AICL Best Books 2023!

Delightfully illustrated board book depicting nature in the Summer and activities in the Taos Pueblo Nation.

These beautiful board books, written without text, were created by the Taos Pueblo’s Tiwa Language Program to preserve the Tiwa culture and revitalize the unwritten Tiwa language by teaching it to younger generations. Many other Indigenous languages also need to be revitalized, so it is the hope of the Taos Pueblo’s Tiwa Language Program that other American Indian nations will find the books useful to teach their languages to their  children. The beautiful, hand-drawn illustrations will also educate young children about the four seasons of the year. All proceeds of the book support the Taos Pueblo’s Tiwa Language Program.

"We are the “Red Willow People” of Taos Pueblo and have sustained our ancient village as one of the longest continuously inhabited communities, for over 1,000 years. Taos Pueblo is located in northern New Mexico and our Tiwa language is a dialect of the Tanoan language, which is not a written language. Traditionally we learn our Tiwa Language through oral tradition but we are in danger of losing our ancient language due to colonization, modernization, and the shift from Tiwa as our first language to English as our first language. The efforts of the Taos Pueblo Tiwa Language Program are focused on revitalizing the Tiwa Language and culture by protecting and preserving it, through teaching it to our younger generations."

Inspired by her uncle, Janell Lujan started painting at the age of fifteen and honed her talent at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. Janell enjoys being an active member of her community and is currently relearning her Tiwa language, both for herself and her two children, who are half Taos and half Zuni Pueblo. She created one of the promotional logos for the Taos Pueblo Tiwa Language Program. Her paintings for this book were inspired by the beautiful Taos Pueblo scenery.