Pitching: A Snake Falls to Earth

Hardcover book design by Mia Ohki

By Emily Huang

Why does this book matter?

A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger is a novel that tackles a lot of current and hard-to-swallow topics. Climate change, species extinction, and loss of cultural knowledge are explored through the lens of Nina, a teenage Lipan Apache girl, and Oli, a cottonmouth person. This book features a diverse set of characters, including a main character who is Indigenous and asexual. Diversity and representation in books are necessary to provide readers with texts that function as windows and mirrors. As a "window" text, A Snake Falls to Earth can allow those not a part of the Indigenous community to broaden their worldview. And as a "mirror" text, it can validate a reader’s life experience as they connect to the characters in the book.

Potential impact

Little Badger utilizes traditional elements of Indigenous storytelling to create a novel filled with magical elements. The story is also a critique of our society’s overconsumption and consumerism. By using magical realism, Little Badger displays the deep ties and respect that Indigenous communities have with nature and Earth. It's hinted that her grandmother's home has a healing power. Later in the novel, it's revealed that Nina’s grandmother is unable to travel too far from home without feeling the physical pain of being detached from her home.

On the homeland, I sleep deeper. My mind is clear. I don’t ache in the morning, and my steps are quick. You know, I was born where I live. Things sometimes go full circle that way... But it wasn’t until recently that I realized I can’t leave even if I need to. That if I try, I’ll die. (Little Badger 202)

The importance of magical realism and fantasy

Magical realism allows many Indigenous authors to overcome misrepresentation. In a New York Times article, some Native authors say that fantasy and sci-fi genres allow them to tell their stories in new, experimental settings without feeling weighed down by the realities of a past filled with genocide and colonialism. Moreover, magical realism and fantasy share many similar elements with Indigenous narrative traditions. This allows authors like Little Badger to showcase their culture and tell their own stories through an Indigenous lens.

Watch the video below to learn more about the importance of Indigenous representation within the context of Mirrors and Windows!

Scholar and activist Debbie Reese builds on Rudine Sims Bishop's "Mirrors, Windows and Sliding Glass Doors" by explaining a fourth layer, "Curtains," and how to understand and write better to provide a truthful representation of Native American people and their culture.

Reese, Debbie. “Mirrors, Windows, Sliding Glass Doors, and Curtains, from: Writing Native American Characters.” Youtube, uploaded by Writing the Other, 12 Oct. 2016, https://youtu.be/ctOJtK-ONgo.

Feeling hopeful in a world that leaves you hopeless

Little Badger draws inspiration from her own life experiences and knowledge to incorporate it into her novel. As an earth scientist, she wanted to include hurricanes as an external threat to tie back to the devastating effects climate change has on Earth. It is important to bring up these current issues in children’s literature because it ultimately rests in the hands of the next generation to make a difference. While experts and the media push towards educating children about climate change, Sarah Benevento, a researcher studying communication and media effects at the University of Illinois states that the available resources and children’s books rarely position humans as having the most influence and impact on climate change. Furthermore, books that lacked informative material on climate change did not express any type of urgency. Urgency must be conveyed through literature so that action can be taken, which is exactly the type of message Little Badger is trying to relay through her work. Instead of making her readers feel like there's nothing they can do, she wishes to encourage them to fight for a better future.

Even through her exploration of culture and language in the novel, Little Badger showcases that perseverance will prevail. Lipan, the Indigenous language explored throughout the novel, is an endangered language, but there is an effort being made to revitalize it. Its presence in contemporary YA literature should not be ignored as this is a step in the right direction for better representation of Indigenous culture.

Listen to Darcie Little Badger talk about her book with Leila Fadel, the host of Weekly Sunday Edition!

A Snake Falls to Earth is a book that explores the strong ties between culture and language as Nina discovers more about her family history by using a translating app to decipher her great grandmother Rosita's stories. Little Badger also discusses her decision of incorporating climate change into the plot and her thoughts about climate anxiety.

Little Badger, Darcie. Interview by Leila Fadel. Weekend Edition Sunday, 21 Nov. 2021, https://www.npr.org/2021/11/21/1057759775/a-teenage-girl-finds-an-ally-on-her-life-journey-when-a-snake-falls-to-earth. Accessed 17 Apr. 2022.

Sources

Alter, Alexandra. “‘We’ve Already Survived an Apocalypse’: Indigenous Writers Are Changing Sci-Fi.” The New York Times, 14 Aug. 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/14/books/indigenous-native-american-sci-fi-horror.html. Accessed 28 March 2022.

Benevento, Sarah. “Communicating Climate Change Risk to Children: A Thematic Analysis of Children’s Literature.” Early Childhood Education Journal, 8 January 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-021-01294-y. Accessed 17 April 2022.

Little Badger, Darcie. A Snake Falls to Earth. eBook, Levine Querido, 2021. Kobo.

Murad, Mahvesh. “Remember Our History: A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger.” Tor.com, 23 Nov. 2021, https://www.tor.com/2021/11/23/book-reviews-a-snake-falls-to-earth-by-darcie-little-badger/. Accessed 28 March 2022.

"Sarah Benevento." University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, https://communication.illinois.edu/directory/profile/sarahvb2. Accessed 17 April 2022.