A bilingual and bicultural children’s publisher has given away nearly 5,000 bilingual children's books to Native American communities across southern Arizona since May.
Husi Cázares, publisher at the new Desert Ink Press, and Linda Laird, director at Books for Classrooms in Green Valley. “If we want children to read, it’s important that they see themselves in their books, and hardly any children’s books have featured our Indigenous kids here in Arizona,” Cázares said. “We’re trying to change that.”
Desert Ink Press, a two-year-old project of Books for Classrooms based in Green Valley, distributed 4,900 books to 47 partner organizations serving Native children in a three-county area, according to a news release.
New titles include "Philip Joe Plays Waila: Tohono O'odham Dance Music" and four books on shapes, animals, colors and numbers. Each includes an O'odham pronunciation glossary and a QR code linking to audio of a native speaker, so families can practice the language together.
"These books are an important resource for our community and create more opportunities for children and families to learn and use the O'odham language together," Frances Benavides, program director of the O'odham Language Center at Tohono O'odham Community College, said in the release.
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No public libraries or bookstores exist on the reservation, the release says. Just two schools there, the Baboquivari District Indian Oasis Intermediate Elementary School and the Bureau of Indian Education San Simon Grade school, have functioning libraries with librarians.
Bureau of Indian Education schools funded by Congress are facing a 32% reduction in funds this year, the release says.
Desert Ink Press is planning another round of giveaways for November, Native American Heritage Month.
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