(2) K-3 Illustrated by Kristy Cameron. Renowned Indigenous storyteller Locke (Lakota and Anishinabe) provides an engaging retelling of a Lakota legend. Wakhán Thánka (the Great Spirit) creates the world in seven days. After sending power to the East, South, West, and North, Wakhán Thánka creates mountains, trees, plants, animals, and water. On day five, the ancestors are put into motion in Grandfather Sky; on day six, ­Grandmother Earth receives the gift of creation. Finally, on the seventh day, Wakhán Thanka makes the greatest gift: the human spirit. But where to put it? Buffalo, Bear, and other animals have ideas, but in the end Wakhán Thánka places it at the center of all. "The intersection of everything in this universe, this creation, is within each one of us. We have the responsibility to guard this ­precious gift as it does not belong to us but to Wakhán Thánka." Locke's lively text and Cameron's (Métis) brightly colored and textured stylized illustrations bring a dynamism to the tale. A list of Lakota words in the text is appended.

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(3) K-3 At dawn, buses take kids off to school while pictographic images of buffalo and men on horseback fly through the sky. Throughout the day, the interactions of people, animals, earth, and sky are celebrated in modern poetic language with traditional songs in Lakota and English. This is a pictorial testament to a way of life that still survives in South Dakota.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(4) 1-3 Translated by Philomine Lakota. Illustrated by Christine Fowler. A bilingual text in English and Lakota tells about a Lakota Sioux girl who makes a star quilt and gives it to the rich and powerful man who wants to tear down her apartment building to create commercial enterprises. The quilt reminds him about family, friends, and love, and he changes his mind. Illustrated with striking artwork, the text, though contrived, provides an intriguing glimpse of Lakota culture in modern America.

Reviewer: Debbie Reese