Stealing Little Moon: The Legacy of the American Indian Boarding Schools (Scholastic Focus) - by Dan Sasuweh Jones (Hardcover)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

"Stealing Little Moon is both a moving family saga and an expertly told true story that all Americans should know." --Steve Sheinkin, New York Times bestselling author of Bomb and Undefeated

Scholastic Focus is the premier home of thoroughly researched, beautifully written, and thoughtfully designed works of narrative nonfiction aimed at middle grade and young adult readers. These books help readers learn about the world in which they live and develop their critical thinking skills so that they may become dynamic citizens who are able to analyze and understand our past, participate in essential discussions about our present, and work to grow and build our future.

Little Moon There Are No Stars Tonight was four years old when armed federal agents showed up at her home and took her from her family. Under the authority of the government, she was sent away to a boarding school specifically created to strip her of her Ponca culture and teach her the ways of white society. Little Moon was one of thousands of Indigenous children forced to attend these schools across America and give up everything they'd ever known: family, friends, toys, clothing, food, customs, even their language. She would be the first of four generations of her family who would go to the Chilocco Indian Agricultural School.

Dan SaSuWeh Jones chronicles his family's time at Chilocco--starting with his grandmother Little Moon's arrival when the school first opened and ending with him working on the maintenance crew when the school shut down nearly one hundred years later. Together with the voices of students from other schools, both those who died and those who survived, Dan brings to light the lasting legacy of the boarding school era.

Part American history, part family history, Stealing Little Moon is a powerful look at the miseducation and the mistreatment of Indigenous kids, while celebrating their strength, resiliency, and courage--and the ultimate failure of the United States government to erase them.

Review Quotes

Prasie for Stealing Little Moon: The Legacy of the American Indian Boarding Schools

Winner of the Orbis Pictus Award

A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year

A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year

"Stealing Little Moon is both a moving family saga and an expertly told true story that all Americans should know." --Steve Sheinkin, New York Times bestselling author of Bomb and Undefeated

★ "Detailed with emotional sympathy inherent in the retelling from a family's lineage, this narrative nonfiction title pays homage and remembrance to those harmed and intended to be forgotten." -- School Library Journal, starred review

★ "A timely, heartbreaking, and ultimately hopeful memoir that powerfully illustrates the resilience and enduring spirit of the Native American people." -- Booklist, starred review

★ "Via urgent, intimate-feeling first-person prose, Jones, Little Moon's grandson, chronicles the history of Chilocco from its opening in 1884 to its closure in 1980. Through extensive research and interviews with key figures, the author details the goal of "all residential boarding schools"("Kill the Indian in him, and save the man"), their strict rules, and the inhumane and traumatic conditions under which the children lived. Quotes and stories from Chilocco survivors--as well as relevant personal experiences from his childhood that Jones threads throughout--unravel heartbreaking situations and further deepen the text's visceral and empathetic depiction of this horrific chapter in U.S. history." --Publishers Weekly, starred review

★ "In this thoughtful, rich examination of intergenerational trauma, author Jones of the Ponca Nation in Oklahoma follows four generations of his family who attended -- forcibly or voluntarily -- the Chilocco Indian Agricultural School . . . There is a careful balance here of historical context and intimate family history, and Jones must walk a fine line in portraying both. Some of his family members excelled at and even enjoyed some amount of their education (Chilocco was considered one of the less severe schools), but their success in no way redeems or negates the overall systemic cruelty. " --Bulletin of the Center for Children's Book, starred review

"Jones deftly mixes his family history with larger Indigenous history. The varied perspectives through the years add nuance, while the book acknowledges the atrocities of the American Indian boarding schools throughout. Middle-grade and middle-school readers will gain a deeper insight into Indigenous history through this family account." --Horn Book

"Jones' truth-telling and the family experiences he weaves throughout will surely ignite a fire deep within the souls of Native youth today." -- Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Living Ghosts and Mischievous Monsters: Chilling American Indian Stories

BCCB Blue Ribbon Nonfiction Book Award

Oklahoma Book Award Winner: Young Adult

Kirkus Reviews Best Middle-Grade Anthologies of 2021

New York Public Library's Best Books for Kids List selection

★ "Valuable both for its broad range and shivery appeal." -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★ "As awesome as these stories are, what makes this book a real treasure is the context that Jones provides for each tale... It is an intimate and enriching reading experience that will be a boon to library shelves." -- Booklist, starred review

"Full of alarming phenomena -- flying heads, skeletons that leave bloody footprints, flesh-eating vampire babies -- but the telling is done in such a way that we experience the stories as eerie anecdotes and folktales rather than as disturbers of our ease... With its intermittent chills, this collection will leave readers ages 8-12 with a strong sense of the supernatural as perceived and recalled in Native American communities." -- Wall Street Journal

"This crowd-pleasing anthology... [is] delivered without macabre flourish but packing a dramatic wallop." -- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"A frightening ride via Native American storytelling... add to your library for a diverse cultural representation of scary stories." -- School Library Journal

"The narrators, Wes Studi and DeLanni Studi, both members of the Cherokee Nation... imbue their delivery with the appropriate amount of tension, suspense, and excitement, and their steady, well-paced voices will make listeners feel as if they are sitting around a fire with master storytellers... A great recommendation for young listeners who appreciate legends and myths and are looking for something that will send shivers up their spines." -- Booklist, audio review

"Illustrated with pen-and-ink illustrations, the book has the distinction of added to the coterie of nightmares accessible to your children. They'll love it... Spine-chilling and horrific by turns, here's the book to hand to the kid looking for some scares and thrills." -- School Library Journal's A Fuse 8 Production

About the Author

Dan SaSuWeh Jones is the critically acclaimed author of Stealing Little Moon: The Legacy of the American Indian Boarding Schools and Living Ghosts and Mischievous Monsters: Chilling American Indian Stories, and was a storyteller and consultant for National Geographic Encyclopedia of the American Indian. A former Chairman of the Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma and former member of the Producers Guild of America, he is also a filmmaker who has produced work for Sesame Street, NBC, TBS, and other national and international networks. He worked as an honorary Imagineer and consultant for the Walt Disney Company's Disney America theme park and as a field producer for the television miniseries 500 Nations, produced by Kevin Costner. As a bronze sculptor, he was a finalist in the competition for the American Indian Veterans Memorial at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC. He holds a seat in the House of Warriors, a traditional Ponca Warrior Society.