Fry Bread, A Native American Family Story

"FRY BREAD IS EVERYTHING

Round, flat, large, small
North, South, East West
Brown, yellow, black, white
Familiar and foreign, old and new
We come together

FRY BREAD IS US

We are still here
Elder and young
Friend and neighbor
We strengthen each other
To learn, change, and survive

FRY BREAD IS YOU"

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Kevin Noble Maillard

Fry Bread is Maillard's debut book, but he is not without writing chops. He is writes for the New York Times, The Atlantic, Essence and This Week.  He is a tenured law professor at Syracuse University and a citizen of the Seminole Nation.

Juana Martinez-Neal

Martinez-Neal is a writer and illustrator of children's books and has been recognized with at least twelve awards including a Caldecott Honor, a Sibert Medal, the Pura Belpre Medal, and an Ezra Jack Keats Honor. Impressive for nine years of publishing! Many of her books are published in Spanish and English editions.

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World Relevance

Reading Fry Bread is a wonderful beginning to understanding fry bread as a metaphor for the Native American peoples in the US. If you are not familiar with indigenous people, there is so much going on in this little book to begin learning -- the names of all federally and state-recognized tribes are listed on the boards, as well as insights into art, food, tribal membership, family culture and history all packed into a wonderfully child-friendly book!

Learning Connections

There's an unusual fry bread recipe at the end of the book: Kevin's Fry Bread.  The few links which follow barely scratch the rich online resources available for teaching children about Native Americans.

• Children's Cooking Tutorial: "Fry Bread," York County Library
  
• Learn about the Seminole Indians, Kid World Citizen
• Native American Crafts For Kids: Southeastern Nations, Bright Hub Education
  

Synopsis

The story is simple - a Native American family makes fry bread together. But this simplicity has won fifteen awards including

• A Publishers Weekly Best Picture Book of 2019
• A Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book of 2019
• A School Library Journal Best Picture Book of 2019
  
• A National Public Radio (NPR) Best Book of 2019
• A 2020 ALA Notable Children's Book
• A 2020 ILA Notable Book for a Global Society

Emerging Readers, 42 pages. Native American family and friends make fry bread. The book includes fry bread recipe and author's notes.