very simplified ( )

This is a first-hand experience story written many years ago by a Sioux Indian, Ohiyesa (Charles Alexander Eastman, his white man's world name) recounting his boyhood as he was raised in the traditional Sioux Indian way. It is fascinating to learn how this child grew thoroughly immersed in the Indian world and then went on into adulthood and assimilated into the white man's world as a highly educated doctor and published author.Originally published in 1902 by Charles Eastman recounting his traditional Dakota Sioux childhood. Mr. Eastman lived 1859 to 1939 so he was intrinsically involved.

Indian Boyhood is the story of a disappearing culture even during this recounted childhood, and it is wonderful to see that today's publishers and editors see the value in a resurgence of this man's story and are adapting and publishing it for today's children to read and learn about original Americans.

While the book doesn't have much "girl appeal," it is certainly a valuable source of information for any child. Targeted for age four and up, the text flows easily and simply states in a very simple form what transpires as the boy grows until he leaves with his re-discovered father for the white man's world.

The illustrations are very well done and capture the essence of the Indian life the story details. I like that the book opens with pictures of the author in traditional Indian clothes as well as his white man's world clothes. At the end of the book, there is a list of explanations that helps to understand the illustrations.

A very good book for simply learning about the young Indian boy's life. A must for school libraries.

DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy from Wisdom Tales to facilitate this review. Opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review. ( )

Bracketed with background information about the author, illustrator, and supporters of this book, Indian Boyhood presents a very simply told story for young children, filled with tiny details of text and illustration that imply a much larger tale. The writing is smoothly edited from Charles Eastman’s original text by Michael Oren Fitzgerald, combining the sense of a children’s picture book with the depth of genuine cultural difference and experience—a difference born of time, location and history, and beautifully portrayed.

Adults should read and enjoy the forward and preface—a wonderful introduction to the author and editor—while children will turn, of course, to the pictures first. But both should stop at the photographs that come before the story—two simple images that tell a tale of time and people lost, yet never gone.

“What boy would not be an Indian for a while…?” asks the author as his story begins. An enticing image of horse and rider, plain and shining sun, invites the reader to turn the page. But even the images are filled with secrets in this book, making it a treasure for older children too, to search and find how a tipi is decorated, why a family would flee, how a child would be hidden in a tree…

The story’s told in a pleasingly authentic voice, for all its simplicity, and rings gorgeously true. The Indian boy learns equally of hunting and herbs, an interesting background when history tells us he grew up to train as a doctor in the white man’s world. There’s beauty in knowing this changing world didn’t change him—just became a part of him.

I really enjoyed this book and would love to share it with a child, growing, as all of us do, in a world that never stays still, and learning, as all of us should, to wait before leaping to judgement.

Disclosure: I was given a copy by the publisher, Wisdom Tales, and I offer my honest review. ( )