| Native American Games and Stories by James and Joseph Bruchac offer elementary teachers and students an opportunity to appreciate and learn to respect First Nations traditional games and activities. The pair introduces the idea of sport and games as they relate to First Nations in the introductory chapter. The authors explain everyone is part of the team in Native American sports and these sports offer opportunities to create awareness, develop skills, and experience luck. The book is organized into sections that explore Ball Games and Team Sports, Bowl Games and Other Games of Chance, Games of Skill, and Awareness Games. Games and team sports allowed for everyone to experience cooperation, enjoyment, and in most instances were played for a sacred or healing purpose. The book introduces readers to a specific type of game such as lacrosse by offering a brief traditional legend or story about the origin of the game. In this section there is a Mohawk story (Ball Game Between the Animals and the Birds) and a Passamaquoddy legend (The Ball Players in the Sky). The chapter continues with how-to descriptions for playing Double Ball, Blanketball, Batball, Stick Ball, and Ball Races. The next chapter explores Bowl Games and Other Games of Chance with an Onondaga story about The Good Mind's Game, an Apache legend about How Day and Night Came to Be, and a Dineh (Navajo) story about Kesitce: The Moccasin Game. Games of Skill include a traditional Caddo story about How the Two Brothers Followed the Hoop and directions for playing Ring and Pin and the Hoop and Pole games. The final section includes an Ojibwe legend about Nanabush and the Ducks and instructions for awareness games such as Stalking, Firewood, and The Rock Game. Illustrations in the book are provided by artist Kayeri Akweks whose black and white pencil drawings reveal accurate depictions of traditional games and how they were played. The authors include a list of their sources for the stories and games and an index. This book is highly recommended for school and public libraries. |
