A Native Lad: Benny Benson Tells Alaska’s Story, by Sarah Hurst

A Native Lad: Benny Benson Tells Alaska’s Story, by Sarah Hurst

A Native Lad: Benny Benson Tells Alaska’s Story is based on the script of a play by Sarah Hurst, first performed at Tatitlek Community School in January 2010.

The story consists of 16 scenes marking major events in Alaska history, narrated by Benny Benson, the designer of the Alaska flag. Benny travels in time to meet a modern-day high school student named Abigail, who is wondering where her PFD check comes from. The scenes cover the Alaska Purchase through to the statehood movement, the struggle for the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, and the discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay.

This graphic novel, illustrated in a varied range of styles by nine superb Alaska artists, can be used in a classroom setting to teach Alaska history to grades 7 through to college level, or it can simply be read for enjoyment by children or adults. Forty pages of supplemental notes further explain each scene and provide questions for group discussion as well as sources of additional reading to research topics in detail.

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