Moccasin Thunder: American Indian Stories for Today

Because of the way our world is, these may be the first Native American fiction stories young adults will be exposed to. Up to now, they have only heard folk tales in their social studies classes and watched insulting films a la Disney. What impression do we want to give them? I do not believe in censorship or hiding reality from our youth, but do Native people want white children to get the impression (from these stories) that there's little more than this? The stories contain vocabulary you may want to preview first: four letter words, cum, drunks, violence against women, etc. I am a teacher and professor in a very liberal area, where minority literature is valued and often used, but I would think twice about using this book with our students. I would not hesitate to use the story by Linda Hogan called "Crow" and perhaps the one by Bruchac, but the others are indeed raw and paint a different kind of stereotype we probably needn't promote. I'm also confused by the choice of photograph on the cover: it's a blurry picture of a dancer whose head is not visible. When I use Native American literature, I often use literature meant for adults by the same authors, memoir excerpts, poetry and film. I would include Momaday's The Way to Rainy Mountain, stories and poems by Luci Tapahonso, and other brilliant Native writers; not stories about drunk Indians and selling drugs.

Wonderful short stories that truly embrace culture.

I was hopeful to find selections to use in my classroom, but the copy of the book I received is missing one of the short stories AND three of the stories are printed twice and dropped in the middle of other stories. So, it's not clear if stories in the book are complete or not. The stories I could read are excellent, but this collection (at least the copy I received) is not useful. I'm hoping the replacement copy does not have the same issue.

The stories in this collection, all written by Native authors, go a long way towards countering the idea that Native Americans vanished long ago. Fresh and vibrant, you and your teens will enjoy each one.

Sad book for a 9 year old !

This book was highly recommended to me, and I looked forward to reading it. However, I found the stories uneven, and while some of the them were quite good, others were forgettable. I passed it on to a friend to get her reaction, and haven't heard back yet.

I read this first story and found I would not let my child read it. A little too explicit.

This anthology of ten stories by well-respected fiction writers of Native American descent was, when published in 2005 by HarperCollins, intended for a teenage market as the protagonists are of the age. But it talks to adults, too, those who recognise social deprivation and broken families from their own experiences, even if witnessed from the sidelines.The stories embrace the need to nurture hope in the young, the need for self respect, and the steadying intergenerational bonds that can be built between grandparent and child via the diluted old ways and those of the future. No one wears moccasins in this anthology because the stories are universal. People are people.