Book: Gift Horse: A Lakota Story by S.D. Nelson

By Lena Trondson • August 29, 2008

As most of you know, I love to read books and I am fortunate to have a very wonderful job where I am constantly surrounded by new books. The North Dakota selection for the 2008-2009 National Book Festival is this children book by Dakotan S.D. Nelson. It is a great Native American kids book with wonderful illustrations. I can’t wait to read this book to Linn. She loves horses and she will truly enjoy the bright drawings. Here is a review from Library Journal:

Grade 2-6-This quietly told, first-person narrative relates how Flying Cloud matured from a boy to a man in the Lakota society of the 1800s. The horse was considered a sacred animal by the Sioux, one of the finest gifts one person could give another. This story, which opens with the presentation of a horse to Flying Cloud, traces his growth as he practices war games with friends, learns to trust his horse’s judgment and to think before acting, and goes through the rituals that denote attainment of Warrior status. Sweat lodges, vision quests, hunting successes, and counting coup are all explained in the context of the story. Also, the Lakota cosmology, integral to the story, becomes clear. Nelson’s illustrative style is influenced by the ledger-book drawings of the Plains Indian artists. Clear, iconic, slightly elongated figures rendered in acrylics on wood in bright, solid colors contrast with the milky realism of the prairie skies and snowstorms. Best used with works such as Paul Goble’s The Gift of the Sacred Dog (Bradbury, 1982) or Russell Freedman’s Indian Chiefs (Holiday, 1987), this story, fluid in both narrative and illustrations, elucidates with grace and clarity a way of seeing the world and comporting oneself in it.
Ann Welton, Terminal Park Elementary School, Auburn, WA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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