Dear Miss Karana
By Eric Elliott
5/5
()
About this ebook
While reading Island of the Blue Dolphins at school and learning about the real woman stranded on San Nicolás Island, ten-year-old Tíshmal begins writing emails to “Miss Karana” in hopes of talking to her spirit.
When she arrived on the mainland of Southern California, Miss Karana spoke a language that no one could understand even back then, and all that remains is a recording of the song she sang when she was found on the island. Tíshmal realizes that some of the words sound very similar to Chamtéela (Luiseño), the language spoken on her reservation. As she writes to Miss Karana, Tíshmal becomes more and more resolved to understand the lone woman’s song. The only person able to help her is a grouchy great uncle, Wéh Powéeya (“two tongues”), the last living person fluent in the language of their ancestors from the belly button of the ocean: the islands including San Nicolás. Together, Tíshmal and Wéh Powéeya must discover what the lone woman said long ago in order to help her spirit finish the journey West.
First written in Chamtéela and developed in accordance with fourth grade Common Core State Standards, Dear Miss Karana tells a compelling story of family, determination, and cultural perseverance.
Eric Elliott
Eric Elliott is a veteran of JavaScript application development. He is currently a member of the Creative Cloud team at Adobe. Previous roles include JavaScript Lead at Tout (social video), Senior JavaScript Rockstar at BandPage (an industry leading music app), head of client side architecture at Zumba Fitness (the leading global fitness brand), and several years as a UX and viral application consultant. He lives in the San Francisco bay area with the most beautiful woman in the world.
Related to Dear Miss Karana
Related ebooks
EveryBody's Different on EveryBody Street Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Star Festival Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Universe Ate My Homework Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Two Grandmothers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Larf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We're Going on a Lion Hunt Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Oni and the Kingdom of Onion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEarly Bird: A Picture Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Her Right Foot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chocolate Milk, Por Favor: Celebrating Diversity with Empathy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If You Come to Earth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I'm Not Sharing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Holy Cow, I Sure Do Love You!: A Little Book That's Oddly Moo-ving Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shante Keys and the New Year's Peas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whose Hands Are These?: A Community Helper Guessing Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lonely Phone Booth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Carla's Sandwich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5First Day Jitters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Up the Creek Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Name Is Tani Young Readers Edition Educator's Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow Oliver Olson Changed the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sisters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Charlie & Mouse Even Better Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hole Story of the Doughnut Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All Families Are Special Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ordinary Mary's Extraordinary Deed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The End of Something Wonderful: A Practical Guide to a Backyard Funeral Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cazuela That the Farm Maiden Stirred Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Papa, Do You Love Me? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Children's For You
The Phantom Tollbooth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Witch of Blackbird Pond: A Newbery Award Winner Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Graveyard Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bridge to Terabithia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Number the Stars: A Newbery Award Winner Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Coraline Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCedric The Shark Get's Toothache: Bedtime Stories For Children, #1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twas the Night Before Christmas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Is Rising Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alice In Wonderland: The Original 1865 Unabridged and Complete Edition (Lewis Carroll Classics) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOver Sea, Under Stone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Into the Wild: Warriors #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pete the Kitty Goes to the Doctor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Shadow Is Purple Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The School for Good and Evil: Now a Netflix Originals Movie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Amari and the Night Brothers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fever 1793 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret Garden: The 100th Anniversary Edition with Tasha Tudor Art and Bonus Materials Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Island of the Blue Dolphins: A Newbery Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tempest (No Fear Shakespeare) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Terrifying Tales to Tell at Night: 10 Scary Stories to Give You Nightmares! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Coraline 10th Anniversary Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Little House on the Prairie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tower Treasure: The Hardy Boys Book 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dork Diaries 1: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Dear Miss Karana
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
Dear Miss Karana - Eric Elliott
DEAR MISS KARANA,
Hello, Miss Karana. My name is Tíshmal. My whole bedroom is decorated with hummingbirds. I have a hummingbird bedspread, hummingbird sheets, and hummingbird towels. I also have hummingbird earrings and barrettes, and my favorite dress has hummingbirds all over it. I even have a hummingbird-shaped scrapbook that I put all my favorite things in, like movie and concert ticket stubs, notes, and pictures. I bet you can’t guess why I love hummingbirds so much. It’s because in my language my name, Tíshmal, means hummingbird. We call our language Chamtéela.
In case you haven’t guessed, I am a girl, and I am ten years old. My mom and dad named me Tíshmal after they first held me in their arms. They said that the second I was born, my eyes started darting around like two little hummingbirds searching for a flower to stick their beaks into. They were going to name me Epiphany, after my mom’s great-aunt, but the minute they saw me, they knew I was much more of a Tíshmal than an Epiphany. Plus, my eyes are green like a hummingbird’s feathers, and I have a red birthmark on my neck, just like a male hummingbird’s red throat. I’m glad they named me Tíshmal because Epiphany sounds like an old lady’s name.
Oh, and I go to a school called Hewéesh. That’s a Chamtéela word too. It means hope and joy. I am in fourth grade, and right now we are reading your book. It’s called Island of the Blue Dolphins, but you already knew that. I am writing to you because I want to be your friend, and because your island is not too far from my home up here in the hills. My teacher says you were a real person stuck out on your island all alone for a long time. Real people need real friends. I want to be your real friend, Miss Karana.
First of all, Miss Karana, I want to let you know how sorry I am that strangers came and killed so many of your people back when you were all living together out on your island. I am sorry, too, that you had to live alone on your island for so many years, back when there were no phones or bathrooms or anything. I think that it was very brave of you to jump off the rescue boat to stay behind with your little brother. That took real guts, Miss Karana! And, I am very sorry that your little brother died. What was his name again? I have a little brother named 'íswut, and I would be sad, too, if he died. 'íswut means wolf in our language.
'íswut annoys me sometimes. He is always trying to, you know, pass gas on me when I’m lying in bed. Yuck! Once he even cooked my doll in the microwave. That smelled really bad too. That’s why I say his name should be Şísqila, not 'íswut. In my language, şísqila means stinkbug. Actually, his name should be Şísqila Junior, because he learned how to use his stinkbug powers to annoy me from our mom. She’s always sneaking up on my dad and doing you-know-what right next to him too. My dad and I aren’t like that. I’m a nice young lady, and Dad is a gentleman.
Here’s what I don’t like: bugs, but especially spiders, olives, sweating, plain acorn mush without gravy and without at least some kind of meat, grapefruit, and movies with lots of blood in them. But what I really hate the most is having to clean up the bathroom, when 'íswut is always the one who leaves a mess and never puts his things away. He never puts the lid back on the toothpaste, and he always squeezes it from the middle, not from the end like you’re supposed to.
In the book, it says that dogs killed your brother. When I read that I thought, They can’t be Indian dogs, because our rez dogs fight with each other but they listen to us, especially when we talk to them in Indian! I wonder how the dogs on your island got so un-Indian. But anyway, if my little brother wasn’t around, I’d be sad. That’s why, since you are probably an orphaned little mockingbird, I would like to be your e-friend. By the way, in my language, we call lonely people orphaned little mockingbirds.
My mother found
your email address on the web. I know SHE was the one who created this address. Now, let’s see if she remembers to log in and write me back, pretending to be you. She probably won’t because she never even checks her own email. Anyway, even though it isn’t a real email address, if you haven’t gone West yet maybe you will be able to read what I’m writing to you in my emails.
You see, I figure you’re a spirit. My dad always talks to spirits, to people who haven’t gone West yet. He’s always over at the táaxanash with his voice recorder. Táaxanash is our word for cemetery. He says spirits talk nicer to him than