Herbert Spencer Zim was a teacher and author in the field of science. Sonia Bleeker (Zim) did the same for children but focusing on Anthropology. Sonia and Herbert travelled all over Africa, Europe and North and South America.
Always taking notes and doing research for her many books about Native Americans, Pre-Columbian cultures and various African tribes.
The Quiz-Me Books were a series for youth featuring impressive Museum illustrations, a clearly written text and a concluding list of questions which sent the reader back into the text for further investigation.
Sonia’s INDIANS book is arranged by topics that are close and familiar to the lived experience of a contemporary child. Good starting points for beginning inquiry into complex cultures. Homes, Family Life, Hunting & Farming, Clothing & Ornaments, Languages, Tools & Weapons, Transportation & Trading, Religion & Ceremonies, Games, Feasts & Dancing.
Pre-Colonization Family Life is described as happy with parents who took good care of their children. A child naming ceremony was considered important to the clan because it bestowed upon each child a name that possessed special powers. A baby was given a nickname so that the secret name never got used up thereby wearing out its power. This is exactly the sort of anthropological detail that adds an element of magic and mystery which appeals to imaginations young & old.
Women are shown with breasts. And Sonia writes that all mothers nursed their children and the baby was always with its mother. Fathers took charge of sons when boys were old enough to learn planting, harvesting, hunting, weaving or chipping, flaking and fashioning arrows, wampum or turquoise ornaments.
Every Indian man, woman and child was once upon a time surrounded by relatives. Elders transmitted the ceremonies & rituals of the tribe as well as the sacred pathways to adulthood. Presented is the portrait of a stable and thriving society. BEFORE Invasion, Enslavement, Disease, Genocide, Occupation, Forced Relocation, Destruction of Food Sources, Demoralization, Despair. The Deliberate Devastation of a Way of Life.
Even a speed read of Sonia Bleeker’s Quiz-Me paperback would leave one asking very different kinds of end-of-chapter study questions. How can the annihilation of 80 Million Indigenous people be imagined? What facts should be included that might help us calculate such horror? Which anthropologists in 2025 are researching and writing for school age children seeking facts about cultures & customs recovered and revitalized precisely because of the richness they contribute to the vitality of democracy?
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