This Native American folklore is based on a woman who becomes a legend within her tribe and unites them with unity with the Buffalo. The style of the book is told for readers to understand in a modern day, although, at the bottom of each page are symbols representing what the paragraph is saying. This must have been the Native Americans language during the setting of the book. The theme of the book is union. ( )

Buffalo dance tells the story of why the Blackfoot tribe have a bond with the buffalos. During this time the Blackfoot tribe were starving and needed some buffalo to have food and clothes, but the buffalo were not being tricked by the trap that the tribe has created. So one day a young Blackfoot woman made a promise that if some of the buffalo would sacrifice themselves that she would promise to marry one of them. She had to keep her promise so off she went with the buffalo. The father of the young girl went looking for her and the buffalo chief killed her father, but the buffalo chief made a deal with the girl that if she could revive her father he would set her and her father free. The young girl revived her father but before they left the buffalo chief asked for them to do a favor which is known as the buffalo dance. This is a good book to incorporate with a social studies when you are introducing native americans to a class. ( )

Personal Response:
I like how this story explains the origin of a traditional dance and interweaves magic, nature and life lessons into a poetic presentation.

Curricular Connections:
I would use this tale as part of a storytime on native american legends/animal stories. ( )