Red Dove, Listen to the Wind

A very visual tale about a 13 year old girl named Red Dove who has to choose between leaving her family on a reservation to seek a better life for herself and live her wish to go to school or stay and watch them go through difficulties to make ends meet.

She's of mixed heritage, and has such a curiosity for life and is sad to leave her family but eager to get going on her quest.

There are many different characters in this book and the details and visual are plentiful. There's a quick yet relaxed pace in the book and in the creation of all the characters. Red Dove Listen to the Wind is engrossing, detailed sad humbling and eyeopening.

I'm very interested in different cultures and think so many people of all generations could learn a lot from this book.

Thanks to Sonia Antaki, Andrew Bosley and publisher for my ARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. 4 stars as the story is excellent as are the beautiful illustrations. I'd love more of those..

Great historical fiction that will resonate with young readers. The courage of Red Dove is inspiring!

*Book received through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

This was a book that hit a lot of hight points on my list. It's diverse, it's culturally accurate, it's historically accurate, and it's been reviewed by sensitivity readers who actually know what to look for. It's age-appropriate for the juvenile/middle grade fiction category and is also written really well. The illustrations were also very nice and added to the story in such a positive way.

3.75
This book was a little slow for me and a little hard to get into. But I'm so glad I did and got to read about such a strong little girl who is very much a hero in her own right. I can see this becoming a classroom read and it's story is something that can be discussed for hours on end. The novel has such a good balence of culture and history, in that events like this did occur and it is important for people to read stories from different points of view. It's a novel that can make young readers think and form opinions and I hope this book gets the recognition it deserves.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but I enjoyed reading this. An interesting story with fun characters. Well written.

Red Dove, Listen to the Wind by Sonia Antaki is the story about a young Lakota girl sent to live at a boarding school far from her home. At the school she is forbidden to practice her way of life in order to someday assimilate into society. [SPOILER ALERT] Refusing to conform, Red Dove hesitantly relies on a pouch given by her grandfather. With the pouch she seems to take on a sort of a super power of empathy and the ability to understand other languages. In turn, the pouch when touched by someone else can also bring about a certain emotional reaction or vision. Refusing to abandon her beliefs Red Dove uses her experience from the boarding school and the tragedy at Wounded Knee to help others. With the help of her grandfather she realizes that the most ordinary gifts she possesses is what will give her courage and strength to help others find happiness.

Although a historical fiction with some elements of fantasy, the story is also about adversity-no matter your skin color, adventure, belonging and holding on to identity.

Thank you to One Elm Books and Netgalley, for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A great story of believing in one's self and staying true to one's self. A great read! Perfect for readers looking for a strong, brave female character as well as for readers looking for historical fiction.

I found this an interesting and touching read.
I think it would be lovely for children.
I did find the Native Names a little confusing.
I voluntarily read and reviewed this book, all thoughts a opinions are my own.

An ambitious and beautifully organized and collected narrative and images to accompany them. A must for young children and young children's classrooms.

Red Dove is a Lakota girl living in the year 1890. She lives with her family – mother, grandfather, and brother. They don’t live on a reservation, but are visited by traders and other people. One day, a man and woman visit, and the woman insists that Red Dove must go to school. Red Dove is given a choice, which is more than many other Lakota children in that era got.

During this time period, many children were taken from their families and sent to boarding schools, some never to see their families again. At the boarding schools, their culture was taken, they were forbidden to speak their language, and were punished if they did. It was a traumatic experience for those children and has had consequences that are still being felt by their descendants today.

In Red Dove’s case, she decides to go, along with her brother. The next time the woman comes by, Red Dove and her brother ride with her to the school, where they are left with the nuns. Before she leaves her family, Red Dove is given a special pouch by her grandfather. She keeps it with her throughout the boarding school experience and it helps her understand people, even when they speak to her in English, which she is just learning. The pouch gives her a special way to understand other people and she uses it to help other kids at the school. Some of the nuns are not kind to the children, and one is downright cruel. This one especially seems to have it in for Red Dove. One of the nuns is very nice to the kids, but the cruel one ends up sending her away.

Red Dove knows that she is half white and half Lakota, but she does not know her white father. This proves to be a big problem for her.

If you know your history, you know what happened at the Massacre at Wounded Knee Creek in 1890. That horrific event is told in this book. Red Dove is there at the school when wounded people are brought in for help. She learns that some members of her family were there. What will she decide to do?

This book is a great historical novel that tells of an event that is often ignored by modern history books. The story is written from the perspective of a Lakota child who is growing up during this most turbulent time. The voice of Red Dove is that of a strong female lead character. She is scared, but she is also brave enough to face the challenge of leaving home and going into the entirely new and unknown situation at the boarding school. She faces every challenge set before her and she keeps her dignity. As a role model, Red Dove is wonderful.

The book also gives a good history lesson and describes an extremely painful time in history. Many people were massacred at Wounded Knee Creek and this event has far-reaching consequences for everyone. Women, children, and elders were all killed in the massacre. To this day, their descendants still live with the memories and the losses suffered that day. Having a story set in that time period offers a chance for modern readers to learn about this pivotal event and to understand how it affected so many.

The ending of the story was well-done and all loose ends are taken care of. But, the reader also has things to think about. The story will open many points for classroom discussion. As such, this would make a great novel to use as a class reading assignment. There is a lot of potential for some meaningful discussions based on this story and the events it portrays.

As a stand-alone novel, it is also just a great read. It’s a powerful story with a good message and plenty of historical facts. I highly recommend this novel.

Red Dove, Listen to the Wind is a lyrical but tough book to digest because of the topic it covers. A half-white/half Lakota girl and her brother are forced to attend school to be stripped of their way of life and assimilated into “proper” American children. They’re separated upon reaching the school, Red Dove with the nuns and other young girls, and her brother with the priests. They are expected to only speak English, dress as Americans, pray to the Christian God, and their hair must be cut to the shoulders, just to name a few of the eye-opening rules forced on the children.

It’s disgusting how our ancestors treated the Native Americans and though this book was beautifully written, it was really hard to read the passages where Red Dove and other Native Americans were subjected to abuse because of her skin color and heritage. On the contrary, I loved how some white characters were redeemed at the end, and the author made sure to explain their journey and why they changed.

The only con which dropped my rating was how I didn’t care for the magically pouch that Red Dove’s grandfather gave her. The pouch gave her visions and let her communicate with her grandfather despite the miles between them. I wish it had been left out so the story seemed more real.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this book.

A young girl of mixed race (mother is Native American, father is white) must leave her home on the reservation and work through the process of discovering who she is, and where she fits in the world.
This book is well written, and the story moves consistently forward. The characters are developed fully, so that you feel a connection to them even if you cannot necessarily relate to the specific circumstances. It is an engrossing story, and I felt immersed in the narrative. After reading, I passed this book along to my 10 year old daughter. I think it is important for children to read stories like this, to understand how different times affected people, and how those people worked through their difficulties.

Thank you to NetGalley for the free advance copy in return for my honest review.

TW: Racism towards indigenous/First Nations people, light descriptions of genocide and violence, abuse of children

Disclaimer #1: I received a copy of this novel from One Elm Books in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to them and to the author for providing the copy.

Disclaimer #2: I am not of indigenous/First Nations descent so I cannot speak fully to the representation. This is not an #ownvoices book, but the author did reach out to the community for sensitivity readings.

The art style, including the cover, is so delightful! It's cute and light-hearted, despite the rather heavy material inside. I've consumed books, movies and TV shows about indigenous and First Nations people for a pretty long time; I'm not sure why I'm drawn to them when the history of colonization always puts me in a bad mood. I was curious about a more juvenile take on the subject, which was why I requested for this book.

Plot and Writing

We follow Red Dove, a rambunctious and curious mixed race child who lives with her mother, Falling Bird, and brother, Walks Alone, as they live among their Lakota people, until she is forced to go to a residential school run. Red Dove then must use everything she has, including a magical pouch gifted by her grandfather that grants her the ability to understand any language and hear people's thoughts, to escape her predicaments, find her family and discover what her destiny is. This is both a coming-of-age story and historical look at some of the most egregious moments in the treatment of First Nations people, from the residential schools to the Wounded Knee genocide. It moved around from place to place and never felt lagging or boring. It's hard to say that I enjoyed the

The writing is simple and easy, perfect for younger audiences, making this a pretty quick read. That being said, it was engaging and kept you interested in what was going to happen next!

Characters

Red Dove was a fun character to follow! She didn't shy away from what she wanted and always tried to appease her bottomless curiosity regardless of what people said to her. She was also written believably as a kid; not too weirdly wise and not too annoyingly naive. The way she matures thanks to her experiences, and recognizing the different kinds of violence against her people, was satisfying and realistic. Walks Alone, her brother, at times bothered me but their strong love for each other and their fear of the future made him more sympathetic. I worried about him alongside Red Dove! I wished we'd seen more depth of character from her Grandfather, who essentially was just relegated to 'wise old Native man'. I thought we'd also get more from her mother but Falling Bird wasn't really there much. Still, it was well understood that the elders in Red Dove's life cared for her and didn't want to have to send her away but knew she was destined to do great things.

I appreciated how the author had a good range of characters, and didn't split up the good guys from the bad guys. There were 'good guys' who did and said questionable things like Jerusha and there are 'bad guys' who have inklings of goodness like Red Dove's father.

Conclusion

I found Red Dove, Listen to the Wind to be a fantastically magical book with a strong heroine! It does a great job explaining the plight of the indigenous people in that time period at a child's level of understanding.

My Rating: 3.5/5

Red Dove is 13 years old, she sees that times are changing and she must go to the white man's world to learn their ways, while staying true to her upbringing.

A coming of age tale about a girl who walks the lines between two worlds, that of her mother or that of her white father. She goes to an Indian school to learn the ways of the white people, struggling to stay true to herself.

I liked the perspective of this book and how it showed how a child going through this experience might have felt and reacted to such a situation. Relevant today, yet a historical read.

Red Dove, Listen to the Wind by Sonia Antaki is a needed middle grade novel about the ways Native Americans are treated. It shows the 13 year old's perspective of how things unfold, and her confusion as she strives to obey her ancestors and family, but is pulled away from her heritage.

The novel follows Red Dove's story as she is sent to a Catholic school for girls. She's separated from her brother and she's left to figure out the new world by herself. She has help along the way, but the main idea is that she always has the help of her ancestors, just like her grandfather said.

There are a lot of native names and those are confusing for one who's not used to them, not to mention all the objects that carry so much power and meaning for them. The writing is also at times confusing, and so is the telling of the fights and clashes between the whites and the natives.

However, for a Native American and for a white person this is a wonderful step of seeing things from a different perspective than we're used to. It's also a great way for young people of other cultures than American/ European to see themselves represented in literature.

Red Dove, Listen to the Wind is a story about a mixed Native American girl, named Red Dove, who is forced to face the reality of life early in her life. This is a story aimed for younger students, middle school perhaps, as it touches upon several important tropes: belonging, self-discovery, societal conformity vs non-conformity, family heritage, and independence. It is a beautiful story, and the few pictures present add to the “realness” of the characters. I also appreciate the diversity of the characters as well as the historical significance. Thank you NetGalley and One Elm Books for this eARC. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I thought Red Dove, Listen to the Wind was a pretty good middle grade read. I give it four and a half stars.

Red Dove, Listen to the Wind
by Sonia Antaki

One Elm Books, an imprint of Red Chair Press

One Elm Books

Children's Fiction , Middle Grade

Pub Date 15 Oct 2019


I am reviewing a copy of Red Dove, Listen to the Wind through One Elm Books and Netgalley:



Red Dove is s thirteen year old Lakota Child Who was abandoned by her white Father. She faces another lean winter with her Lakota Family on the Great Plains! Red Dove is willful and proud.


Red Dove finds herself faced with an impossible choice either leave her people to live in the white world, or stay with the Lakota and watch them starve to death.


Soon Red Dove finds herself on a journey to find her place in the world and learns that greatest power comes from within.



I give Red Dove, Listen to the Wind five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

Red Dove, Listen to the Wind follows a courageous and feisty young Lakota girl on a journey to find where she belongs. As the daughter of a white man and Lakota mother, she often feels as though she doesn't belong with her Native American family. When Red Dove and her brother, Walks Alone, are sent to school, her journey to finding her place and helping her people begins.

This was a quick read. It was well plotted with developed characters. The author had me invested in Red Dove's journey and kept me reading. I thought that the sensitive topic of how white settlers treated the Native Americans was approached in a way that was suitable for the audience. This book would be a great addition to any library serving upper elementary and middle school children.

Red Dove is a 11yo chld, half indian half white. She lives with brother WalkAlone, mother and Grandfather in an indian village.
A day, a woman come to the village, says the children must to go to school.. and then all changed. Anger, war, battles start.
This is a true nice story. what happen to Indians is awful. all traditions, places, culture, people must be respected.

The story of Red Dove is written simply and plainly and the story could be accessed by any age, with younger readers easily consuming the story if it were to be read aloud to them and older readers to read it for themselves.

It is a brief touch upon Native American magic and tradition mixed with the White People trying to make them “civilised”. As always it reminds me of the scene in Pocahontas before she sings colours of the wind and says “and still I cannot see, how the savage one is me” whilst handing him back his gun.

Red Dove is mixed race, Native American and White and was raised as Native American but feels like she doesn’t quite belong though when she is forced to go to the school run by the nuns, they don’t accept her either so as the story goes on, she, with the help of her grandfather’s spirit tries to make others see and feel the pain that they are causing and help them to realise that it isn’t something they want to be doing. That the violence should stop.

Overall, I’d aim it at age 10+ years old though accessible for all and it gets 4 stars,

What I really liked about this book is that it told a story of the history that some American Indians likely experienced in the late 1800s and does not shy away from showing how wrong the government and military of the day treated people. This is an important story that we need to make sure everyone knows.

I wasn't as enamored with the magical elements. I believe that it is key for people to try to experience how the actions of the majority impact the minority, even today, and the writer chose to use magic to make this happen, nearly in real time. It made for a tidy plot and forced characters (white characters) to act in ways they probably never would have. There is some instruction that can occur from this, but I wonder if this will feed into some stereotypes about stories with Indigenous peoples that involve mystical, mythical qualities, and also take away from the reality of the terrible situations portrayed. This book would be best if it was discussed with students rather than handed to them.

I am also a little leery these days of books portraying cultures from other writers. It looks like sensitivity readers were used here an that is good. I would rather see an ownvoices book, and will need to do more research on the sensitivity readers used.

Once I have though, I am likely to purchase this book for my school and use it to create dialogue with students.

Thirteen-year-old Red Dove lives with her mother and brother and Lakota tribe in the Dakota Territory. Abandoned by her white father, Red Dove struggles to help her family survive. Walks Alone, her older brother, constantly reminds her of her place in the family and the tribe. Red Dove must not hunt, must not eat plums, and must not break a hundred other rules that govern the way of the people.

Falling Bird, Red Dove’s mother, tries to help her understand that the rules help everyone live in balance. Red Dove fears that her need to question traditions stems from her white heritage. Fitting in, even after living her entire life with the tribe, doesn’t come easy. Her grey eyes and lighter skin don’t help.

When white settlers come to their village and insist that all the children leave for the white man’s school, Red Dove has no desire to leave for the white man’s school, but it becomes clear that if the tribe that sending its children away will be the only way the white soldiers will help feed the tribe over the winter.

Red Dove’s grandfather, a medicine man, assures her that one day she will use her gifts to help her people. Even if it means traveling far away to the school.

Once at the school, Red Dove wonders how her grandfather’s prophecy could ever come true. Especially in a place where no one listens and no one cares.

Antaki tells Red Dove’s story with sensitivity and accuracy. Younger readers may struggle with the truths about the boarding schools for Native Americans and the treatment of Natives during this time period (1880s). Red Dove’s quest for truth and her place in the world keep the book from becoming maudlin or a heavy-handed litany of wrongs against Native Americans.

Students will want to explore further and draw their own conclusions about the settlement of the American West.

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A very moving middle-grade book. You will not want to put down once you are near 50% done.

Red Dove is geared to middle-grade readers but I find it may be difficult for them to read and understand on their own. It speaks of the horrible way our ancestors treated the Indians as we populated the country by moving West. Some kids may find the ruthless killing discussed a trigger for harsh emotions.

I would love to see this incorporated in a 5th-grade classroom using many of the subjects. History (Sitting Bull and Custer), Reading, Science (the herbs Indians relied on), Art and Music. There is much to be learned from this book and lessons we can apply today on how to treat others fairly.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher, One Elm, through NetGalley. Any and all opinions expressed in the above review are entirely my own.

My Review: I grew up reading Kenneth Thomasma's books and this one gave me very similar vibes with the synopsis. I am glad I did get the opportunity to read it. While this is a middle grade book and a lot of the violence has been toned down, it still gives a good look at the harsh realities of the time. Red Dove and her family, had some difficult decisions to make, to survive by leaving their ways behind and trusting people who were not entirely trustworthy or stick with their heritage but risk starving and being persecuted. I did appreciate the portrayal of not only those who are following orders and strongly agree with them, but also those who think they are helping but were innocently blind to the damage that was being caused. I enjoyed seeing how the characters developed throughout the story.



My Rating: This was a beautiful but difficult book to read, it shows us some of the truly ugly past of our nation. With that said it is an important story to read and the way the multiple and polar opposite views are presented make for great conversation starters with young readers. I give it a rating of Four Paws.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sonia Antaki, and One Elm Books (an imprint of Red Chair Press) for the opportunity to read Red Dove, Listen to the Wind in exchange for an honest review.

My initial interest in this book comes from my own heritage. I am 1/8 Paiute-Shoshone (yeah, yeah, 1/8 isn't much), but it is that 1/8, and growing up in a heavily populated Paiute area, that developed my interest in Native American culture, history, and mythology. I could tell from the description that this would definitely be a fantastic book that would resonate with the struggles that Native Americans face in the early history of the United States, as well as with conflicts still occurring today.

Red Dove is of the Lakota, a Native American tribe that migrates around the Great Plains area of the U.S. Born to a white father and Lakota mother, Red Dove has never quite fit in among either world. She is ridiculed by her fellow Lakota people for her light-colored eyes, yet her heritage and knowledge is that of the Lakota. She is even a better hunter than her brother, Walks Alone, but women aren't hunters! When she is taken to a school to learn the language and ways of the wasichu (white man) to help feed her family and save them from the harsh winter, she experiences the first-hand racism that the wasichu present toward Red Dove's people. Of course, not all wasichu are like that.

Her experience with the nuns of the school, imposing Christian ways on Red Dove as well as forbidding her from speaking her language or divulging in her cultural norms, is less than human. This event in the novel reflects what has happened to most Native American tribes across the country: a loss of their tradition and language because of this forceful "education."

Red Dove has a special pouch that is invisible to those who are "unworthy" of its power. It allows her to understand English and see/share visions and experiences with others. With the pouch, she is able to show some of the white men and nuns, among others, the pain that they have caused or are causing the Lakota people. 

When a massacre somehow seems necessary and many of Red Dove's people are killed and wiped out, the morality behind this reflection of true events really hits the pathos with the reader.

I love how educational this book is. It's authentic to the Lakota history and is a great way to share these experiences with young readers today who may not know or understand this aspect of American history. There is also a Lakota dictionary in the back of the book that defines the many Lakota words used throughout the novel. A quick, easy, serious but fun read that I would recommend bringing into the classroom!

Thirteen year old Red Dove lives in interesting times for the Lakota people. Shortly after the Battle of the Greasy Grass (Battle of Little Big Horn), her people have fallen on hard times. Food has become scarce, and the Lakota have learned that they cannot trust the people who have settled on their lands to live peacefully.

In a moment of weakness, Red Dove's mother agrees to send her children to a local Catholic school, hoping that the children will at least find regular meals there. Red Dove's grandfather hopes that she will also learn the ways of the Wasichu, to better bridge the gap between her people and these strangers. The journey will be so much harder than any of them know.

Though I've read a fair amount of middle grade fiction, Red Dove, Listen to the Wind is a hard one for me to grasp. I think it's the kind of book that would be a favorite of a reader of the right age. Red Dove, like Meg Murry before her, is a difficult girl, chafing against two cultures that both would rather she wasn't so active or assertive. Coming to this as an adult, and as someone with a pretty good idea of what's ahead for her people, Red Dove comes across as a bit of a brat. She pushes where she shouldn't, choosing to hunt though the women of her tribe do not hunt. But, if I step back, I can see that she's not wrong: Red Dove makes choices that feel real for a girl her age in the challenge times she lives in. If she can hunt better than her brother, isn't it better that she does so? Who would choose hunger over tradition? (Hunger actually drives a few of her poor choices, which: girl, same.)

Red Dove's story is heart-breaking. The cruelty of the events she lives through prompted me to set the book aside a number of times. But the gentle magic of the book balances some of the harder elements.

I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book via NetGalley in order to facilitate this review.

This book hits home on how life was for American Indians as Anglos started lording over them. It's hard to read about Red Dove being forced to attend school in exchange for food, but it is important for readers to know the truth of the lengths of the unkindness that white people took to make life hard for American Indians.