Walking on Earth and Touching the Sky: Poetry and Prose by Lakota Youth at Red Cloud Indian School

 

    Walking on Earth and Touching the Sky: Poetry and Prose is a book of poetry written by Lakota Youth at Red Cloud Indian School. The poems are written by a variety of children, and they give their unique perspective of their life and culture. The book of poetry contains a table of contents and an index of authors and titles. The poetry book contains different themes, each containing multiple works of poetry. At the start of each theme, there is an author’s note to give information about each theme and how it pertains to the students. Each poem gives a unique perspective to those who are not Native American. To those who are Native or who are Lakota the poems give the reader validation of the unique struggles that Native Americans face. The language used is understandable by those whom the book is intended for. 

    The poems contain figurative language and repeating words and sayings. In some poems, the authors use words and statements that repeat at the beginning of each line. Some poems repeat statements within the poem. The authors used quite a bit of figurative language. In Every Little Dance, the author describes dancing to the wind. And in Vision of Go by Dani Steele, they describe god as physical things of the earth such as lakes and rivers (Mclaughlin, Nelson, and Marshall 2012). The authors use emotional impact to describe their life. At the end of each theme, there are different pieces of art. The art is described by the size and type. The art is unique and interesting. I wish there was more art or illustrations found throughout the book.

Every Little Dance

Every little dance is like the wind.

They are the gods running in the sky.

Every little dance is the drum beating.

The Indian dancers on the pow-wow grounds.

Every little dance creates a new world.

Every little dance is a new life.

Another baby comes into a person’s life.

Alisha Patton 

(Mclaughlin, Nelson, and Marshall 2012)

    This would be a great addition to storytime during Native American History Month. I think it would be a great series to start each story time with. There are more than four themes, but I would choose four themes and have one for each week. I would introduce the poems by reading or summarizing the author’s note before that week’s theme. I would then go on to read a few poems from that theme. For an activity, it would depend on the theme. For the poem noted above I would choose to play music from the Lakota tribe. I would then ask the kids to talk about the music and what they liked about it. Maybe even talk about the differences between their culture’s music. 

References:

Mclaughlin, Timothy P, S D Nelson, and Joseph M Marshall. 2012. Walking on Earth and Touching the Sky: Poetry and Prose by Lakota Youth at Red Cloud Indian School. New York: Abrams Books For Young Readers.