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Itse Selu: Cherokee Harvest Festival
Step back in time for a captivating glimpse of Cherokee life in pre-Columbian North America. Join Little Wolf and his family as they prepare to celebrate Itse Selu, the harvest festival. As night approaches the village, the magic of anticipation fills the air. The luscious feast, Grandfather's storytelling, and the sacred corn dance weave a magical tapestry of tradition.
ITSE SELU celebrates the rich and expressive spirit of the ancient Cherokee culture. The inclusion of Cherokee vocabulary introduces readers to their language and creates a unique texture. A pronunciation key, alphabet, and glossary are included. The remarkable realism of Don Stewart's illustrations transports us effortlessly to Little Wolf's peaceful world.
ITSE SELU celebrates the rich and expressive spirit of the ancient Cherokee culture. The inclusion of Cherokee vocabulary introduces readers to their language and creates a unique texture. A pronunciation key, alphabet, and glossary are included. The remarkable realism of Don Stewart's illustrations transports us effortlessly to Little Wolf's peaceful world.
32 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1994
46 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 22, 2019
What I really like aboit this one is that it gives pronunciations of words that are not familiar to non Natives.
October 10, 2017
Itse Selu is a story about a Cherokee corn festival. In the book, Little Wolf and Skye, brother and sister, awake from their home. Skye darts off, after eating her breakfast, to grab a pot of water. Little Wolf, taking his time, stalled by smelling his mom's cooking, playing with his baby sister, and stopping to see his grandmother (but mostly just checking on the shoes she was making for him). By the time he had finished stalling, Skye returned. He brushed passed her to find his friend. The story then tells us that the boys were in the process of learning to hunt (although I do not think they were doing that on this specific day). The boys played a traditional Cherokee game and then came home. The next line states that the "late afternoon sun signaled the time for everyone in the village to gather" for the festival. The priest lit the fire and said a prayer to begin the ceremony. Little Wolf's grandfather then tells a story about a rabbit and a wildcat, after the sun set. The children fell asleep and awoke for The Green Corn Dance, a traditional Cherokee dance that is said to mark springtime. When it ended, the family went home and slept.
I liked that I got to learn about the Cherokee culture, and the traditions of the festival here, however I felt like there was no story. It progressed, and the audience learned about Cherokee cultures and traditions, and then the family went home and slept. That was it. Where was the ending?! Where was the action?! Where did this lead? The other thing I noticed, and you may too, reading my description of the book, was that the story was confusing. At the beginning of the story, there is a statement that says that it is tradition for all villagers to bathe before starting their day, but not once does the story indicate that Little Wolf did, and I get it, sometimes kids just don't want to, but if I excuse this, the story would still be confusing. Then, the story continues to state that Little Wolf and his friend were being taught and how, in detail, to hunt, but there was no indication that this was happening at this point in the story or why this was important at all. The description owns its own page and sits there, randomly. Then the story hops into a scene where the boys had seen a deer in the forest, as if the page before it had just happened moments ago. On the next page, the boys are already out of the forest and playing a game, only it doesn't actually say that. Then, on the next page, the first sentence states "the late afternoon sun signaled the time for everyone in the village to gather for the feast," so it took the boys from early morning until sun set to look at a deer and play two games. I feel like a good portion of the story doesn't truly make sense because the author didn't really care as much about the story. He seemed to be more concerned with spreading Cherokee tradition than he was the story portion, as if he did not know how to write about Cherokee tradition in the way he wanted too, without coming across as boring, so he tried to make a story of it.
So that's pretty much it, the ending was pretty poor, the book was confusing, and the author didn't seem to care much about the story portion.
I liked that I got to learn about the Cherokee culture, and the traditions of the festival here, however I felt like there was no story. It progressed, and the audience learned about Cherokee cultures and traditions, and then the family went home and slept. That was it. Where was the ending?! Where was the action?! Where did this lead? The other thing I noticed, and you may too, reading my description of the book, was that the story was confusing. At the beginning of the story, there is a statement that says that it is tradition for all villagers to bathe before starting their day, but not once does the story indicate that Little Wolf did, and I get it, sometimes kids just don't want to, but if I excuse this, the story would still be confusing. Then, the story continues to state that Little Wolf and his friend were being taught and how, in detail, to hunt, but there was no indication that this was happening at this point in the story or why this was important at all. The description owns its own page and sits there, randomly. Then the story hops into a scene where the boys had seen a deer in the forest, as if the page before it had just happened moments ago. On the next page, the boys are already out of the forest and playing a game, only it doesn't actually say that. Then, on the next page, the first sentence states "the late afternoon sun signaled the time for everyone in the village to gather for the feast," so it took the boys from early morning until sun set to look at a deer and play two games. I feel like a good portion of the story doesn't truly make sense because the author didn't really care as much about the story. He seemed to be more concerned with spreading Cherokee tradition than he was the story portion, as if he did not know how to write about Cherokee tradition in the way he wanted too, without coming across as boring, so he tried to make a story of it.
So that's pretty much it, the ending was pretty poor, the book was confusing, and the author didn't seem to care much about the story portion.
June 12, 2021
Bought a copy of this for research and inspiration purposes. It's a brief, lovely children's book which describes the annual Green Corn Festival of the eastern Cherokee. Props for including references to indigenous children's games, dance, food, story-telling and family life. Extra bonus points for introducing children to a few vocabulary words in another language.
September 25, 2018
Great way to learn about Cherokee life, traditions, and words.
Read
September 27, 2013Join Little Wolf to celebrate the harvest of corn, a Cherokee tradition, where he partakes in a luscious feast, listens to a traditional folktale, and performs the sacred corn dance.
April 10, 2011
Great multicultural, informational literature book for elementary aged students. I would use this story during a social studies lesson on the Cherokee tribes and cultural traditions.
Want to read
February 14, 2016Available at Carlos Museum Bookshop -
http://carlos.emory.edu/bookshop
http://carlos.emory.edu/bookshop
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews