Synopses & Reviews
Dazzling paintings and "assemblage pieces" containing historic artifacts and natural objects from the Great Plains highlight this spare, poetic account of a dramatic episode in American history. The Ghost Dance movement, envisioned by the Paiute prophets Tavibo and Wovoka, began in hope: Native peoples danced together to restore the bountiful world of their ancestors. But it ended in tragedy, with the massacre at Wounded Knee. This evocative story offers a vivid glimpse of a vanished past, and a powerful message for the future.
Review
"This stunning book will hold great appeal for environmentally conscious readers, and will interest classroom teachers seeking a poetic call-to-action." School Library Journal, Starred
Synopsis
McLerrans elegant, spare text begins by describing the result of white settlers relentless westward movement in the U.S. The scenario is one often related in books sympathetic to Native Americans: buffalo, their hides stripped, left to rot on the prairie; streams stripped of fish; and herds of elk and buffalo depleted. In poetic prose, she talks about a Paiute visionary, Tavibo, and his son who each dreamed that if Native peoples danced, the white people would disappear and the ghosts of the wildlife that had been decimated would return. . . . Morins thoughtful assemblages contain many objects that place the book in its historical context. The evocative paintings feature a variety of textures. . . . This stunning book will hold great appeal for environmentally conscious readers, and will interest classroom teachers seeking a poetic call-to-action.” School Library Journal, starred