Vegara's Wilma Mankiller explores the life of the title character. I appreciate that the author handled certain parts of Mankiller's life with gentleness and compassion. That's been the case with many of the people who've been covered in this series.

Wilma Mankiller was a prominent activist for Native American rights. She was even the first woman to serve as the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation! At the end is a section with more detailed information on life, suitable for older readers. Inspirational and educational both, this entire series is great, and full of delightful art to engage younger audiences!

***Many thanks to the Netgalley & Quarto Publishing for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

A solid entry in this series featuring a figure who will be unfamiliar to many. The illustrations are fairly stylized, teh storytelling clear, and the messaging solid.

I had never heard of Wilma Mankiller, until I recently read a book about Gloria Steinem and she was a friend of hers. When I saw this little book, I wanted to know more, so picked it up to share with my grandchildren. Wilma Mankiller was born on a poor farm in Oklahoma, where everyone had to work night and day just to get enough food to survive. The government offered the family money, a home and a better life if they moved to San Francisco. Her family went, but once again they were lied to and Wilma moved to her grandmother's place as she was bullied at school because of her name and heritage. As she got older, she became involved in activism to help her native people, eventually becoming the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation, although women had positions of power in the past. This shows how a young girl's values and convictions can be used as she gets older to help others. It is also a great book showing that women can hold positions of power and help to do the right thing. With all the movement toward reconciliation with the indigenous people, this book shows other ways the native people were harmed and how this woman stood for what was right. There are resources and a brief timeline at the back of the book to encourage further research. I liked the illustrations in this book as they are more realistic than some of the other books in this series. This book didn't seem to hold the interest of my younger two grandchildren, but the 8 year old was interested and he shared what he had learned at school about reconciliation. A great book for school and classroom libraries.

'Wilma Mankiller' by Maria Sanchez Vegara with art by Alexandra Bowman is a biography for young readers in the Little People, Big Dreams series.

As a child, Wilma Mankiller lived on land that her grandfather was forced to move to, but she was surrounded by other Cherokee people. When her moved to San Francisco, things got hard for her. As an adult she became a leader in Native American rights.

These are great biographies because they feature a variety of subjects and are all illustrated differently. I enjoyed learning about Wilma Mankiller in a kid-friendly way.

This series always fascinates me, and this time, like some other times, made me search for Wilma Mankiller on the web. What a life she had!! Definitely not easy, being ousted out of her own home and land, the arduous journey, but she never give up. A role model indeed, because she never let the hardships pinned her down.

5★
“She always told them to follow the ‘Cherokee approach’ to life, by focusing on the good things and thinking that every day is a great day if you want it to be.”

Wilma Mankiller grew up as a poor but proud member of her Cherokee tribe and became a powerful activist for Native Americans.

She was born in 1945 in Oklahoma, long after her people were pushed by European settlers off the lands where they had lived for thousands of years. They were forced to walk to what was called ‘Indian Territory’.

My Goodreads review includes an illustration with the caption:
“The trip was so hard that those lucky enough to make it called it ‘The Trail of Tears.’ ”

Her family lived on the poor farm the government put her grandfather on. It had no water and no electricity.

My Goodreads review includes an illustration with the caption:
“Her mother made clothes for the eleven children from flour sacks to make clothes, and the eleven siblings had to hunt, fish, and pick peanuts to bring food to the table every day.”

The government convinced them to move to San Francisco, far from her friends and home. Of course, at their new school, they were the only Native Americans, and with a name like Mankiller, they were easy targets for bullies.

She grew up, fell in love, and married. Her husband wasn’t happy about her growing interest in community activism. She supported the famous protests about mistreatment of Native Americans.

My Goodreads review includes an illustration with the caption:
“Her life changed when Native American demonstrators took over Alcatraz, an island in San Francisco Bay.”

She became more and more involved, but that resulted in the end of her marriage and her return to Oklahoma.

My Goodreads review includes an illustration with the caption:
“She began taking night courses in college and used all she had learned to organise activities and programs for the Indigenous students in her community.”

She married again and rose to become the first female Principal Chief, which didn’t please some of the tribal members. But the older ones knew it was time for women to share the power again as the Cherokees did in the past.

My Goodreads review includes an illustration with the caption:
“She led the Cherokee Nation for ten years, fighting to protect the environment and working toward an equal relationship with the US government.”

In 1998, she was honoured with the Presidential Medal of Freedom and continued to advocate on behalf of her people all her life.

I wasn’t familiar with her story, but I’m certainly pleased to see more of these people being showcased for children. The history of First Nations Peoples in general has been ignored or downplayed for far too long.

Thanks to NetGalley and Frances Lincoln Children’s Books for the copy for review.

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Wilma Mankiller is one of the most recent additions to the Little People Big Dreams series and is well worthy of a place amongst these amazing people for children to learn about. Wilma was a Cherokee Chief who had an active involvement in shaping the future we have today. I learned many things I didn't know about this amazing woman that I didn't know before reading this. Accompanied by beautiful illustrations and a timeline at the back, this makes an important and worthy addition to this series of biographies for children to become inspired by today.

I love reading the Little People, Big Dreams series! This book in the series shows the life of Wilma Mankiller, who was the first woman to be elected as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.

I enjoyed reading about Wilma as she grew up, as she was powerful, strong and inspiring, and she fought for the rights of her fellow Native Americans.

The book has easy to read text, and bright, colourful graphics, which are lovely to look at.

I highly recommend this book, which I found interesting and eye opening.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

Another good addition to the collection! Before reading I hadn’t heard of her at all but learning about her has made me want to learn even more. She sounds like an actual badass and I love that Cherokee Nation still celebrates! Illustrations were also fabulous as normal.

What an amazing story of a strong powerful woman! We always love these stories but this one was so empowering & a wonderful story (especially for little girls).

This book series is so wonderful. I would highly recommend it for young readers.

This was so interesting,I knew very little about Wilma beyond the bare minimum so this was a great introduction for me as well as the girls, fantastic books, great illustrations, these are Essen reading

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

This was nice but too simple. One of the biggest questions I can see a kid asking is how come her last name is Mankiller. It is never mentioned. As usual this series just brushes over history. They did include some of the more sorrowful things but gave them a happy spin. I like this series, but this is not the best book in the series.

I learned so much about Wilma Mankiller, first female Chief of the Cherokee Nation, in this absorbing bio in the Little People, BIG DREAMS series. After her family moves from the Midwest to San Fran, she begins to see how Native Americans are mistreated and decides to champion their cause. The wonderful illustrations, detailed timeline, and compelling profile give young readers ages 4-7 an intriguing look at this courageous Native American activist. Highly recommended!

This book stands out in the 'Little People Big Dreams' series of picture books for me, as it covers a lesser known figure who was so important to her community and is still celebrated today. Wilma Mankiller's Native American ancestors were forced from their homes and, as head of the Cherokee tribe, she never stopped fighting against this injustice. I found Wilma to be a really inspirational figure, and the depictions of her life influenced some interesting conversations about her life and culture with my younger brother, who I was reading this book with. My only, small, criticism would be that I didn't love the illustrations as much as I have with previous books in the series, but this is only a small personal critique of an otherwise amazing, and so important, book.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an advanced ebook copy of this title!

It gives a good introduction to Mankiller's life and achievements without going into too much detail to encourage those to go away and read up on her
Mankiller was an amazing woman supporting the rights of indigenous people. I love that as well as really, famous people like Elvis, Ghandi, Marylin Monroe, lesser known people are included, as they need to be recognised for their achievements.

Great for all readers, not just for kids.

Another great title to add to the Little People, Big Dreams series. I did not know who Wilma Mankiller was before reading this book, but I have other titles from this series in my classroom library so I wanted to read it before deciding to purchase.

What a great informational book on an amazing woman supporting the rights of indigenous people. I love that she is include with more well known historic figures from this series. Great for all readers, but especially for special education students.

I love this series and really enjoyed this book - a person I was u familiar with but would imagine is one that should be known by name across America. A great story for overcoming the past and rebuilding to include futures for those that follow.
Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read and review. Would highly recommend.

I love the little people, big dreams series! This amazing, informative book about Wilma Mankiller is perfect for adults and kids learning about Native communities, strong female leaders, and diverse voices! I actually didn’t know that much about Mankiller and I really loved learning about her! I also like the accurate choice of words to describe how her family’s land was stolen and how she was essentially abused by the US government. Too often we shy away from bold statements about the government, especially talking to kids, and I’m glad Vegara didn’t.

Little People, BIG DREAMS is one of my favorite series, but I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. Wilma Mankiller is such an inspiring woman and it's really important for children to know about her. However, there were two problems with this book, in my opinion: (1) terrible illustrations (really disproportionate - tiny heads, too long legs, etc) and (2) the picture on one page in particular. If you'll take a look at the page that says that Wilma began taking night courses in college and split up with her husband, you'll see that she is watching some video on her phone while driving a car with her children. She endangers the lives of her own daughters! I don't think that's a good message. I'm horrified by the fact that a picture book teaches little kids that it's okay to watch something on your phone while driving - who cares if someone gets killed.

As an Australian, I had never heard of Wilma Mankiller so I was just as interested in this book as my children were.

It gives a good introduction to Mankiller's life and achievements without going into too much detail which is perfect for little people.

As an adult, it gives enough information for me to infer her challenges and contributions. It's a great springboard for seeking out further information.

The illustrations held my ten month old's attention and the colour palette was very appealing.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me a free digital copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review.