PLEASANT POINT — ‘‘Maliyan,’’ which in English means Mary Ann, is the story of a young Passamaquoddy girl growing up on the reservation at the turn of the century.

 Now the book, along with a haunting collection of tribal songs played by flutist Rolfe Richter of Pleasant Point, has been captured on a CD. This week, tribal Lt. Gov. Edward R. Bassett Jr., who is working with others to preserve the tribe’s language, released the CD.

 In 1979, drawing on the rich oral history and tradition of the Passamaquoddy tribe, Mary Ellen Stevens-Socobasin produced a book titled ‘‘Maliyan.’’ It is written in Passamaquoddy, with an English translation.

 Now out of print, the book has become a much sought-after collector’s item. A teacher and educator at the Indian Township grade school, Stevens-Socobasin advocated the importance of preserving her native language. Her role in that endeavor was cut short when she was killed in a murder-suicide several years ago.

 The CD includes the book’s six chapters with a total of 150 screen pages, as well as eight videos and eight photo galleries. The program is IBM-compatible.

 Bassett designed the program to be an interactive and educational experience. He estimated he contributed 300 hours of effort to the project. He said that did not include the hours spent by the book’s narrator, Joan Paul-Barnes, and others. Proceeds from the sales of the CD will go to the tribe’s Language Archive Fund.

 Although the book is narrated by a Passamaquoddy, there is an English translation.

 Bassett, holding up Stevens-Socobasin’s book, said he has owned the book for years but had not really looked at it until lately. When he sat down to reread it, he said, he realized the value of the former educator’s work.

 ‘‘The book has a lot of pictures, and there is a lot of history and culture captured in this story,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s like spending a week with this little girl named Mary Ann. The book captures what she thinks and feels and the things that she sees.’’

 Each chapter, Bassett said, offers a snapshot of life on the reservation, including porpoise hunting, electing a tribal leader, and the death of a family member. ‘‘It’s really a very emotional story,’’ he said.

 Bassett dedicated the CD to the former educator. ‘‘She was very gifted, and she was dedicated to her work,’’ he said.

 What makes the CD so inviting, Bassett said, is the opportunity to hear the beauty of the Passamaquoddy language. ‘‘You hear how the language is used in terms of storytelling and sentence structure, and how things are put together,’’ he explained.

 The Passamaquoddy language is born of an oral tradition, and several tribal members during the past few years have focused on its preservation, including the creation of a dictionary. ‘‘It is an ancient and sacred language given to the Passamaquoddy people by the Creator,’’ Bassett said.

 Today, the Passamaquoddy find themselves at a cultural crossroads. Bassett said the language is in danger of becoming extinct, because the only ones who speak it are the tribal elders. ‘‘Lose the language, and we lose our identity,’’ he said.

 Bassett said the computer program on the CD was created to help keep the Passamaquoddy language alive. But, he said, he is also a realist. ‘‘By no means is this technology going to save the language all by itself,’’ he said.

 To do that, the lieutenant governor said, the tribe may have to follow the example of other American Indian communities and immerse its young in the language. ‘‘When a Passamaquoddy was growing up in the community 50 years ago, all they heard was Passamaquoddy. Very little English was spoken,’’ he said.

 ‘‘Today, a child is not brought up in that setting. Everything else is the same, but it’s not Passamaquoddy but English that he hears.’’

 Several years ago, Bassett said, the Mohawk tribe began to immerse its children in the Mohawk language beginning with kindergarten. ‘‘Every book or picture that is given to them, they whited out the English and replaced it with Mohawk,’’ he said.

 After the success of the kindergarten program, Bassett said, the Mohawks decided to continue the program through the rest of grade school. The tribe decided, he said, it wanted certified teachers who spoke Mohawk. ‘‘So they ended up rewriting every subject, math, science, history, whatever, in Mohawk,’’ he said. They continued the program through high school. It has been a wonderful experience, Bassett said, because the children now can speak to their grandparents in their native language.