NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY, CULTURE AND SPIRITUALITY IN MARY POPE OSBORNE’S CHILDREN’S BOOK, BUFFALO BEFORE BREAKFAST
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https://doi.org/10.25159/0027-2639/354Keywords:
Mary Pope Osborne, Buffalo before breakfast, Lakota, White Buffalo WomanAbstract
Mary Pope Osborne is a prominent contemporary children’s book author, best- known for her Magic tree house series. She creates an imaginary world in which the books in the magic tree house literally transport her child protagonists, Jack and Annie, to other times and places. Osborne’s books are written simply so that young readers can follow a story that engages them, as they learn about diverse cultures, history and science. In Buffalo before breakfast (1999), the eighteenth book in the Magic tree house series, Jack and Annie travel to a Lakota camp on the Great Plains of North America in the 1800s, before the arrival of white prospectors, settlers and soldiers. By recreating the life of a traditional Lakota camp, Osborne gives readers a version of Native American history that has been silenced and marginalised. This article will examine her representation of Lakota history, culture and spirituality in Osborne’s Buffalo before breakfast, and cite research to support the story she tells.
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References
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Accepted 2016-04-16
Published 2016-10-26
