Meet Kaya

Our mother/daughter American Girl book club continues to be one of our daughter's favorite activities.  This month's book was Meet Kaya.  Considering the native American heritage in our family, I really wanted to host this month's meeting.  In case anyone reading this blog has sons and no daughters, this post will give you a glimpse into some of the drama you are missing

Setting and Characters
This story takes place during midsummer of 1764 in the Pacific northwestern US.  The main characters are all Nimiipuu people who became known as the Nez Perce, which is a French term for "pierced nose".  I tried to prepare our home in such a way that would help the girls imagine themselves as Nimiipuu people living in 1764.

Various genuine buckskin garments were on display.

Our daughter added her doll to our decor.

A woven blanket served as our Nez Perce table cloth.

This pottery is the closest I could get to authentic clay plateware.

In the book, a great discussion about the days gone by took place while the women gathered together to make cord and mend the young twins' moccasins.  So, I left out some moccasins in the hope that the girls would mend them.  As you probably guessed, that didn't happen!

Buckskin moccasins for young boys

Our daughter wore an Indian outfit to carry out the theme.  She also wore this cross that my parents gave her at her baptism.  She explained, "The necklace makes me feel closer to Nana".  Grandparents were highly regarded by the Nez Pearce children for their wisdom and experience.

Food
The Nez Perce were nomads who hunted and gathered their food.  They also did a lot of fishing since salmon are so abundant along the Pacific Ocean. I served both smoked and baked salmon, nuts (whole cashews and cinnamon sugar almonds) and berries, which Kaya might have eaten quite regularly.

My mother-in-law/love has a strong Cherokee heritage, so she suggested that I serve either traditional fry bread or grape dumplings, and she sent me recipes for both.   The fry bread recipe looked easier, so I chose that one for our menu.

Then she went one step further and sent me fry bread mix!  I love her so!

The only thing she did not send me was a photo of properly prepared fry bread to use as my model since I had never before seen fry bread. I hope it isn't supposed to look like the funnel cakes at the fair. She will probably laugh out loud when she sees photos of my finished product!

The first high action event in the book was a race on horseback between Kaya and a taunting boy. For the craft, each girl made her own stick horse. (Kudos to my husband who did all the behind-the-scenes work to turn my crazy idea into a fun craft for the girls!)

Horse head assembly

Decorated horse head

A dowel rod served as the horse's body.

Once the horses were complete and each girl had given her horse a name, the races began!
*Please pardon the clutter in our attic (aka my personal gym!)

We all discussed the book's setting, characters, plot, themes, and lessons learned.  The girls shared the ideas that impressed them the most from the book.  I was struck by the discipline approach of the Nez Perce people.  When Kaya disobeyed, all the children of whipping age, not just Kaya, received swats from the Whipwoman.  This approach teaches that our actions will always affect others, so we must choose our behaviors wisely.

The Nez Perce often give each other nicknames to point out character flaws.  Kaya was called Magpie because magpies tend to only think of themselves.  At the end of the book, she lost that nickname when she bravely risked her life to save someone else.

The girls noted in our discussion that this book teaches the reader to be obedient and responsible, to avoid boasting, and to put the interests of others before your own.  I love a book that teaches history and provides a moral lesson!

Philippians 2:3-4

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

One of the main characters in the book was a blind girl name Speaking Rain.  One of her family chores was to make cord.  So, our guests attempted to braid string into cord while blindfolded to experience what that task must have been like for Speaking Rain. Only one girl could master it.

Then the girls made Indian style dresses out of t-shirts which they decorated. (Thanks to our book club founder for leading this craft!)

Another interesting lesson from the book dealt with courtship traditions.  Kaya's older sister was of marrying age, so she participated in the tribe's courtship dance.  As the drums beat, the young suitors danced in a group while the eligible ladies danced in another group.  During the dance, each boy moved up near the girl he liked best and placed a stick on her shoulder.  If she moved the stick off her shoulder, then that signified her rejection of him.  If she allowed the stick to remain, then the young man had been accepted and could then dance beside her.  Each parent took note of his or her child's preference, but the fathers were ultimately responsible for arranging marriages.

Our guests recognized that they were too young for the courtship dance, but they thought it would be fun to practice dancing.  So while one girl beat out some rhythms on a leather hand crafted drum, the other girls twirled and galloped.  The girls may not let me leave this video up long, so watch while you still can!