In Cherokee, the word for boy or son is "atsutsa," often shortened to "chooch." In the children's book Chooch Helped, Chooch is a little boy who is just trying to be helpful! Unfortunately, it's driving his older sister crazy.
When Edutsi made grape dumplings, Chooch got flour all over the floor. And when Etlogi planted a garden, Chooch pulled the plants out of the ground.
Chooch, his sister thinks, gets away with everything.
"Chooch Helped is a sibling story," says Andrea L. Rogers, who is herself a sibling, as well as the mother of siblings, and the author of the book. "This story is about two siblings sort of figuring out their relationship. And of course, the older one has to lead because they're older. So they're the mentor, but they don't realize that until things kind of come to a head. And there's some yelling, but then there's forgiveness and there's understanding."
Artist Rebecca Lee Kunz illustrated Chooch Helped. Not only was it her first-ever children's book, it also won the 2025 Caldecott Medal.
"It is wild and incredibly unusual and atypical," says Kunz. "I am in awe."
Kunz and Rogers met by chance at the Cherokee National Holiday and clicked right away. "There was stuff I didn't have to explain," says Rogers. "Like if I mentioned what gigging was, she knew what gigging was and she could show it."
One night, Chooch goes gigging — hunting for crawdads — with Oginalii. They use long poles with a two-pronged fork at the end to dig around in the water. Chooch helped by playing with a crawdad in his hand.
"My sister and brother did not use the gigging forks to catch crawdads," laughs Kunz. "They would just use their hands and then they would put them in the fire and cook them alive or dead. Not sure which."
Kunz says she tried to evoke a lot of Oklahoma — where both she and Rogers are from — with her illustrations. "I just love the summer evenings with fireflies. And the sunsets in Oklahoma are very soft," she explains. "I think of that warm color palette, earth tones… And because it's a story of warmth and of love and sibling love, those colors seemed right for that." Kunz used many layers, some collaging, painting, and a lot of line work to create the illustrations. It's a technique that she uses in her fine art, and worked to adapt for the kids' book. "It creates a lot of depth," says Kunz.
Andrea L. Rogers says she sees Chooch Helped as a universal story. "A lot of us do have cultural traditions, which it takes a while for children to be able to be involved in," at least in a way that's less messy, she says. If kids aren't involved in their culture from the beginning, then they won't be invested when they grow up — but it takes patience. In creating this book, Rogers thought about when her own kid helped make grape dumplings. Like Chooch, she got flour everywhere. But, Rogers says, "even though I wasn't thrilled with cleaning up the flour, I wouldn't trade the chance to make grape dumplings with my kid for anything."
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