Sina & Tinilau By Vilsoni Hereniko, Illustrated by Jasper Schreurs
Published in 1997 24 gorgeous oversized pages
Wow! What an amazing book. Shamefully, it is only available in paperback. There has never been a hardcover edition.
Samoan books are a rarity, and yet they are sorely needed in our schools. We have Samoan kids who never get to see themselves in the books that are available in the library. Additionally, it is important for all of our students to be familiar with each others' cultures.
The story recounts an origin tale that is common to the various Pacific Island cultures, and it is presented in a stunning manner. The art is simply beautiful, and each page has a border that details the flora, sea life, tools, implements, and housing styles that appear in the illustrations. There is quite a bit of information contained in the borders, and it encourages readers to study the drawings very carefully.
Additionally, there are some other possibilities for this book. This story is similar to "The Princess and the Frog", and it would make for a fantastic compare and contrast study. You can also ask students how is it possible for cultures to come up with similar stories and themes independently. What does this tell you about the commonalities we all share?
Another possibility would be to use the story to investigate and appreciate the superlative seafaring skills of the Pacific Islanders. The story touches upon this with its reference to the various islands from which visitors hailed. The artwork and the border information give more information in this regard. You see examples of stick maps of ocean currents, examples of various types of canoes, and even an illustration of how you can easily make radical changes in the direction of a symmetrically hulled canoe by changing the sail's position - in short, a canoe that has a reverse function!
As we are aware, paperbacks can be quite perishable, and the large size of this one makes it especially susceptible to damage. Nonetheless, I think it is well worth getting. You could either use it as a non circulating read aloud, circulate it with caution, or buy two copies to deconstruct and display the whole book like a Burma Shave sign sequence.
