 Catherine Sky |  Dr. Fawn Canady |
As an art educator with expertise in arts-based environmental literacy, I am thrilled about the recent publication of the YA version of Robin Wall Kimmerer's seminal book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants adapted by Monique Gray Smith with illustrations by Nicole Neidhard. My recent research explored the intersection of visual arts, environmental literacy and storytelling and I am thrilled to share some books with exciting possibilities for the YA literature community. In a bill introduced to Congress this April, environmental literacy is described as “a fundamental understanding of ecological principles, the systems of the natural world, the relationships and interactions between natural and man-made environments, and the skills to apply such understanding in real-world settings” Text - S.1239 - 118th Congress (2023-2024): No Child Left Inside Act of 2023. To date, 46 states have adopted or are in the process of developing environmental literacy plans Text - S.1239 - 118th Congress (2023-2024): No Child Left Inside Act of 2023. I believe that teaching environmental literacy is not just the jurisdiction of science teachers but can be effectively woven into the curriculum across disciplines. Teachers of YA literature will find that the following books offer many opportunities for reflection on language, metaphor, and storytelling as elements of transformation in our interactions with the natural world.
In the YA edition of Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer, a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and Professor of Botany at SUNY explores the intersection between indigenous knowledge of the natural world and Western scientific methods. Straddling the two approaches allows her to present a deeply personal and beautifully informed account of the complex interconnections within natural ecosystems, explained primarily through stories, made accessible to young readers in the new edition through illustrations and text boxes that provide supporting facts, definitions and opportunities for reflection. In particular, the chapter entitled The Council of the Pecans, demonstrates the interdisciplinary reach of this book through Kimmerer’s skill in weaving botanical information with historical events. By combining diverse strands such as the interrelationship between tree nut production and seed predators, the collective ability of trees to communicate with each other through pheromones and fungal networks, and the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which ultimately placed her grandfather in a government-run boarding school, Kimmerer strives for a transformational “shared remembering” (p.10) that emphasizes gratitude, reciprocity and kinship among all living beings.
In the YA edition of Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer, a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and Professor of Botany at SUNY explores the intersection between indigenous knowledge of the natural world and Western scientific methods. Straddling the two approaches allows her to present a deeply personal and beautifully informed account of the complex interconnections within natural ecosystems, explained primarily through stories, made accessible to young readers in the new edition through illustrations and text boxes that provide supporting facts, definitions and opportunities for reflection. In particular, the chapter entitled The Council of the Pecans, demonstrates the interdisciplinary reach of this book through Kimmerer’s skill in weaving botanical information with historical events. By combining diverse strands such as the interrelationship between tree nut production and seed predators, the collective ability of trees to communicate with each other through pheromones and fungal networks, and the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which ultimately placed her grandfather in a government-run boarding school, Kimmerer strives for a transformational “shared remembering” (p.10) that emphasizes gratitude, reciprocity and kinship among all living beings.
As Kimmerer offers us this “braid of stories" (p.27), developed through “deep attention to the living world, not only their names but also their songs (p.63)” we can see that stories and metaphors allow us to imaginatively engage with ecological concepts. Kimmerer includes a number of Anishinaabe myths that illustrate principles such as the benefits of biological diversity and the dangers of over consumption. Like Braiding Sweetgrass, How a Mountain was Made, by Greg Sarris also demonstrates the important role of indigenous knowledge in developing an environmentally literate understanding of place. Provided that the stories are shared respectfully and with the permission of the local tribes, they are invaluable sources of information from a people who have lived symbiotically with the land for thousands of years. Sarris, the Chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, in Northern California, and Distinguished Chair Emeritus at Sonoma State University, writes of “reading the landscape like a sacred text” where songs, (ie. stories) are perceived in every element of the environment. Through his retelling of traditional Coast Miwok tales, Sarris lets mythological characters such as Coyote, Hawk and Hummingbird illustrate the delicate interrelationships among all living beings, including elements such as wind and water.
Sarris also provides insight on the nature of storytelling through Question Woman and Answer Woman, two sister crows, whose exchanges frame each story. As Answer Woman puts it, “stories teach us that we are all connected and equal on this Mountain - the humans, the plants and trees, birds, animals. The entire mountain, everything you see is really one ongoing story.” (p.55) I found that introducing the dialogue between the two crows as a device in the story diagramming process helped my students structure their visual narratives around the process of inquiry. The effectiveness of visual narrative, in telling the story of place, can be further explored in Lauren Redniss’ book Oak Flat which explores the geologic, cultural and political history of a piece of ancestral Apache land in Arizona, slated to become a copper mine. Told primarily in the voice of two families on opposing sides of the issue, Redness’ gorgeous drawings add a visual dimension to the written narrative and convey a deep understanding of the land through line, texture, color and form.
Place is more than setting– we are not in it, but of it. Not only do stories have the power to connect us to place, but they also have the power to move us toward healing the rift caused by the false dichotomy of human/nature. In a post from 2022 on cli-fi, Fawn wrote about The Last Cuentista (Higuera 2021) which explores a catastrophic meteor event in the future that destroys Earth, forcing human beings to flee into space. In this novel, Petra Peña becomes the keeper of stories passed down by her abuelita. Petra’s stories are rich with her grandmother’s telling (and her ancestors), which was inseparable from place. But, stories change. As humankind moves into space in search of a distant new home, stories have the potential to maintain connections to our first home, Earth, and help people take root in a new one.
A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger, a Lipian Apache scientist and author, is a fantasy novel in the style of magical realism that also features a catastrophic climate-related event on Earth. The protagonists, Nina, an earthly teenager, and Oli, a cottonmouth snake from another world, come together by tragic circumstance. Their journey toward each other also reunites worlds that have been kept apart. Readers interested in restorying will appreciate how Little Badger draws on scientific knowledge and indigenous storytelling traditions to imbue worlds with meaning. Similar to Greek and Roman mythology, which is typically taught in schools to the exclusion of other rich stories and traditions, this novel includes shape-shifting animal/human characters to explore themes that help us understand what it means to be human. It includes explorations of the unique abilities of animals and the raw power of natural elements, such as water. In this scene, Oli (the cottonmouth) thinks about his home, “the reflection of a living world [Earth]”:
“[Home] a place where water binds two worlds; where coyotes confide in monsters; where hawks and
mockingbirds discern revelations from ancient trees; where my best friend basks in the sun beside me; and where…I search for the family I left behind.”
Stories like The Last Cuentista, and A Snake Falls to Earth express the dynamic nature of traditional stories: They adapt.
Ultimately, these texts inspire us to become what Kimmerer calls, “indigenous to place”, whether we are native or not, by cultivating our own metaphors and stories, specific to the places we inhabit. Doing so allows students to establish a creative dialogue with the local environment that moves from deep observation and classification to a unique evaluation developed through imaginative invention and, and eventually to an analysis of place that (hopefully) results in a protective appreciation of the ecological systems that support their homes and communities. Getting students outside of the classroom, exploring local places, is fundamental to this process and researching historical and contemporary land issues can add an interesting perspective. Finally, taking part in a habitat restoration project on the school campus allows students to transform their school into a supporting element within a greater ecosystem, while developing a unique language of place that makes them truly environmentally literate.
Regardless of whether or not the No Child Left Inside Act of 2023 is passed and enacted into law (I will remain cautiously optimistic!), environmental literacy is a crucial skill for today's students who will inherit the consequences of previous generations' ecological indifference. The good news is that integrating environmental literacy into our curriculum through connecting with stories, places and indigenous wisdom is a meaningful practice that guides students to develop a hopeful and sustainable relationship with the natural world.
“[Home] a place where water binds two worlds; where coyotes confide in monsters; where hawks and
mockingbirds discern revelations from ancient trees; where my best friend basks in the sun beside me; and where…I search for the family I left behind.”
Stories like The Last Cuentista, and A Snake Falls to Earth express the dynamic nature of traditional stories: They adapt.
Ultimately, these texts inspire us to become what Kimmerer calls, “indigenous to place”, whether we are native or not, by cultivating our own metaphors and stories, specific to the places we inhabit. Doing so allows students to establish a creative dialogue with the local environment that moves from deep observation and classification to a unique evaluation developed through imaginative invention and, and eventually to an analysis of place that (hopefully) results in a protective appreciation of the ecological systems that support their homes and communities. Getting students outside of the classroom, exploring local places, is fundamental to this process and researching historical and contemporary land issues can add an interesting perspective. Finally, taking part in a habitat restoration project on the school campus allows students to transform their school into a supporting element within a greater ecosystem, while developing a unique language of place that makes them truly environmentally literate.
Regardless of whether or not the No Child Left Inside Act of 2023 is passed and enacted into law (I will remain cautiously optimistic!), environmental literacy is a crucial skill for today's students who will inherit the consequences of previous generations' ecological indifference. The good news is that integrating environmental literacy into our curriculum through connecting with stories, places and indigenous wisdom is a meaningful practice that guides students to develop a hopeful and sustainable relationship with the natural world.
Catherine Sky is a visual artist and art educator based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She completed her M.A.Ed. this May from Sonoma State University, where she created the curriculum for Learning in the Landscape, an arts-based ecological literacy program for schools. Catherine’s work at SSU explored the role of schools in developing ecological literacy through the use of outdoor areas on and around the school campus. Her research, inspired by Robin Wall Kimmerer's book Braiding Sweetgrass, examined the idea of “restorying” the landscape with elementary students, tasked with finding and telling multimodal stories inspired by their observations and experiences in the school’s native habitat restoration garden.
Fawn Canady is an Associate Professor of Adolescent and Digital Literacies at Sonoma State University in Northern California. She is a former high school English teacher. Her interdisciplinary interests include multimodality, adolescent literacies, and teacher education.
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