Dancing with the Indians

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Based on the author's family history, this intercultural celebration recounts an African American family's participation in a Seminole Indian powwow in 1930s Oklahoma. Though Medearis's four-line verses are awkwardly rhymed and lack proper meter, her commendable work offers glimpses of a rarely explored chapter in the shared histories of two historically oppressed peoples. The strongly colored paintings by first-time illustrator Byrd depict flickering firelit dancers and the area's natural beauty with a certain verve; his human figures, however--particularly the faces--are often distorted and stiff. The one-page afterword provides youngsters with additional information on the historical context for this picture book set in ``Okehema''--``red people'' in the Seminole language. This book's audience will no doubt forgive its flaws and appreciate the preservation of a neglected bit of history. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)

School Library Journal

Gr 2-4-- Simple four-line verses maintain a consistent rhythm as they tell a compelling story of loyalty and joy. The author ri evives her African-American family's memories of celebrating with the Seminole Indian tribe in Oklahoma in the 1930s. Each year, the descendants of her slave great-grandfather honor the people who rescued him and made him a blood brother. Depicted here are parents and two children as they travel by wagon to join the Native Americans for a night of ritual dance. Byrd's heavy watercolors create a setting and realistically render the warm family, the fearful slave in hiding, a buffalo hunt, and then give an impressionistic view of the moods evoked by the dances. Neither the poem nor the illustrations achieve brilliance, but they do the job. The book's strength is that it is so honest and so specific in showing a unique moment of American life from an unusual perspective. --Sally T. Margolis, Park Ridge Public Library, IL