Jay Miller (2) (1947–)

Summary: This book is about Native Americans and their history. It explains their origins and the rituals that they performed. It explained that there are many many tribes and they all differed greatly. It also explained that the extent of how much the tribes differed depended greatly on where they were located in the country.

Personal Reaction: Wow. This book covered so much. It is an excellent book to use to teach children about Native American History.

Classroom Extensions: 1) I would have the children decorate their own headdress. I would supply them will all the materials that I could obtain like feathers and the like. 2) I would have the children draw a picture of a tee pee. At the end of the day I would staple all of the pictures up in the classroom or hallway.… (more)

Jay Miller’s Native Americans is a simplified survey of Native American tribes, cultures, lifestyles, and traditions. The book is primarily geared towards middle- and upper-elementary readers with its large font size and straightforward, unfettered prose. Miller, who (according to the “About the Author” page) is a member of the Delaware Wolf clan, presents Native Americans without any overt biases – positive or negative. Almost every single page contains a photograph or an illustration of indigenous people and tradition, and Miller does a good job of breaking down complex ideas into easily-digestible explanations.

That being said, the “children’s book” format does suffer from oversimplification at times. For instance, when discussing forced assimilation of Native Americans, Miller writes that “Native Americans were told that their languages were too hard to speak and their religions were false. This made them sad.” This gross reduction of cultural destruction is painfully comical, and does not begin to convey the pain and frustration experienced by thousands and thousands of human beings.

Despite its flaws, Jay Miller’s Native Americans does serve as an effective (albeit highly-simplified) survey of indigenous American cultures. Young readers who might not be ready to face the horrors of genocide will be able to gather some key knowledge from Miller’s book; hopefully, one day this will lead them to further examinations of native culture, tradition, and experience.

Citation:
Miller, Jay. Native Americans. Chicago: Children’s Press, 1993. Print.… (more)