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The Book of Indians
used - good
125 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1935
14 people are currently reading
160 people want to read
About the author
Holling Clancy Holling
24 books74 followersBorn in Jackson County, Michigan, in 1900, Holling Clancy Holling graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1923. He then worked in a taxidermy department of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and spent time working in anthropology under Dr. Ralph Linton.
During this period, he married Lucille Webster, and within a year of their marriage accepted a position as art instructor on the first University World Cruise, sponsored by New York University. For many years, Holling C. Holling dedicated much of his time and interest to making books for children. Much of the material he used was known to him first hand, and his wife, Lucille, worked with him on many of the illustrations.
Sometimes listed as Holling C. Holling
During this period, he married Lucille Webster, and within a year of their marriage accepted a position as art instructor on the first University World Cruise, sponsored by New York University. For many years, Holling C. Holling dedicated much of his time and interest to making books for children. Much of the material he used was known to him first hand, and his wife, Lucille, worked with him on many of the illustrations.
Sometimes listed as Holling C. Holling
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
July 8, 2014
I’ve eagerly anticipated reviewing The Book of Indians. But first I had to buy the book ($12, used, through Amazon). And read it, pushing aside other commitments. And doing some background investigation.
It’s necessary to begin by repeating that Holling and his wife Lucille were, among all their other qualities, authentic writers, illustrators, naturalists and historians. After marrying in 1925, they traveled extensively throughout the Southwest. (Holling’s first exposure had been a year-long stay in New Mexico after graduating college in 1923.)
Their work reflected their knowledge, as described by Hazel Gibb Hinman in her Master’s thesis in 1958. She reports that in 1929, they stayed at the Nine Quarter Circle guest ranch northwest of Yellowstone Park, helping design the buildings. Traveling that winter up to Alberta, Canada, they took a tepee for camping. (Going to search for tent poles, they came back to find tribeswomen had already set up their tent.) After returning to the ranch to finish their work, they went on to Lubbock, Texas, to paint murals. Then it was out to California, sketching and writing, with their Coleman stove, tent and camping equipment. Never staying overlong in one place, they drove back to Phoenix at rodeo time where they drew and painted, selling their work to finance their travels. (Ms. Hinman notes that in 1934 Holling demonstrated his fire-making skills at a luncheon lecture, starting a fire with two sticks in just seven minutes and so impressing a club member that he asked Holling to design his restaurant.)
That was just the winter of 1929, and all the while Holling and Lucille were making notes and sketches for two collaborative landmark books, The Book of Indians, (published in 1935 by Platt & Munk) and The Book of Cowboys (published a year later).
The Book of Indians attempts a grand perspective on North American tribes people in 13 chapters: An introduction into the “types of Indians living in different kinds of country,” four chapters about the home life of children and eight chapters relating their adventures. The book is essentially divided geographically among People of the Forests and Lakes, the Plains, the Deserts and Mesas, and the Rivers and the Seas
There are six beautiful colored illustrations in the plein-art style of the Southwest, plus many, many sidebar illustrations of children, their homes, tools and weapons, graphic artwork, and animals. The sepia pen-and-ink style drawings make a reader linger and digest each detail of the small pictures in the margins.
A critical element of this children’s book is the cultural and historical distinctions made by the Hollings. The Native American nations were as different as the European countries, and this is explained in the first chapter. Most dramatically, the Plains Indians changed radically from planters to hunters when horses were introduced in the 1600s. The horse might well have been the cultural equivalent of the Industrial Revolution in Europe.
I believe we can forgive someone writing in the 1930s about misconceptions that today would be viewed as culturally suspect. Columbus did not think he had arrived in India. (The Spanish term might originally have been hijos in Dios—children of God.) And when a tribes person died it’s insensitive to say “He went to the Happy Hunting Ground.” But these lapses are rare in comparison to the facts that abound: how teepees are constructed and how they evolved, tool-making, housing adapted to the environment, and plant life that forms lifestyles. Happily, the Hollings provide a glossary of 31 words any pre-teen child should be familiar with.
The Book of Indians is first and foremost educational — and of particular value to home-schooled children. The writing is generally expository, with touches of drama to make the lesson more amiable. The narratives of the children, who are the main characters driving each of the geographical sections, are somewhat two-dimensional. In this, Holling’s narrative ability developed tremendously in the decade until Paddle-to-the-Sea was published. However, the Indian children’s plotting and personalities do grow toward the end when Raven joins the whale hunt and almost drowns (pp. 109-110) and when the slave child Cedar Bough negotiates her freedom by finding a great cache of copper (pp. 115-118).
The success of Holling’s writing also lies in its simplicity. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, Holling's Paddle-to-the-Sea has a Fog Index of 6.9, meaning 91% of everyday words we use are more difficult to read. His Flesch Reading Index score is 75.2, meaning 90% of other vocabulary is harder. (A Flesch score of 90-100 means the writing is understood by an average 11-year-old.) And no one complains because something is too simple. Or because it lacks entertainment. So generations return to Holling Clancy Holling’s remarkable writing — and his wife’s collaborative illustration — year after year.
It’s necessary to begin by repeating that Holling and his wife Lucille were, among all their other qualities, authentic writers, illustrators, naturalists and historians. After marrying in 1925, they traveled extensively throughout the Southwest. (Holling’s first exposure had been a year-long stay in New Mexico after graduating college in 1923.)
Their work reflected their knowledge, as described by Hazel Gibb Hinman in her Master’s thesis in 1958. She reports that in 1929, they stayed at the Nine Quarter Circle guest ranch northwest of Yellowstone Park, helping design the buildings. Traveling that winter up to Alberta, Canada, they took a tepee for camping. (Going to search for tent poles, they came back to find tribeswomen had already set up their tent.) After returning to the ranch to finish their work, they went on to Lubbock, Texas, to paint murals. Then it was out to California, sketching and writing, with their Coleman stove, tent and camping equipment. Never staying overlong in one place, they drove back to Phoenix at rodeo time where they drew and painted, selling their work to finance their travels. (Ms. Hinman notes that in 1934 Holling demonstrated his fire-making skills at a luncheon lecture, starting a fire with two sticks in just seven minutes and so impressing a club member that he asked Holling to design his restaurant.)
That was just the winter of 1929, and all the while Holling and Lucille were making notes and sketches for two collaborative landmark books, The Book of Indians, (published in 1935 by Platt & Munk) and The Book of Cowboys (published a year later).
The Book of Indians attempts a grand perspective on North American tribes people in 13 chapters: An introduction into the “types of Indians living in different kinds of country,” four chapters about the home life of children and eight chapters relating their adventures. The book is essentially divided geographically among People of the Forests and Lakes, the Plains, the Deserts and Mesas, and the Rivers and the Seas
There are six beautiful colored illustrations in the plein-art style of the Southwest, plus many, many sidebar illustrations of children, their homes, tools and weapons, graphic artwork, and animals. The sepia pen-and-ink style drawings make a reader linger and digest each detail of the small pictures in the margins.
A critical element of this children’s book is the cultural and historical distinctions made by the Hollings. The Native American nations were as different as the European countries, and this is explained in the first chapter. Most dramatically, the Plains Indians changed radically from planters to hunters when horses were introduced in the 1600s. The horse might well have been the cultural equivalent of the Industrial Revolution in Europe.
I believe we can forgive someone writing in the 1930s about misconceptions that today would be viewed as culturally suspect. Columbus did not think he had arrived in India. (The Spanish term might originally have been hijos in Dios—children of God.) And when a tribes person died it’s insensitive to say “He went to the Happy Hunting Ground.” But these lapses are rare in comparison to the facts that abound: how teepees are constructed and how they evolved, tool-making, housing adapted to the environment, and plant life that forms lifestyles. Happily, the Hollings provide a glossary of 31 words any pre-teen child should be familiar with.
The Book of Indians is first and foremost educational — and of particular value to home-schooled children. The writing is generally expository, with touches of drama to make the lesson more amiable. The narratives of the children, who are the main characters driving each of the geographical sections, are somewhat two-dimensional. In this, Holling’s narrative ability developed tremendously in the decade until Paddle-to-the-Sea was published. However, the Indian children’s plotting and personalities do grow toward the end when Raven joins the whale hunt and almost drowns (pp. 109-110) and when the slave child Cedar Bough negotiates her freedom by finding a great cache of copper (pp. 115-118).
The success of Holling’s writing also lies in its simplicity. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, Holling's Paddle-to-the-Sea has a Fog Index of 6.9, meaning 91% of everyday words we use are more difficult to read. His Flesch Reading Index score is 75.2, meaning 90% of other vocabulary is harder. (A Flesch score of 90-100 means the writing is understood by an average 11-year-old.) And no one complains because something is too simple. Or because it lacks entertainment. So generations return to Holling Clancy Holling’s remarkable writing — and his wife’s collaborative illustration — year after year.
May 18, 2023
This is one of those books on every Charlotte Mason Book lists that’s incredibly expensive and hard to find (god bless my generous sister with kids a few years ahead of mine:)
BUT it was so fun! Amazing living stories and vignettes with so many cool details and illustrations. We really loved this one. If you can get your hands on it, it’s well worth it!
BUT it was so fun! Amazing living stories and vignettes with so many cool details and illustrations. We really loved this one. If you can get your hands on it, it’s well worth it!
July 20, 2021
Apparently it took us exactly a year to read this thanks to moving in the middle but it was an optional Form 1 read and since we already owned it we went for it. We all really enjoyed it and I thought it was very good!
March 19, 2024
We’ve loved everything by Holling C Holling for living books
August 14, 2020
I received this wonderful book as a Christmas gift from an aunt and uncle, Christmas 1948. I was six years old. I read it from cover to cover, over and over. American Indian culture became an obsession. I still have this wonderful gift and consider it the initial title in an extensive personal collection.
April 15, 2023
My 8 and 10 year old nephews were enthralled with this book!
Holling does not name specific Native American tribes but instead discusses them more broadly by geographical region. Each region has a fictional child as the main character, and the educational information is woven within that child’s story, making this a “living book” suitable for homeschooling.
Besides the use of the term “Indian,” nothing stuck out to me as blatantly derogatory. (And the term was what everyone used at the time this was written.) A respectful attitude is maintained throughout the book toward the native peoples.
Holling does not name specific Native American tribes but instead discusses them more broadly by geographical region. Each region has a fictional child as the main character, and the educational information is woven within that child’s story, making this a “living book” suitable for homeschooling.
Besides the use of the term “Indian,” nothing stuck out to me as blatantly derogatory. (And the term was what everyone used at the time this was written.) A respectful attitude is maintained throughout the book toward the native peoples.
March 13, 2025
Jamie and I read this book over the course of his first year. Oh, I am so very grateful I came across this title while researching books for his heroic age of history. I truly cannot understand why this book has not been reprinted. It is free from so many of the insensitivities that books of its age tend to contain, and it appeals to children with exciting stories of children just like them!
Most of these stories have no mention of Europeans, which was exactly my goal for his first year (Britain, Vikings, and Native Americans through Columbus). It's not the easiest or the thriftiest book on the market, but it's a fantastic option for American children's early history studies.
Most of these stories have no mention of Europeans, which was exactly my goal for his first year (Britain, Vikings, and Native Americans through Columbus). It's not the easiest or the thriftiest book on the market, but it's a fantastic option for American children's early history studies.
October 28, 2020
I read this for history to the boys. It was written a long time ago and we had some conversations about how some phrases could be considered insensitive, but the level of detail on the tools and homes different tribes built is so beautiful. It is not an exhaustive description of all tribes, it groups them together by land area and talks about all the different tribes are vibrant and diverse in their own right.
May 3, 2024
This book is lovely. It gives detailed, engaging accounts of various Native American cultures and has stories about children of the tribes. My son loved this book so much and it was a highlight of our school year. It was also such a good book for developing narration skills - the combination of factual and narrative content, plus Holling's prose and illustrations give so many rich ideas for the mind to work on. (Read for Form 1B, 23-24)
February 28, 2025
Used for my students in Form 1 and 2. We really enjoyed this. It was helpful to have the book broken up by geographical area and how their location impacted their way of life. We used Tunis’ book of Indians along aside it for drawing inspiration.
May 21, 2025
Probably the favorite book of 1st grade, and the only book where my kiddos begged to read more. Seeing the different tribes through the eyes of a child was so engaging for them, and often spilled over into their imaginative play as well!
July 7, 2021
This was a great introduction to the different kinds of Indians who once lived here. It's told as a story and kept my kids wanting more!
August 14, 2021
I read The Book of Indians in 1947 when I was 5 years old along with the Book of Cowboys.
This review is based on my impression as a child in the forties, not a modern
re-interpretation.
I Liked it a lot.
The Illustrations were detailed.
I could identify with the characters in both books.
In fact, 26 years later, I spent two summers travelling the United States, visiting many Indian descendants and travelling old trails.
Even now, because of the artistry, scholarship and desire to realistically capture a lost time in North American history, and their love of these peoples,
Modern criticism would be irrelevant and petty.
This review is based on my impression as a child in the forties, not a modern
re-interpretation.
I Liked it a lot.
The Illustrations were detailed.
I could identify with the characters in both books.
In fact, 26 years later, I spent two summers travelling the United States, visiting many Indian descendants and travelling old trails.
Even now, because of the artistry, scholarship and desire to realistically capture a lost time in North American history, and their love of these peoples,
Modern criticism would be irrelevant and petty.
May 29, 2008
Like all good children's literature (and film as well), Holling Clancy Holling's books are delightful for adults as well as kids of all ages. Younger children love to have his books read to them, and older ones love to read them, which is kind of a bummer because then the adults don't get to read them anymore. This book contains great information on Native Americans.
April 7, 2009
Both the scholarship on First Peoples in the Americas and cultural mores regarding Euro-American's relations with them, both across time and in the present, have changed. I still think this is a wonderful book. It exemplifies Holling's capacity to illustrate both plot/story and informational material using his text and his drawings and paintings.
January 19, 2018
This book, published in 1935, is actually a fairly non-offensive portrayal of Native Americans, their history, lifestyle, art, skills, etc. Nice vintage pictures too.
December 16, 2016
What a childhood favorite! My parents gave it to me as a Christmas present at the time I was in 3rd grade when our class did a study of American Indians. Our teacher Nannalee Saunders (at the Lab School with Eastern Illinois University in Charleston) did research every summer with various tribes, and she brought back examples of crafts, chants, stories and such for her annual crop of students, and this book tied in beautifully with everything she did.
I treasured my copy and often read from it, until giving it to my god-daughter's new husband in 2001 or so. He lives in Phoenix, and at the time was teaching 4th grade students. It is my hope that he's used it wisely and enthusiastically with his classes....but I don't know that, since they divorced several years ago.
If you detect wistfulness in having given this book away, you're right....especially after seeing the price of what this title is going for now. At the time, though, it was the right gift to give him, so it's his to do as he wishes.
Stories included in this book are always a treasure to read. One of my favorites was of a girl of a Plains tribe (Cheyenne? Nes Perce?), who earned the name "Rides-Away-Tinkling." What person could NOT want to read that story?
I treasured my copy and often read from it, until giving it to my god-daughter's new husband in 2001 or so. He lives in Phoenix, and at the time was teaching 4th grade students. It is my hope that he's used it wisely and enthusiastically with his classes....but I don't know that, since they divorced several years ago.
If you detect wistfulness in having given this book away, you're right....especially after seeing the price of what this title is going for now. At the time, though, it was the right gift to give him, so it's his to do as he wishes.
Stories included in this book are always a treasure to read. One of my favorites was of a girl of a Plains tribe (Cheyenne? Nes Perce?), who earned the name "Rides-Away-Tinkling." What person could NOT want to read that story?
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews