(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