Reviewer Maria Savva : Maria is a lawyer and writer from the UK. She has published four novels and three collections of short stories and she is currently editing her fifth novel. She is also a resident author/moderator for BestsellerBound.com. You can find out more about Maria by following on her WEBSITE.
Author:
Roy Naquin
ISBN: 9781432766276
Publisher: Outskirts Press,
Inc.
I enjoyed reading this book. I think the target
reader age should probably be about 8-12, but even as an adult I was
enthralled by the adventure stories contained within this little
book. The author definitely has a talent for telling stories
and making the characters come to life. The tales in this book
were told to the author by his father and grandfather. The
author is of Native American Indian heritage and this book looks at
life on an island inhabited by a tribe of Indians back in the early
1900s. By reading this book, the reader can learn some of the
history and traditions associated with this particular time in
history and the American Indian way of life.
The book is written
in the first person, narrated by the character Little Bear, a child
of about 10 years old. There are four chapters and each one is
a different adventure. The first one involves Little Bear and
his cousin, Little Buffalo, attempting to catch a large Alligator;
the second tells of how the two boys look for a tree big enough to
make into boats; the third relates Little Bear’s sister’s special
gift of healing, which helps keep the family safe. Finally, the
fourth story is a ghost story about a certain island close by said to
be inhabited only by the dead. All the stories are fun to read,
and in my opinion, are the types of stories older children would
enjoy reading. I think the stories would appeal to a child’s
imagination and sense of curiosity.
The author does well in this
book to encapsulate within the tales many different aspects of
American Indian culture. It is a bit of a history book in a
way, as it refers to how the tribe lived, their beliefs, and the
types of problems they faced.
A quick and entertaining read.