The Trees Stand Shining by Hettie Jones
*The Trees Stand Shining*, curated by Hettie Jones and illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker, is a unique collection of poetry that captures the oral traditions of various North American Indigenous tribes. This anthology includes prayers, lullabies, short stories, and war chants that have been passed down through generations, reflecting the deep-rooted connections these cultures have with nature and spirituality. The poems, presented with minimal text per page and accompanied by Parker's evocative watercolors, explore themes such as the earth, seasons, and the cosmos, while anthropomorphizing elements of the natural world to convey a tone of reverence.
Significantly, *The Trees Stand Shining* showcases the diversity of Indigenous cultures by representing sixteen distinct tribes, thereby dispelling the myth of a monolithic American Indian identity. This collection serves not only as a literary work but also as an educational resource that enables young readers to engage with and respect the rich heritage of Indigenous peoples. The poignant expressions found in the poems, especially those addressing historical interactions with white settlers, offer insights into the emotional landscape and lived experiences of these communities. Ultimately, this beautifully illustrated book stands as a testament to the resilience of Indigenous oral traditions and the importance of preserving cultural narratives for future generations.
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Subject Terms
The Trees Stand Shining by Hettie Jones
First published: 1971; illustrated
Subjects: Animals, nature, and race and ethnicity
Type of work: Poetry
Recommended Ages: 10-18
Form and Content
The Trees Stand Shining: Poetry of the North American Indians, selected by Hettie Jones with paintings by Robert Andrew Parker, includes prayers, short stories, lullabies, and a few war chants that were passed down orally from one generation to the next over hundreds of years. While the authors of these songs are lost in the swirl of history, their words and lyrics have remained intact. Because native groups had no written documents, it was not until the nineteenth century that their oral history began to be translated and written down. The songs, presented as poems, reveal their attitudes and values toward the earth and their beliefs about their relationship with nature.
Parker’s full-page illustrations face each page of text. No more than three poems are situated on any given page, and they are surrounded by white space. This layout would seem to draw the focus mainly to the illustrations, but the opposite appears to be true. Text and illustration support each other; on many facing pages, Parker’s watercolors speak to multiple poems. In other instances, his softly hued, impressionistic paintings feature a subject of one of the poems. Mysteriously, this approach remains true to the spirit of the poems. Both author and illustrator portray subtleties of mood and expression, as exemplified in this Teton-Sioux poem: “Friend,/ My horse/ Flies like a bird/ As it runs.” The facing page features a young man astride a swiftly moving horse. Parker conveys rapid motion so effectively that movement is almost felt. The artist paints poems with his deft brush and the colors of nature; blues, grays, greens, yellows, browns, reds, and their variations dominate The Trees Stand Shining.
The subjects of the poems include the sun, the day, rainbows, birds, the woods, animals, the sky, the moon, seasons, insects, people, and Father. Each is addressed anthropomorphically, which accounts for the tone of reverence permeating each poem. The poems are not unlike haiku in their choice of topic and yet are less formulaic than this ancient Japanese verse, in which the first and third lines contain five syllables and the second line contains seven syllables. Arching over this body of selected poetry is a relationship with the immediate world, as well as one with the spiritual world. Both words and pictures capture the uniqueness of native groups. The representation of sixteen different tribes dispels the myth of a single American Indian culture. In fact, there are at least five hundred such cultures, each with its own language, views of life, and political, social, and economic systems.
The Chippewa and Arapaho-Comanche poems near the end of the book are perhaps the most poignant as they tell about the interactions with white people. The facing images are ones of Sioux women gathering up their wounded men. The Arapaho-Comanche song reads:
My children,
Critical Context
Before 1971, few specialized collections of American Indian poetry were available for juveniles and young adults. Consequently, The Trees Stand Shining, collected by Hettie Jones and illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker, has a rightful place in the canon of juvenile and young adult fiction. When there is no written document of a culture’s history, the oral one must be preserved for the children of that culture to learn about their heritage. Young people can come to know, understand, and respect peoples of American Indian cultures through the prayers, short stories, lullabies, and war chants that constitute The Trees Stand Shining.
This collection assumes its place in the canon for other reasons as well. The unfortunate practice of lumping together all native people is avoided by including selections from sixteen different groups. There is neither an implied nor a stated reference to “them” or “us.” The unity among the peoples, nature, and animals is evident throughout the book. Each of the people portrayed in Parker’s illustrations is a unique individual, with different facial characteristics, and it is easy to imagine their feelings from their vivid expressions.
This book informs its readers accurately. This is no small feat when one considers how much misinformation circulates about any given culture or group at any given time. The questions that it inspires can serve as a springboard to continuing inquiry about American Indians. The elegance of the text, matched only by the beauty of the illustrations, sets a standard for quality that may be difficult to surpass.