Commentary: Honoring our teachings: children's storybooks as indigenous public health practice

Yulu Jiang^*Hao Gu

• School of Fine Arts and Design, Yangzhou University, China

Maudrie et al. employed the example of "Our Smallest Warriors, Our Strongest Medicine: Honoring 8Our Teachings during COVD-19," which argued for the legitimacy and effectiveness of embedding 9Indigenous storytelling traditions into public health communication. The research team collaborated 10 with multiple tribal entities to distribute over 50,000 printed books and online resources at no cost, 11 supplemented by 34 caregiver questionnaires. These questionnaires revealed remarkably high 12 satisfaction and knowledge acquisition rates. 4 "storybook" medium, responses to internal differences 13 within Indigenous communities, and long-term health impact assessments, all of which warrant 14 further exploration. 15 2 Subsections 16 Storybooks serve a dual function of providing emotional security and knowledge transfer in shared 18 reading situations between children and parents, but the author does not adequately discuss the 19 potential barriers to reading posed by literacy rates and language diversity. The oral traditions of 20 American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities remain strong, with some remote tribes 21 having English literacy rates below the national average, and 31% of households lacking reliable 22 internet access. If storybooks are used as the primary vehicle for public health initiatives, this could 23 further exacerbate the information gap. Future efforts could consider developing audio versions, 24 tribal language podcasts, and community theater performances to address the limitations of text 25 through "multimodal storytelling." 26 The article emphasizes "cross-tribal shared values," but it is difficult to avoid the risk of 28 "indigenization." The 574 federally recognized tribes differ significantly in language, governance, 29 beliefs, and experiences during the pandemic. For example, the collective ritual taboos of the 30 Southwest Pueblo tribes and the winter gift-giving rituals of the Northwest Coast tribes are not 31 consistent with pandemic prevention logic. While the storybook features diverse characters, its plot 32 primarily follows a "family-community-ancestors" triadic structure, which may obscure the unique 33 circumstances of urban Indigenous peoples or tribes without traditional territories. Future public 34