Seminoles (A First Americans Book) - Hardcover

Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve spent her childhood on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation and now lives with her husband in Rapid City, South Dakota. She is the anthologist of the highly acclaimed poetry book, Dancing Teepees : Poems of American Indian Youth, illustrated by Stephen Gammell. The mother of three grown children, Ms. Sneve works as a high school counselor and teaches English at Oglala Lakota College, Rapid City Extension.

Grade 3-5-A stylistically superior book written in a clear expository manner and complemented by Himler's painterly illustrations. Sneve asserts that "Like the white men, they [the Seminole] had black slaves, but they treated their slaves with respect...The blacks had been trained in agriculture on white plantations, and this knowledge helped the Seminole farmers thrive." This seems to slight both the Africans and Indians' millenia of farming practices. On the whole, though, the text is good and covers the Seminole Wars; Osceola; and such aspects of life as clothing, children, the Green Corn Dance, and the Seminoles today. A map of current lands precedes the narrative, but there is no map of their historical territory or current population figures. Himler's illustrations are the book's high point. Although he has a tendency toward indistinct rendering of his subjects' facial features, his figures and landscapes are both aesthetically pleasing and pertinent to the discussion. Overall, this is an inviting and readable title, with plenty of information for reports.
M. Colleen McDougall, Kayenta Boarding School, AZ
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.