Huckleberries, Buttercups, and Celebrations
By: Jennifer Greene and Antoine Sandoval
CSKT E 98 .C14 G74 2011
In many ways, modernity has allowed us to live outside the seasons. If we’re hot in the summer, we turn on the air conditioning. If we’re cold in the winter, we readjust our thermostat. Grocery stores are open to purchase ready-to-eat food all year round. Do we need a new pair of shoes or coat? Wal-mart has us covered. Time is reduced to numbers on a calendar and each season seems little different than the next.
Life before these conveniences was much different. Time was measured by nature and weather. Huckleberries, Buttercups, and Celebrations explains the traditional Salish times of the year through poems. Written for a young audience (but equally enjoyable for adults!) this book shares the seasonal activities that mark time and life in Salish culture. There are times for plants and times for animals. Times for people and times for activities that ensure survival in the area that is now Western Montana. Paired with the text are pictures to show the progression of time through a year. Each page shares the words for months in English and then the accompanying translation to Salish. The book is written and illustrated by Jennifer Greene and Antoine Sandoval, who were both raised on the Flathead Reservation.
-Lisa