Judy R. Smith's Yellowbird was the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas First Book Award recipient. David Lynn, editor of the prestigious Kenyon Review notes, "Yellowbird is a marvelous achievement--full of wit, invention, and emotional power. There is a wildness of spirit here and a searing honesty. I was entirely caught up while reading Yellowbird and only reluctantly came to the end." University of Oklahoma Professor of English and Native American Studies, Geary Hobson, writes, "Have you ever found yourself carefully scrutinizing mid-19th Century daguerreotypes--as if halfway expecting the cut of Prince Albert topcoats and the stylish flair of ribbon clusters of the clothing of the well-dressed fathers and mothers and their children will somehow reveal what the faces aren't offering, what they can't offer? Yellowbird, with its several strands of intricately woven narratives of a past century's voices, is just such a similar act, one in which the reader is not only rewarded with a deeper and clearer understanding of the people in that olden day, but also of our own century and its multi-faceted assemblage of voices and faces." Yellowbird is an important collection, essential for readers of Native American Studies, fiction, and women's studies.