Research and books

The Internet is full of junk when it comes to Native American topics. Since the Wikipedia section on the Iroquois is locked for “vandalism,” I questioned the information there. Luckily, our local library has a healthy selection of books on Native American culture just for children. We checked out:

• The Iroquois (Native American Histories) by Charlotte Wilcox for children ages nine to 12. Nathan’s currently reading this during his 15-minutes mandatory reading homework time. And he’s using a feather as a book mark, go figure.
• The Iroquois And Their History (We the People) by Genevieve St. Lawrence. Another book for kids who are reading at a third to sixth grade level.

The report assignment

As part of their project they have to do an oral report and artwork or a craft of some kind. My husband had the brilliant idea that Nathan make some Native American food to serve his class. I liked this idea because it was relatively inexpensive and I didn’t have to store a diorama after the project was over. I thought that Nathan’s classmates would enjoy eating Native American food, too.

I checked out another children’s book, Native North American Foods and Recipes by Bobbie Kalman. Since this book had more facts than recipes I also reserved two adult Native American cookbooks:

• Foods of the Americas: Native Recipes and Traditions by Fernando and Marlene Divina and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. This book is in traditional cookbook format with chapters broken up into appetizers, soups, meats, birds, game, breads, desserts and beverages.
• Spirit of the Harvest: North American Indian Cooking by Beverly Cox and Martin Jacobs. This cookbook is divided into geographic regions, so we found this more helpful for the project. Nathan and I decided to make maple syrup candy and Algonquian Maple Popcorn Balls. Yes, the Algonquians are not part of the Iroquois Confederacy. However, all Northeastern Indians had access to corn and maple syrup, so I think we can fudge it. I’m sure all native Northeastern peoples did some sort of popcorn and maple dish.

Spirit of the Harvest

Many of the recipes in this cookbook, including ones for pumpkin soup, Indian pudding, and cranberry pudding, looked so good that I will be ordering Spirit of the Harvest so I can make them for Thanksgiving. But why wait? I was intrigued by the cover dish of Hidasta Stuffed Sugar Pumpkins. (The Hidasta are Plains Indians in North Dakota and trade with their Minnesotan Chippewa – or Ojibway – neighbors for wild rice.)

I have a freezer full of ground venison and wild rice in the cupboard, and since pumpkins are in season now we started our Native American cooking project a little early.

Hidatsa Stuffed Sugar Pumpkin

Ingredients:

1. 1 sugar pumpkin (also called a pie pumpkin) 4-5 pounds – do not use a regular pumpkin! Sugar/pie pumpkins are sweeter and less stringy than regular ones
2. 1 medium onion, chopped
3. 2 teaspoon salt
4. 1 cup cooked wild rice (you can substitute brown rice if you wish)
5. 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
6. 3 eggs, beaten (I used six egg whites instead to lower the fat content)
7. 2 teaspoons olive oil
8. 1 teaspoon crushed, dried sage (I used 1 Tablespoon fresh sage from our garden.)
9. 1 lb ground buffalo, venison, or beef (I used ground venison. You could try ground turkey or meat substitute, too.)
10. 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

1. Cook the wild rice per the instructions on the package. This can take up to an hour. Prepare the rest of the ingredients while it’s cooking.
2. Preheat oven to 350 deg F. when the rice is nearly done.
3. Cut the top off the pumpkin and remove strings and seeds. Put top aside. Reserve the seeds for another use. Prick the cavity with a fork and rub with 1 teaspoon salt and the mustard.
4. Heat oil in a large skillet, add meat and onion and saute over medium-high heat until browned. Remove from the stove top and stir in cooked wild rice, eggs, remaining salt, sage and pepper.
5. Stuff pumpkin with the meat mixture and cover with the lid to keep the rice moist.
6. Place 1/2″ water in the bottom of a shallow baking pan. Put pumpkin in the pan and bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until tender. Add more water to the pan as necessary to avoid sticking.
7. To serve, cut pumpkin into wedges, giving each person pumpkin and stuffing.

Notes

• My daughter seems to be growing out of her egg allergy. Still we’re cautious. I had read that kids are more likely to be allergic to egg yolks, so I’ve been using egg whites only. Plus, it lowers the fat. Remember, two egg whites equals one whole egg.
• I mistakenly put all the salt in the pumpkin, so I didn’t add more to the meat. Unfortunately, when you bit into a spoonful of pumpkin, it was too salty. However, when I mixed up the pumpkin and meat, it was fine.
• The original recipe didn’t say to put the pumpkin lids back on top. So I put them on the side. Since the rice got dried out and crunchy, so I’m recommending that you gently place the lid back on and let it sit on top of the meat mixture. It should keep things moister.
• I was surprised that the kids didn’t care for this dish though my husband and I loved it. The kids didn’t like the wild rice in the meat, so that’s why I’m recommending you use brown rice instead. It’s a possibility that they didn’t care for the sage, so I’m wondering if using basil, parsley, and oregano may be more to their liking. That’s what they’re used to in meatballs and meatloaf. However, they did like the roasted pumpkin, go figure.

• Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out, for children ages nine to 12, was created by the National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance and featured by the National Endowment for the Humanities. This collection of essays, personal accounts, historical fiction, poetry and art looks at America’s history through stories about the White House. Our White House takes in everything from the amusing antics of presidents’ children and pets to the drama of the White House ablaze during wartime, to the role of immigrants, African Americans, and Native Americans. 
• First Kids: The True Stories of All the Presidents’ Children. This book was written by young man in my area, Noah McCullough, now 13. You can read about him at Local teen author has plans to make his run for White House, featured in the Daily Times-Call, 9/22/08. He’s also written The Essential Book of Presidential Trivia. What an amazing young man! 
• Seven Miles to Freedom: The Robert Smalls Story for children ages four to eight. We hear so much rhetoric about freedom in political speeches. Here’s an example of someone who fought for his and his family’s freedom. Robert Smalls was a slave steamboat wheelman who became one of the Civil War’s greatest heroes. After his daring escape to freedom (I’m not going to spoil the story for you here. You’ll have to read it) Robert helped convince President Lincoln to left African-Americans enlist in the Union Army. 
• AMERICA: The Making of a Nation, this book is the form of an anonymous journal that takes readers through a chronological journey through important moments in American History. This is a gorgeous book and your whole family will enjoy paging through it and discovering hidden gems including lift-the-flap postcards, removable song lyrics, and even a foldout replica of the Declaration of Independence.

There are a few more book suggestions at my post Join me at the DNC: children’s books on politics, presidents, and elections. And if you’re more into videos than books, check out Election 2008: Schoolhouse Rock! The Election Collection.

Help children explore the political process

Here are some online resources for you to help your children learn more about democracy and the election:

• Duck for President
• Scholastic News Online’s Countdown to Election 2008
• Rock the Vote: Involving Kids in the Election Process at Parents.com
• Kids Voting USA
• Kids Turn Central
• The Democracy Project at PBS Kids Go!
• Take Your Kids to Vote

Schoolhouse Rock: The Election Collection features classic election-themed tunes including “I’m Just a Bill,” “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” and “I’m Gonna Send Your Vote to College.” The DVD also features a new-to-DVD song called “Presidential Minute” with two surprise endings and an Election Tracking Kit with stickers to help you keep track of the actual voting results in all 50 states with your children on election night.

Not only will this collection bring back memories for all you Gen X and Gen Y parents out there, this is a great way to share the political process with your children.

Here’s a sample:

(Thanks to Click-comm.com for the review copy.)

There will be a lot of speeches of course, (click here for the schedule) so you may just want to save up your viewing time for Barack Obama’s acceptance speech on Thursday live from Invesco Field in Denver. (Rumor has it that Bruce Springsteen will be warming up the crowd.)

I’ll be home with Nathan and Lucie watching the hoopla and dancing to The Boss.

In the meanwhile, check out these children’s books on politics, presidents and elections:

• Presidential Elections: And Other Cool Facts by Syl Sobel for ages  nine to 12. Young readers will learn: Who can run for president? Who can vote? What is the Electoral College? What is a third-party candidate? What if something happens to the president? Some of the unusual facts they’ll discover include: Which Republican president had a Democrat for his vice president? How many candidates have won the popular vote but lost the election? You may learn some things, too.
• America Votes: How Our President Is Elected by Linda Granfield for ages nine to 12. Granfield breaks down information about the American electoral process into manageable chunks. Subjects range from qualifications for voting, the troubled history of voting rights, the Electoral College, campaign finance, and election fraud. Granfield delights devotes the chapter “Animal Farm” to animal metaphors, including the Democratic donkey and the Republican elephant, and “Pass the ‘Lection Cake, Please!” to foods associated with various presidents.
• If I Ran For President by Catherine Stier for ages four to eight, Six  children take turns explaining the election process as if they were running for president. They discuss their decision to run, campaigning, primaries and conventions, debating, being interviewed, meeting the public, voting, and being sworn in on Inauguration Day.
• Grace for President by Kelly Dipucchio for ages four to eight. Grace discovers that no women have ever been president, and decides she’ll be president one day. A teacher at her school decides to stage a school-wide election for president to teach the kids about the electoral process.
• If I Were President by Catherine Stier. This book provides an introduction to the responsibilities of the present for children ages four to eight. 
• Duck for President by Doreen Cronin and illustrated by Betsy Lewin. The book has been updated for the 2008 election:

Our fellow Americans, It is our pleasure, our honor, our duty as citizens to present to you Duck for president in 2008.

Here is a duck who began in a humble pond, who worked his way up to farmer, to governor, and now perhaps the highest office in the land.

Some say if he walks like a duck and talks like a duck, he is a duck.

We say if he walks like a duck and talks like a duck, he will be the next president of the United States of America.

Thank you for your vote.

It’s my favorite election book of all. See the video based on the Duck for President book.

Click here for a round up of Olympic themed children’s book activities and children’s cooking activities.

Just in time for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, PBS Home Video is releasing Muhammad Ali: Made in Miami. The movie examines the time Ali spent in Miami after he returned from the 1960 Rome Olympics. It was a crucial time of transformation for him, not only from an amateur boxer to a pro, but his personal journey from being Cassius Clay into the legendary Muhammad Ali.

Though original footage and interviews we see Ali’s life in Overtown, the African-American side of Miami that was considered the “Harlem South” of its day. We learn about his training at the famous Fifth Street Gym in Miami Beach from the people he worked with like his trainer, Angelo Dundee. The movie also explores Ali’s relationship to the Nation of Islam, his friendship with Malcolm X, and his refusal to be drafted and fight in the Vietnam War.

It’s amazing in a time where a presidential candidate’s Muslim sounding name stirs up so much prejudice to realize how influential Muhammad Ali was and how loved he still is today. Ali’s story reflects so much going on in the early ’60s – the fight for civil rights, the black separatist movement, and the resistance by so many young people to the Vietnam War.

Muhammad Ali: Made in Miami is an amazing documentary. I just wish it was longer. Also, it is appropriate for older children, but does deal with adult subjects like prejudice, the assassination of Malcolm X, and shows some fairly brutal boxing footage. For more information on the DVD, see Richard Marcus at BlogCritics review.

Speaking of boxing and the Olympics, here’s a round up of Olympic themed children’s book and cooking activities.

• Books, activities, and recipes for Chinese New Year – includes a recipe for Chinese Pork Dumplings
• Kung Fu Panda does dim sum – includes a recipe for Spicy Rice Balls and instructions on how to properly steam the dim sum you get in the frozen section of your local Asian market.
• Steamy Kitchen is doing a series of simple Chinese dishes to celebrate the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Her Ground Beef with Beijing Sauce Over Noodles looks very easy to cook, and something that the kids will like to eat while watching the games. Also, it’s very flexible. You can substitute your favorite frozen veggies and rice for the noodles.
• National Geographic covers the 2008 Beijing Olympics – all kinds of family friendly learning and activities including online animal GeoGames featuring Beaver Badminton and Dolphin Diving.