This was a delightful book that covered the subject matter well and in a fun, engaging manner. It provided good information that wasn't overwhelming in the standard ABC format.

Told through charming couplets, the Lechowicz's Native American ABC teaches young readers their alphabet, while simultaneously introducing Native American cultural associations. The artwork is simply gorgeous. Even though all of my cubs are far older than the target age-range, we all enjoyed reading this book. In fact, I'd love to have a physical copy for our library. I do, however, wish they had used Raven for the r.

*goes off to order book*

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Mascot Books for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Insightful and entertaining way to teach kids the alphabet and about Native Americans. Opens up discussion and helps kids learn the alphabet. Would recommend.

“Native American ABC” was fantastic. I absolutely LOVED the illustrations - they were incredible! Also, I enjoyed the rhymes. (My only complaint about the whole book was that the spacing of the lines was a bit weird - not a big deal.) I hope this book gets a lot of recognition, because it deserves it!

I received this copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Native American ABC pairs different Native American words with the English alphabet. Each word is accompanied by simple rhyming text and lovely illustrations. The book is the work of a grandmother and grandson duo who wrote the book together to introduce the eleven year old to native culture. Native American ABC is a diverse read for young readers, and the story behind its creation is a neat one.

A simple introduction to various Native American objects and way of life. Includes concepts from many different Native American cultures. I like the colorful illustrations too.

Thank you Netgalley and Mascot Books for an advance copy of this book.

This is a story using the alphabet to teach more about different native american cultures. It rhymes. It was also written by a grandmother and her grandson who is part Native American.

When I was a child, there was an organization called Camp Fire Girls. Forgive me, but this was in the 1960s, and I suppose we were not very enlightened White people, because one of the things we did was give our selves "Indian" names. I have never been able to find what "Indian" language the names were based on, or if they were just made up sounds, and the organization figured no one would ever be bothered to research it.

I get this same feeling when reading this picture book, which is purportedly a book about Indian things. The only problem is, that the Native people, the Indigenous people of North America, were not all the same, and did not all dwell in Tipis (a plains Indian dwelling), as show below.

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-450" src="http://www.reyes-sinclair.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Screen-Shot-2018-05-08-at-12.20.15-AM.png" alt="" />

This could have been handled so much better, using real Indigenous words, and items,, so that colonists would learn from the book. A good example would have been "K is for knife". There is a special knife that the Inuit women use called an Ulu. The authors could have drawn that, and said U is for Ulu, and given some background.

Perhaps I am asking too much of a picture book? No, I don't think so. There are picture books out there that use true First Nation and Native American words, for their peoples. They do not try to be all things to all peoples. If they are Cree, they use Cree words.

In this case, the authors are set in the Dakotas, so that be mostly Sioux.  The picture book could have been specifically done with things unique to the Sioux people, their food, their customs, their houses.

Two stars for the good intensions of the authors, for wanting the money for the book to go to a school with a largely Indigenous population.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

5 stars for the book’s text.
2 stars for its psychedelic illustrations.
I still might use it in my classroom to create similar projects.