Customer Reviews

Cloudwalker: Contemporary Native American Stories (World Stories Series , No 3)

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Cloudwalker: Contemporary Native American Stories by Joel Monture, is a collection of six short stories about Native American traditions and their lifestyle in a contemporary setting. Every short stories focus on young Native American children learning from their elders about their historic culture. The reader learns along with the character in the story about traditions and history. One boy learns about the family bloodline, another learns about her ancestral ghosts, and yet another learns about ancient pictographs and the land by which they were made from. With a learning theme throughout each, the reader won't know their being bombarded with facts until the end when they realize how much more knowledge they have gained through reading.

With that being said, this collection this collection would be perfect for Elementary or Middle-Level education teachers to be familiar with. Monture's collection incorporates many great lessons that teachers would find valuable to share with students during a Native American culture and history unit. With each short story being only five or six pages long, students won't feel overwhelmed and the class can finish the entire collection of six short stories in a relatively quick time frame. The characters being in their youth and searching for their own identity through their ancestors and the overall culmination of the same themes throughout the entire work, makes this relatable to young students.

Overall, Monture's goal of teaching the 21st Century child about Native American history and culture through familiar stories is a success. I like Cloudwalker since it develops six different stories from multiple Native Indian nations. It gives students a small chunk of history from a broad range of tribes, which is beneficial to not only students but the teacher as well. With a busy school calendar, having quick short units becomes a norm. Cloudwalker is the perfect length to add literature to any unit in multiple courses. As well as the quick short stories, Monture added a helpful glossary to conclude the collection. Students could use this in many instances while reading through the native context. To surmise, Cloudwalker is a great educational tool for a wide range of ages. Anyone who picks up this collection to read through will undoubtedly be entertained and learn something new as well.