Born in 1960, the sixth of thirteen children, Velma Wallis comes of age account in a two-room log cabin in remote Fort Yukon, Alaska. Life is defined by the business of living off the land. Chopping wood. Hauling water from the river. Hunting moose. Catching salmon. Trapping fur. Taking care of the dogs. For a thousand years, the Gwich'in clan had followed migratory animals across the north. But two generations before, the people had settled where the Porcupine River flows into the Yukon. Now, the Wallis family has a post office box and an account at the general store, and Velma listens to Wolf Man Jack on armed forces radio. The author discovers that her people have surrendered their language, traditional values, and religion to white teachers, traders, and missionaries. Flu epidemics have claimed many loved ones. Village elders seem like strangers from another land, and in a way they are. This novel, Raising Ourselves, tells of Velma Wallis’ own coming of age in the cabin she lived in with twelve other children and her parents in remote Fort Yukon, Alaska. The only way to travel in and out of this location is by sea, air, snowmobile, or dogsled. Wallis is the sixth child of thirteen, and they all live in a two room log cabin. When Wallis was 13, her father passed away and she quit school to help her mother support the entire family. She left the house for a while to perfect her trapping, fishing, and hunting skills to learn how to provide for herself as well as her family. Her mother came for a time to help Wallis learn things she couldn’t figure out for herself. Living independently and growing up, Wallis still can’t ignore the important changes that the white missionaries have brought along, and this memoir describes her story, filled with both grief and hope, despair and strength and wisdom. Selected Reading Questionnaire.

A frank and honestly writen story about growing up in Fort Yukon, Alaska. A tale of the Gwich'in families dealing with acute alcoholism and a generation of cultural loss. As sad story but also an honest story of trying cope and reconnect with the old natural way of life and culture that was to be part of her upbringing. Well written by the author whose first book Two Old Women was an international best seller for over a decade. ( )