance, and ceremonies through the seasons. Also in the series is Gabrielle Tayac's Meet Naiche: A Native Boy from the Chesapeake Bay Area (2002). Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Beyond Words Pub Co; 1st edition (December 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582700729
• ISBN-13: 978-1582700724
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,373,838 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Meet Naiche Hits the Mark, September 23, 2002

By 

Joan B. Agines "jag104" (Greenacres, Fl. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Meet Naiche: A Native Boy from the Chesapeake Bay Area (My World-Young Native Americans Today Series) (Hardcover)

This book will inform and entertain youngsters from second to sixth grade. Youngsters from about third to sixth grade can read this book independently while first and second graders can have it read to them. It demonstrates the daily life of a real native child and shows how many American Indian children live in the eastern region of the U.S. today. It also corrects common beliefs that many youngsters between ages 6 and 11 or 12 hold, that native children live in teepees and wear deerskin clothes etc. The author, Dr. Gabrielle Tayac, a Piscataway Indian and Naiche's cousin writes clearly and is obviously familiar with her reader and subject. She knows Naiche and his family well and communicates this to her audience in a interesting manner. The photography and the text mesh beautifully to tell the true life story of a contemporary native family through the eyes of a child.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Native Boy Tale Charms Kids of All Cultures, September 23, 2002

By 

louise goldstein (saratoga springs, new york) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Meet Naiche: A Native Boy from the Chesapeake Bay Area (My World-Young Native Americans Today Series) (Hardcover)

Naiche is described so stirringly in this book by Dr. Tayac that any native or non-native American would want to know him. Many American children in 2002 grow up multi-culturally and this wonderfully written children's book clearly evokes a compelling portrait of Naiche's world. The richness of Naiche's Indian culture will expand the horizons of any child who reads this page turner.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, an accurate view of today's Native American, October 11, 2002

By 

A teacher in Virginia (Virginia, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Meet Naiche: A Native Boy from the Chesapeake Bay Area (My World-Young Native Americans Today Series) (Hardcover)

This is a timely book, especially with the typical flurry of Native American activities that start in November in schools around the nation. One of the best qualities of this book is that it shows that Naiche is like any other American boy: has a family, lives in a house, eats pizza, plays soccer, and wears cargo pants. Native Americans are still the subject of stereotypes fueled by many aspects of society. For example, sports team mascots that reinforce people's ignorance. This book goes a long way toward showing that Native children have the same dreams and needs as all of our children.

This is a beautifully written and photographed book that should be on every teacher's reading list, public library, and family bookshelves.