Common Sense Media Review
Book lends itself to child-parent discussions.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 6+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
The media have led many American children to think of Native Americans as a single group. But in this honest portrayal of life in North America at the time of the first European colonization of the continent, the illustrations and text combine to help children understand that each tribe, with its own language, customs, and habits, was a separate culture.
Is It Any Good?
The Gorslines' narrative and illustrations make this a favorite of many children. Kids learn from the pictures and text that Native Americans usually were peace-loving and friendly, and that the lifestyles of different tribes were often vastly different. Primary school children may find the vocabulary too difficult to read, and even older kids may be challenged. Also, the book lacks a pronunciation guide for Native American names, making it difficult to know how to pronounce some words correctly.
But children will enjoy browsing or listening to this as a read-aloud. They probably will enjoy studying and trying Native American sign language, which was used to enable communication among tribes from different regions.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how Native Americans have been treated by the U.S. government throughout history, and note that the book was written before the term "Native American" became more commonly used/accepted than those like "Indian" and "American Indian." Talk about the different terms -- where did they come from? Why is it best to identify specific tribes when possible?
Book Details
- Authors :
- Illustrators : Douglas Gorsline , Marie Gorsline
- Genre : History
- Book type : Non-Fiction
- Publication date : January 1, 1978
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 4 - 7
- Number of pages : 36
- Last updated : July 12, 2017
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
Suggest an Update
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate