Black Bears and Blueberries Publishing for All Children

Black Bears and Blueberries Publishing for All Children

Both my wife (Betsy Albert-Peacock) and I are retired educators from the Education Department at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. As educators we saw the need for authentic, Native authored children’s books in schools, libraries, bookstores, and communities. We talked about starting a Native owned and operated nonprofit publishing company for some time, realizing it would fill a great need to a small niche population, all the while giving Native authors and illustrators an outlet for publishing their works. Larger publishers ignore many Native book ideas because they are too small a market to make them a profit. Our primary reason for starting the publishing company is that few authentic, accurate, Native-written children’s books are available in today’s schools. As educators, we know that non-Native students benefit from these books because they foster the development of empathy toward Native people. Native students have increased knowledge of one’s own heritage and develop healthy, positive self-concepts and identity. They see and read about characters that look like them and represent their communities and cultures. We went ahead with the idea and hit the ground running. We brainstormed a list of potential names for our venture and settled on a catchy one thought up by Betsy, Black Bears and Blueberries Publishing. I thought it was perfect as it captured the youthful essence and imagery of children. As a nonprofit we don’t pay ourselves. We told people this was our retirement gig. All the proceeds from sales go to produce new books, reprint existing ones. Authors are paid industry standard royalties. Illustrators don’t work for free. Graphic designers cost. Print companies have to pay for expensive equipment, ink, paper, and shop employees. Our plan was to do this for a few years and find younger Native people to take over. We’re old you see—akiwenzi, miinawa and mindimooyenh (old man and old woman). We need our naps. We published our first books in 2019: Grasshopper Girl by Teresa Peterson (Dakota) and Rez Dog by Heather Brink (Ojibwe), both illustrated by Lakota illustrator Jordan Rodgers, and Gitige by the Fond du Lac Reservation Head Start. All sold extremely well. Since our start we have gone on to release a total of 25 books, all by Native writers, and mostly Native illustrators. Some of the authors have gone on to publish books with other publishers. Teresa Peterson just released Voices From Pejuhutazizi (Minnesota Historical Society Press). Tara Perron (Dakota/Ojibwe), author of three of our books (Takoza Walks With the Blue Moon Girl, The Animals of Nimaamaa-aki, The Animals of Kheya Wita) has three books from other publishers. Meantime, we received contracts to publish works for Red Lake Schools (Minnesota), a series of English/Ojibwe traditional winter stories by Dr. Giniwgiizhig and several translators, Niizhobines and Zhaawanwewindamook. All of Red Lake’s books were illustrated by Native illustrators, including Jordan Rodgers (Lakota), Sam Zimmerman (Ojibwe), Cameo Boyle (Ojibwe), Bambi Goodwin (Ojibwe) and Anna Granholm (Ojibwe). Most are Neneboozhoo stories, the most recent one Neneboozhoo and Paul Bunyan. We also received a contract to publish Voices Rising, a collection of stories and poetry by Minnesota Indigenous women, through the Hennepin (Minnesota) County Library.

We’ll soon release an art book by Sam Zimmerman (Ojibwe), Following My Spirit Home. We’ve faced our share of challenges along the way with the COVID pandemic topping the list. Betsy, who does all our marketing, had scheduled many book events with schools, bookstores, and communities for our new releases in the spring and summer of 2000 only having to cancel all of them. Our home was filled with thousands of our latest releases, stacked neatly in our bedroom. So, Betsy sat down at her computer and sent emails to all our previous buyers — schools, libraries, bookstores, and communities. We developed an online presence utilizing Twitter, Facebook, and a webpage and put our books on Amazon. com. We bought a tent and began doing direct sales at Saturday markets, particularly the one sponsored by the American Indian Community Housing Organization in Duluth, Minnesota. In the end it paid off. We more than doubled our sales the second year, and again this past year. In 2022 we plan to retire. We’ve already turned the publishing rights to our books back to authors and had one of our designers put them under their names on Amazon through Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), so they can have their own books printed and continue to sell them and receive profits. We’re not in this for the money. I’m a writer. I know how difficult it is to find publishers for our Native stories, histories, and cultures. For generations, non-Native publishers have determined what of our history, culture, language, and stories are worthy of publishing, of getting into schools, libraries, bookstores, and communities. Hence, non-Native publishers determine what of our stories are worthy of telling, knowing, passing on, because the written word is held in high regard in contemporary society. Colonial thinking, institutions and structures still stand in our way everywhere. However, I’ll continue to write and, hopefully, find publishers for my works. I’m hoping for the same with all other Native writers and illustrators. We all need to do our part, give back. This has been one of our ways of doing it. I just bought a new recliner. They deliver soon. Somewhere out there though, hopefully, is a youngish Native person who dreams of owning a publishing company, of making sure our stories live on in the printed word.

Thomas Peacock (Fond du Lac Ojibwe), co-publisher of Black Bears and Blueberries Publishing, a publisher of Native children’s books. Black Bears and Blueberries Publishing: 218-310-8532 or 715-779-9532, blackbearsandblueberries.com.

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