GRANDCHILDREN OF THE LAKOTA

This entry in the World’s Children series opens by situating the Lakota within the federacy of the Seven Council Fires that lived in what is now the Dakotas; Rose explains the seven major Lakota subgroups and where they live today. The examination of a Lakota family expands the discussion to include aspects of historical and contemporary life, from religion to schooling, ceremonial herbs, mythology, wild foods, and the sense of place connecting the Lakota to the Badlands and the Black Hills. The post-contact history with the Europeans is handled without a lot of frills: Custer was no friend, treaties were broken time and again, English boarding schools were used to disrupt native cultural continuity, and, until a law enacted 20 years ago, Lakota religious practices were forbidden by the US government. Rose introduces such cultural practices as memorial giveaways, tribal councils and tribal law, sun dances and powwows, making them a living part of a greater tradition. A good selection of full-color photographs accompanies the text, with a wholesome emphasis on the children—“the future of the Lakota Nation, so it is important to treat children with respect and kindness”—that will compel readers through the pages. Rose’s story of the Lakota operates on a number of levels, and in its no-nonsense way is briskly successful. (map) (Picture book/nonfiction. 8-12)