Review by Booklist Review
This comprehensive volume about Native American culture looks like a coffee-table book, and the handsome open design, with clear type and beautiful reproductions on quality paper, will certainly encourage browsers. But readers will also find a great amount of valuable detail, including stories, songs, commentary, and art of nearly 50 Native American tribes. Also included are creation myths and animal tales of tricksters and transformation as well as a discussion of mythmaking in the twenty-first century. Original poetry and retold stories by Dunn (who is Cherokee/Muskogee/Seminole) and Berk draw on the oral tradition. A gorgeous Shoshone hide painting that depicts a buffalo dance after a hunt shows and tells the elemental lesson--from ancient times and for today--not to take more than is needed. That is a lot to take on in one book, but there is nothing generic in this celebration of diversity and connections. Extensive back matter includes an annotated list of tribes and nations. A rich collection of exciting art and story that keeps the past alive.--Rochman, Hazel Copyright 2008 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 7 Up-A general overview of the myths, beliefs, and traditions of Native Americans as viewed through the art, artifacts, and stories of more than 40 tribes and nations. Using a literary approach, each chapter begins with a poem by Dunn and includes retellings of traditional stories from various tribes. The layout and photographs are truly stunning, but have more of an adult coffee-table book look than a kid-friendly style, and the text of the actual stories is small and hard to read. The content is alternately scholarly and whimsical, so that the audience and purpose are unclear. Unclear also is what, exactly, members of each tribe still believe and practice, and what was believed or practiced in a generalized past. While outstanding for its art and artifact pictures, and useful to pique interest in the mystical/literary aspects of Native American beliefs, this volume will not serve well as a research/report tool despite its full index, annotated list of tribes mentioned, credits, and bibliography.-Riva Pollard, Prospect Sierra Middle School, El Cerrito, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Arresting in its presentation, with sharp reproductions of artifacts from many centuries and contemporary artworks pictured on beige parchment-like pages, this book is a delight for the eyes, but difficult to comprehend. The text is a rich mixture of Dunn's poetry and folk tales and myths from almost 50 North American tribal groups, accompanied by scholarly explanations of these stories and the traditions that engendered them. It is fascinating, yet too dense for the intended child audience. The authors--Berk an academic folklorist and Dunn a Cherokee/Muskogee/Seminole poet, journalist and musician--tell readers repeatedly that the many peoples of Native America must be respected for their knowledge, their care of the earth, their many ancient traditions and their ability to fuse their heritage with the challenges of living in an often hostile environment. The stories themselves are retold with a fine sense of oral language, but librarians, teachers and parents will need to assist young readers in finding the nuggets of gold in this rich but sometimes arid compendium. (list of tribes and nations mentioned, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 11-adult) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
