The life and times of Native Eskimo John Honea of Ruby. John Honea - Ruby. is the ninth and final book in a series of biographies of people who live in the eleven villages serviced by the Yukon-Koyukuk School District. These books are designed for upper level elementary students living in rural Alaska although they may well captivate readers of any age. The series is meant to fill the void created by school materials that all come from outside and carry that bias. Alaska need not be described as a barren wasteland on the periphery of the real world. This is the center of a rich and varied and, unfortunately, neglected culture. We hope to bring home some relevance of curriculum through this series. John Honea, and many other of the people in this series, is familiar to the students in rural Interior Alaska. This story and others like it offer students the opportunity to take a look closer to home and to study some of the changes that have taken place in a historically short period of time. This book has been written in the language style of the story teller. As his speech is that of many students, it may allow easy reading. For others it is an introduction to the language that has evolved since the recent coming of outside people to Native Alaskan land. John Honea lives in the village of Ruby on the south bank of the Yukon River, a town gold stampeded into existence in 1911. John, also known as Johnny, is a man of two cultures. He grew up a half-breed living with White people and with Native, gold mining and trapping, storekeeping and reindeer herding, but always fishing. Persistently a hard worker, at sixty-nine his movements are swift and agile. He says his life has gone well and attributes it to the partnersip with his wife Lorraine. Fishing, hunting, or raising a family, they always work together, helping each othr along. As with all the biographies in this series, there is much left untold. This is but a glimpse at the rich life of a man of Interior Alaska.

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