Dancing With the Indians Author:Angela Shelf Medearis School Library Journal — Grades 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 peopl... more »e 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« less