The Sioux

by Virginia Driving Haw Sneve, Ronald Himler (Illustrator)

Overview

In this new and updated edition, award-winning author Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve introduces young readers to the Sioux peoples.

The buffalo was the center of Sioux life. After hunting buffalo on horseback, the Sioux people would use every piece of the animal, making food, beds, clothing, storage boxes, and even sleds from the ribs! Discover how the Sioux people lived on the Great Plains with this accessible introduction. Learn about the Sioux creation story, life in the village as a kid, the importance of their feathered headdresses, and more.

This updated edition provides the most up to date and accurate information on the Sioux people of past and present. The back of the book includes a section on Sioux life today, proper names for all of the Sioux tribes, and an excerpt from the Lakota pipe ceremony.

Author Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve grew up on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation and for over 40 years has brought the richness of Native American culture and heritage to thousands of children for over 40 years as teacher and children’s book author. Her First Americans books introduce young readers to the many diverse and unique Native American nations that first called this land home.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780823458592
Publisher:	Holiday House
Publication date:	12/10/2024
Series:	First Americans
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	10.50(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.00(d)
Age Range:	7 - 11 Years

About the Author

Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, teacher and children’s book author, has brought the richness of Native American culture and heritage to thousands of children for over 40 years. Virginia spent her childhood on the Rosebud Sioux reservation and now lives with her husband in Rapid City, South Dakota. She has written the First Americans picture book series for Holiday House, Jimmy Yellow Hawk, and High Elk’s Treasure among others. She is the anthologist of the highly acclaimed poetry book Dancing Teepees: Poems of American Indian Youth, illustrated by Stephen Gammell. She has received numerous honors, including the National Humanities Medal, the Human Rights Award from the South Dakota State Counselors Association, and Author-Illustrator Human and Civil Rights Award.

Born in Cleveland Ohio, renowned illustrator Ronald Himler attended the Cleveland Institute of Art, where he majored in painting and illustration. Ron has illustrated more than 75 picture books and earned many awards over the course of his career, including the prestigious Society of Illustrators Silver Medal for the cover of Red Cap.

Editorial Reviews

The focus of these handsomely illustrated titles in the First Americans series is on the history, beliefs and daily life of the Sioux and the Navajos during the 18th century in, respectively, the northern Plains and the open expanses of what is now New Mexico and Arizona. Necessarily simplifying the tribes' stories for her young audience, the author includes age-appropriate information about children's activities and responsibilities, as well as descriptions of each nation's housing, livelihood, social and cultural activities, and key rituals and ceremonies. Curiously, although Sneve spent her childhood on the Rosebud Sioux reservation, her accounts of this tribe's confrontations with white settlers and U.S. troops, and of the lives of the Sioux today, are much less substantive than those in The Navajos . In fact, her one-page description of ``The Sioux Today'' reveals nothing about their status except how some Sioux live on reservations and many ``live in cities and towns and still treasure their Sioux heritage.'' Still, with the significant contribution of Himler's striking oil paintings, these books provide colorful sketches of two intriguing tribes. Ages 8-11. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 3-6-These two books are the first titles in another series about Native Americans, presented in a picture-book format. Sneve offers brief comments on the two tribes in question. Generally cultural in emphasis, each title features an abridged origin story, an explanation of how the people got where they were at the time of contact, their first interactions with whites, family and village life, religion and ceremonies, battles, and lives today. Illustrations are soft, indistinct watercolors that provide little additional or supporting information. Also, the montage of people in the ``today'' section features historical as well as contemporary figures, confusing the past and present. The tribal ``New True'' books (Childrens) provide a lot more information.-Lisa Mitten, University of Pittsburgh, PA

School Library Journal