Buffalo Dreamer

Buffalo Dreamer by Violet Duncan is a good book, but also kind of confusing to younger readers.

A young Native American girl named Summer goes to spend her summer vacation with her mother’s family in Canada on the reservation. Along the way, she encounters an old woman and starts to have strange dreams. These dreams are about a girl who went to one of the reservation schools and what happened to her. When an excavation of the graves of native children begins, Summer and Autumn decide to help the elders in their community tell their stories.

The dreams are interesting, but they don’t always make sense. Maybe if she met the buffalo first, I don’t know. It’s a very happy book, and I wish Summer instead of Autumn had done more. I’m not sure why Summer and the old lady shared their dreams. But the book explained a lot about Native American history, and it sparked some really good conversations about reservation schools and the treatment of Native Americans with my mom. I would recommend this book as a way to learn more about Native Americans and their culture.