Kristina Hyatt, author of “Brush, Book, Bed,” is shown placing the book at the book garden at Family Safety in Cherokee, N.C. (BROOKLYN BROWN/One Feather photos)
By BROOKLYN BROWN
One Feather Reporter
CHEROKEE, N.C. – Kristina Hyatt, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) and the relational health program director for the Center for Native Health, recently authored a book for the Cherokee Growing Readers Initiative through Unite for Literacy. Hyatt presented the initiative to Dinilawigi (Tribal Council) in September 2025 and is now the first to author a book through the initiative. Hyatt’s two children are the stars of the book.
Hyatt worked in collaboration with Chi Shipman, manager of Qualla Boundary Public Library, and Mellie Burns, manager of Children’s Dental, to produce “Brush, Book, Bed,” which is an initiative of Children’s Dental that began a few years ago to promote children’s dental hygiene.
The group formed by happenstance at a Unite for Literacy writer’s workshop. “Things fall in line for a reason and are put together in a very specific way. So, I know that wasn’t chance that the three of us sat down together at that table. It was meant to be to bring us to where we’re at now,” Burns said.
Shown, left to right, are Mellie Burns, manager of Children’s Dental; Chi Shipman, manager of Qualla Boundary Public Library; Kristina Hyatt, relational health program director for the Center for Native Health; and Terri Burton, administrative assistant for the Family Safety Program.
“It’s so impactful as a program manager for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, I am thrilled over the fact that this project and things that we continue to work on falls in line with [Principal Chief Michell Hicks’] strategic plan. One of the goals, and I’m going to read it, is ‘increase representation of community identity and Cherokee language on all tribal levels by FY 2027,’ and then under that is ‘enhanced visibility and accessibility of Cherokee language and culture through coordinated media, public communication strategies and cross departmental partnerships.’ So, we have been able to hit all those measures and fall in line with his strategic plan. And like I said, we’ll continue to do that for the foreseeable future.”
The book combines Cherokee language, dental hygiene, and reading, and is authored by and features Cherokee community members. Hyatt said, “I’m a dental hygienist. I don’t work clinically, but in all of the work that I do, I make sure to incorporate why it’s important to take care of your teeth. That’s kind of how this collaboration piece has come together. And also, I’m a mom of two boys, and just being right now in this moment, living in that, raising my boys, reading with them is like one of my favorite activities to do with them. And I’ve even started learning more about that. Before I started this job with the Center for Native Health, I knew it was important to read to your kids, but I didn’t really understand why and how parents actually have the ability to build their child’s brains by reading and by interacting and talking to them.”
One of my goals is to be able to share that information with other parents that are going through that. As a mom and even as a dental hygienist, brushing can be very challenging. Being able to share those tips and tricks that I have learned in dental hygiene school or when working with the children’s dental program, with families and parents just to make that a little bit easier. And even with this, the ‘brush, book, bed’ routine, of course me and my boys, we try to follow that. Does it happen every single night? Absolutely not. And there’s going to be some nights that it’s not this routine exactly, but it gives us kind of a template.”
Hyatt said her children are excited about being featured in the book. “My older one said, ‘Mom, I want to make sure that all of my classmates have a copy of it.’ To me, that’s what’s special about this project, too, is being able to get our community members involved and so that they’re able to see their friends and their family in these books.”
Shipman added, “I think that’s like one of the biggest pieces I’m excited about with this one being done is that it has community members in it and it’s done by a community member. And this was done on an iPhone, so it’s very easy to do. The process is super simple to follow. Another thing that was great and made me excited is the Cherokee language in this was translated by Garfield [Axe Long], and then we changed a little bit of the wording like using one of the inclusive, instead of just saying brush your teeth or I’m brushing my teeth, we said we all, me and them brush our teeth together, to be inclusive of the community.”
Shipman said there is a QR code in the book that includes narration. “That opens so many doors to hear your community members, because I mean, after losing my mother-in-law, I would give anything to hear her read my kids a book. To think that you could save your grandma’s voice in this, save our [Cherokee fluent] speakers’ voices in this, and it’s all ours. [Unite for Literacy] doesn’t keep anything. They just help us make them and distribute them, and it’s all owned by us.”
Shipman said she is meeting with the Cherokee Language Master Apprentice Program and Dadiwonisi Language Program in Tutiyi (Snowbird) to produce more books for the initiative that incorporate Cherokee language, and she is planning to write a book herself about the library.
“Brush, Book, Bed” will be available at all the free community book gardens which include Cherokee Central Schools, Qualla Boundary Head Start, Qualla Boundary Public Library, Cherokee Boys Club, Cherokee Dental Clinic, the Center for Native Health Mothers’ Gatherings, Nurse-Family Partnership and Family Safety.
