Customer Reviews

Native Ways: California Indian Stories and Memories

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
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This wonderful book has been a treasured resource in my classroom. It has some outstanding historical and modern photos of Native Californians in authentic settings, with their crafts, etc. The text is great, too. For instance, I wrote up an info page on Miwok government, then I had the kids read in Native Ways about Captain John. A friend of his was describing how he was a respected leader and his qualities that made him so... it exactly matched the info article. It has some good legends, one of which I'm using for a retelling practice, but what I appreciate most are the first person accounts and interviews of Native people explaining themselves and their way of life. They are short and a good length for 3rd and 4th grade readers. Enjoy, everyone.

My boys are both half Native American and they didn't get that from me. Their dad isn't around so I wanted something to help them learn about their culture and more specifically their tribe or tribes that are in the same general area. They really like this book and read it everyday. They have to read for a certain amount of time everyday for school and they have numerous books but go for this book all the time. The illustrations are great too. My boys are 9 and 7 years old.

My 3rd- and 4th-grade children are studying California history (we homeschool). I went to the library and gathered everything I could find about early CA history, but it all seems like just history--gone--of no interest to kids. This book is narratives of real people remembering what it was like when they were young. I used to love to hear my grandma's stories of her childhood, and this book feels very much like sitting at Grandma's feet and listening to her reminisce. I am reading it aloud to my kids and they love it. I think this book alone is sufficient coverage of the culture of Native Californians; I see no reason to supplement with texts or anything, but each of my kids has chosen two skills they want to learn--my son is currently in the backyard building a home out of sticks and mud like some of the homes in the black-and-white photos in this book. My daughter is attempting to sew some clothes by hand to look like some of the original native clothing.