Tribal Alphabet has beautiful drawings and rhymes about 26 indigenous cultures around the world.Tribal Alphabet, illustrations by Claudia Pearson, text by Nan Richardson, published by Umbrage Editions, Brooklyn New York, 2008, 40 pages, hardcover, 8” x 10.5”, $17.95.

Reviewed by Bethany M. Dunbar

I didn’t know anything about the Yupik people until I saw a beautiful book for children called Tribal Alphabet.

Turns out the Yupik people live in southwestern Alaska and Siberia, and their name means real people.  A boy becomes a man when he kills his first seal and shares it with every member of the community.

“The Yupik believe in a supreme rule of all sea animals; annual ceremonies of thanksgiving are performed in honor of the souls of seals and whales.”

This is the part for grown-ups who might want to know more — an index in the back.

The main page for Yupik includes a rhyming verse and a painting of the people in warm clothes, with an igloo nearby.

On the facing page are the Xavante, a tribe that lives in southwestern Brazil.  Once again, it was a tribe I had never heard of.

Here is the poem for the Tuareg people:

Under the silent Sahara sky

The blue people are found nearby

Storytellers extraordinaire

They move their camps from here to there.

They live in dyed red tents of old

Women make camp, veiled men trade gold.

From ancient Phoenicia their alphabet derives

And their Imnaghgen (free men) tongue still thrives.

The sing-song rhymes seem in keeping with tribal traditions of passing along cultural history in a song.  You can remember it more easily if it’s The Ifugao people live in northern Luzon and grow rice and fruit. They race on wooden scooters.a song than if it’s a plain story that must be written down somewhere.

I looked in the back of the book because I was curious about the phrase blue people.  The book explains that the Tuareg are called blue people because of the indigo headdresses that nobles wear.

This is the inner beauty of Tribal Alphabet — that anyone who reads it will learn about 26 indigenous cultures.  The child who is being read to, and the adult doing the reading, are both likely to learn something new.

The outer beauty of the book is evident from the beginning.  In this case, you can judge a book by its cover.  Claudia Pearson’s illustrations have simple, strong lines with the right amount of detail.  It’s beautiful in bold, bright colors.

Nan Richardson has a home in Barton and divides her time between Barton and Brooklyn, New York.  Umbrage Editions is her own publishing company.  A percentage of the profits from the book are going to a nonprofit foundation, Cultural Survival, which helps indigenous people around the world keep their rights, languages, music, and customs.

Tribal Alphabet has won the Stuart Bent Award for outstanding children’s literature and the Independent Publishers Moonbeam Award for children’s books.  The book is available online from www.umbragebooks.com