The Book of Indians

A first-class Holling book, and as always, full of good information. Case in point: when I first read this book in 1975 I decided to follow he woodland-Indians in avoiding salt to reduce mosquito-attacks. That was good information, confirmed by thirty-seven years' subsequent experience. The book is structured as set of four studies in children of the woodland, the plains, the Southwest, and the Pacific coast. Long before most writers (for children or adults) were worried about this, the Hollings were, so-to-put, practicing affirmative action, by giving equal prominence to girls and boys, and by including the story of a boy who is nominally disabled, but tremendously resourceful, and useful to his people. Includes brief glossary.

I didn't know this book or author when I was a child. I only found this book one night last week on a sidewalk trash pile at the building next door in a bag of discarded books waiting to be picked up the next morning. I took the discard bag home to look for interesting titles, and this was the only one that seemed worth keeping, mainly because of its age, from 1935. It was slightly water damaged, and the cover needed cleaning. I let the book dry for a couple of days while I researched it online. I'm so glad I found and kept the book, because I've found nothing but good reviews, but also disappointed that someone put it in the trash without a thought of seeing if anyone else would want it first. But now I can add this gem to my show more collection, and finally read it and appreciate the physical aesthetics of the book, the typeface, illustrations, and endpaper maps, as a now 62-year-old kid at heart! :-D show less