For its 2018 Baby Raven Reads series, Sealaska Heritage adapted a trilogy of Raven stories in which he acts as both Culture Hero and Trickster. In Raven Makes the Aleutians, Raven’s arrogance leads to the creation of the Aleutian Chain. Illustrated by Haida artist Janine Gibbons.

The story was adapted for children by Tlingit writer Pauline Duncan from the works of the late Nora and Dick Dauenhauer, who transcribed the stories from Tlingit storytellers Kaasgéiy Susie James and Shaadaax' Robert Zuboff's oral accounts. 

The original Raven stories are complex, humorous and sometimes filled with raucous adventures. Raven stories are not about what is viewed as proper behavior, but what is not acceptable behavior. Raven the Trickster is found in oral traditions throughout North America and elsewhere in the world and teaches people how to exist in society.

In January 2020, the American Indian Library Association, an affiliate of the American Library Association, selected our 2018 release Raven Makes the Aleutians for a Picture Book Honor award. The selected books honor "the best of the best in children's and young adult literature."

Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Award-Winning Raven Reads series releases new Raven Books. Raven Reads was awarded the 2017 Best Practices Honoree as part of the Library of Congress Literacy of Awards program. Your purchase supports the non-profit Sealaska Heritage Institute’s culturally-based programs promoting early literacy and school-readiness for Alaska Native children.

8½" x 11" hardcover. 40 pages. Published December 2018.