| Grandfather
explains to Runs Like the Wind, Talks All Day, Hits with His Fist, and
Thinks A Lot how to use a talking stick to learn how to communicate and
respect each other. Crude black and white drawings based on images found
on museum pieces, of Mimbres pottery and drawings from a 1920’s
archeological excavation, illustrate this lengthy didactic story. At
the back of the book the authors give a description of how to make a
talking stick and how to personalize the sticks for the individual child
in a class. This is just another version of how to play Indian.
According to the preface this is the first book in a series that stresses
the “importance of developing good character traits, and how to
demonstrate ethical behavior.” The authors would have demonstrated
ethical behavior, as well as cultural respect, if they had used their own
experiences with a talking stick. Instead they create a fictional Native American story based on
a culture that can only be guessed at. By assembling a behavior,
values and meaning from designs on pottery and to assign pseudo-Indian
names in order to teach “values” not only perpetuates stereotypes and
cultural inaccuracies, but creates them. Marlette
Grant-Jackson – ITEPP-CRC
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