Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant, informative work on the Northern Plains people.
Review: I have been using Fools Crow for a program, "The American West," for the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. It is a dense work, packed with insights into the condition of Northern Plains Indians. Parts of it are undoubtedly fiction, but they could be true. We look into the material and non-material lifeways of the Blackfoot people. It helps to know something of the ethnography of the Plains Indians, but there is much there for everyone. I use it in conjunction with Zane Gray's Riders of the Purple Sage and Edward Abbey's The Brave Cowboy. They make a great trilogy on the West of the 19th and 20th Century. They are fictional works set in real landscapes.
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Summary: Highschool student from Montana
Review: I have read this novel and found that it gives an accurate view of Native American life. There has been much controversy about it not only in my state, but also in junior honors english class. Many in my class find that is "innapropriate" but I say that this is untrue. What these kids do not understand is that these people had different morals than we do and that their society was also very different. As far as that this book is innapropriate, I think that this could be said of many novels, ones that are considered to be great works of literature. Some of the most commonly banned books in the school systems in our country are The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, To Kill a Mockingbird, A Seperate Peace, Lord of the Flies, and even The Catcher in the Rye. I have read these novels and the fact that they are banned astonishes me. These are our great works of literature and should be read by as many people as possible. We cannot simply ban a book because the morals or ideas in it are not what we agree with.
Rating: 
Summary: Fools Crow
Review: I liked this book, it was good. But it would be inapropriate for young readers (13 + down)
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Summary: Awakened me to the beauty & tragedy of Native American hstry
Review: I read this book for a summer class, and was therefore under a strict time constraint. Had I read it more leisurely, I may well have dropped the book as too much work for a casual read.I'm very, very glad I stuck with it. At first, the book's use of Pikuni concepts to describe common objects like the sun, moon, and animals is a bit disconcerting: the extra layer of decoding can be daunting, and I'm still not sure what a couple of the animals were supposed to be (I'm from New York, and plead ignorance regarding Western wildlife). However, a third of the way into the book I found myself hooked, and found that language decision to have been an effective means of drawing me into the characters and situations. Other reviews address the historical context of the book. Look at [the internet] to get an idea of the events this book will cover, with more or less detailed attention to historical accuracy. I came at it from a perspective of empathy and entertainment. The title character is very human, and rife with embarassing little secrets that allow us to identify with his struggles. Other characters are particularly human, and demonstrate the negative effects of bottling up secrets versus the positive side of sharing them and facing one's failings. I suppose this review doesn't make sense without having read the book, which makes it a failure as a review. Well, here are some positive aspects of the book: Visceral confrontations will make your heart pound; Conflicting perspectives of 19th-century Euro-American western expansion will make your head pound; The cruelty of individuals among both the Pikuni and the Napikwan (whites) will make your heart ache. If you find Native American culture at all fascinating, read this book. If you don't know a whit about Native American culture, read this book. If you've been turned off to Native American culture due to your school system's inadeqate handling of their perspective, read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Awakened me to the beauty & tragedy of Native American hstry
Review: I read this book for a summer class, and was therefore under a strict time constraint. Had I read it more leisurely, I may well have dropped the book as too much work for a casual read. I'm very, very glad I stuck with it. At first, the book's use of Pikuni concepts to describe common objects like the sun, moon, and animals is a bit disconcerting: the extra layer of decoding can be daunting, and I'm still not sure what a couple of the animals were supposed to be (I'm from New York, and plead ignorance regarding Western wildlife). However, a third of the way into the book I found myself hooked, and found that language decision to have been an effective means of drawing me into the characters and situations. Other reviews address the historical context of the book. Look at [the internet] to get an idea of the events this book will cover, with more or less detailed attention to historical accuracy. I came at it from a perspective of empathy and entertainment. The title character is very human, and rife with embarassing little secrets that allow us to identify with his struggles. Other characters are particularly human, and demonstrate the negative effects of bottling up secrets versus the positive side of sharing them and facing one's failings. I suppose this review doesn't make sense without having read the book, which makes it a failure as a review. Well, here are some positive aspects of the book: Visceral confrontations will make your heart pound; Conflicting perspectives of 19th-century Euro-American western expansion will make your head pound; The cruelty of individuals among both the Pikuni and the Napikwan (whites) will make your heart ache. If you find Native American culture at all fascinating, read this book. If you don't know a whit about Native American culture, read this book. If you've been turned off to Native American culture due to your school system's inadeqate handling of their perspective, read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: A strong book with some shortcomings
Review: I recently read this book and had mixed feelings after finishing it. The book gives an amazing look inside the culture of the Native Americans, and its authenticity can't be beaten. However, the book stretches itself too thin, attempting to develop far too many characters at once and taking away from the main characters and the central plot. The book has lots of storylines, but none of them tie together very well. The end of the book leaves you waiting for some sort of resolution to a lot of the different stories, but it never comes. This book is an excellent read if you are looking to learn more about Native American culture, but it suffers from some serious problems as well.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but . . .
Review: Is the language beautiful? Mostly. Does the author draw the reader in? Yes. Should it be taught at the High School level? Absolutely not. An exciting read, but unfortunately pock-marked by cheap-romance-novel descriptions of sex and desire. While the bulk of the text waxes poetic, phrases such as "he felt his penis stiffen" belong to Jackie Collins, not someone who is touted as an award winning author. Recommended for college age readers - but the High Schools should NOT use this book as part of it's curriculum - kids under 18 have a warped enough view of sex as it is.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but . . .
Review: Is the language beautiful? Mostly. Does the author draw the reader in? Yes. Should it be taught at the High School level? Absolutely not. An exciting read, but unfortunately pock-marked by cheap-romance-novel descriptions of sex and desire. While the bulk of the text waxes poetic, phrases such as "he felt his penis stiffen" belong to Jackie Collins, not someone who is touted as an award winning author. Recommended for college age readers - but the High Schools should NOT use this book as part of it's curriculum - kids under 18 have a warped enough view of sex as it is.
Rating:
Summary: A hard story about the things we lost along the way...
Review: It is hard to know what to say about this book. It is centered around the story of a young Blackfoot who journeys from the name White Man's Dog to Fools Crow. (If you don't understand that, but are intrigued--definitely read this book.) The writing is done in third person, but with a twist. It is a Native American voice that tells their story, using their words and using their paradigms to describe the world and events going on around them. I think the strength of this book is the amount of questions it leaves in its wake. How could we do this to these people? Can we make amends? Should we? Is that just the way of the world? What does the future and present hold for Native Americans? Have we, the Napikwans, wrought a world so completely devoid of sprituality and the power of dreams? Can we change that? So many questions, but the reader is left to ponder the answers. I disagree that this book is not what high school students need to be reading. Hogwash!! The fact that the book delves so deeply into the power of dreams (the line between real life and dreams is very thin, if not non-existent) and leaves the reader with so many questions, makes me think it should be required reading. Who else believes so strongly in themselves and their dreams or is more open to question their reality than high school students? No, this book is not an epic, but it is a good story about the things we lost and things we did as Americans on our way towards the 'Manifest Destiny'. I would recommend this book for those people who want to see Dances with Wolves from the other perspective.
Rating:
Summary: A hard story about the things we lost along the way...
Review: It is hard to know what to say about this book. It is centered around the story of a young Blackfoot who journeys from the name White Man's Dog to Fools Crow. (If you don't understand that, but are intrigued--definitely read this book.) The writing is done in third person, but with a twist. It is a Native American voice that tells their story, using their words and using their paradigms to describe the world and events going on around them. I think the strength of this book is the amount of questions it leaves in its wake. How could we do this to these people? Can we make amends? Should we? Is that just the way of the world? What does the future and present hold for Native Americans? Have we, the Napikwans, wrought a world so completely devoid of sprituality and the power of dreams? Can we change that? So many questions, but the reader is left to ponder the answers. I disagree that this book is not what high school students need to be reading. Hogwash!! The fact that the book delves so deeply into the power of dreams (the line between real life and dreams is very thin, if not non-existent) and leaves the reader with so many questions, makes me think it should be required reading. Who else believes so strongly in themselves and their dreams or is more open to question their reality than high school students? No, this book is not an epic, but it is a good story about the things we lost and things we did as Americans on our way towards the 'Manifest Destiny'. I would recommend this book for those people who want to see Dances with Wolves from the other perspective.
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