The Legend of the White Buffalo Woman

by Paul Goble

The Legend of White Buffalo Woman tells the inspiring story of the first peace pipe, presented to the Lakota people to connect them to the Great Spirit, who will guide them through the hardships of life.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Native American, Indigenous, History, Cultural, Mythology

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Paul Goble was an award winning author and illustrator of children's books. He has won both the Caldecott Medal and The Library of Congress' Children's Book of the Year Award.
He gave his entire collection of original illustrations to the South Dakota Art Museum in Brookings, South Dakota.
Goble, a native of England, studied at the Central School of Art in London. He became a United States citizen in 1984. Goble's life-long fascination with Native Americans of the plains began during his childhood when he became intrigued with their spirituality and culture.
His illustrations accurately depict Native American clothing, customs and surroundings in brilliant color and detail. Goble researched ancient stories and retold them for his young audiences in a manner sympathetic to Native American ways.
Goble lived with his wife in Rapid City, SD.

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

This explanation of the origins of the Sioux peace pipe practice isn't one of my favorite of Goble's, although the illustrations are top-notch as always. I think part of the problem is that it has a more complicated context (conflict, expulsion, and migration) to explain and aspects (such as attempted rape) that are awkward to include in a book meant for kids. Also, this story just isn't as fun as, say, the Iktomi stories and some other more mythical tales.

The notes are excellent and extensive, though, and would be useful for someone planning to teach a unit on the Lakota. Source reading material is included.



This Pipestone National Monument, where the stone for the pipe bowls was quarried. This stone is also called "Catlinite" after George Catlin, a painter and writer who was one of the first white travelers to visit the quarry. The pipe stems are wood and are traditionally decorated with beaver fur, mallard feathers, and four ribbons of black or blue, red, white, and yellow. The pipes themselves are important as ritual items and have uses aside from smoking.

[cloudyskye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations. Quite a short story and quite a few parallels to Jesus. Interesting.

[William S. Savine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. The illustrations by Paul Goble are beautiful and you can really see the Lakota culture come to life. I have read many versions of the Lakota legend of Ptesáŋwiŋ, the White Buffalo Woman, but this one is one of my favourites (although it‘s written for children, I think). Legend has it that she came to the Sans Arc tribe of the Lakota Nation in a time of great need and gave them the sacred Buffalo Calf Pipe as a gift from the Great Mystery and the seven sacred rites: sweat lodge or purification rite, Sun Dance, vision quest, buffalo or girl‘s puberty ceremony, adoption ceremony, keeping of a soul, throwing of the ball.
I can really recommend this book!

[Jessi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the art but I am so tired of Paul Goble taking sacred stories of cultures he doesn't belong to and turning them into cash for his pocket. I mean I just found out about this and I have no Indigenous heritage so I can only imagine how frustrating and infuriating it is for Native people. The stars are for the art, by the way.

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

From what I understand, the legend of the White Buffalo Woman is among the Lakota's most sacred tales, and Goble kind of mish-mashes it with other Sioux stories, so nah. However, I do have to give accolades where they are due - the art here is STUNNING. I mean gorgeous. Amazingly eye-catching.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story was my favorite. I really enjoyed learning about the symbolism of Native American pipes.

[Brittany Messer · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading this book, I was a little confused and taken back by the nature of the text. The text talked a lot about death and killing other people. I would not want to read this book to Primary children for it may cause fear in children who do not know about death. It was hard to read the text because of the lack of transitions between pages and the story as a whole. The overall structure of the text was not hard to read. The sentence structure varied in length and difficulty in words. The illustrations were very colorful and used a wide mixture of color. The drawings covered the entire page top to bottom of the scene the text was protraying. I would not recommend reading this book to young children do to the graphic text and confusing transitions.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paul Goble is one of the authors that I prefer when it comes to Native American stories and as such I love finding his books.

The main trait for Goble's books are their brightly colored and stylized illustrations. These pieces are rich in details although strangely enough the humans don't really have much expression. At the same time the illustrations take up the majority of the page as well thus allowing the reader to be immersed into the story.

Paul Goble also makes sure to provide to the reader an easily understood story and most of the time the words used are very simplistic. And so these books would make for a good introduction to children whose parents want to them to learn about another culture.

As for this particular book I found that compared to his other works different but not in a bad way. First of all the book is a bit more informative as it starts off with explaining the importance of the pipe to the Lakota people and explaining that it wasn't illustrated in the book as reverence to its sacred nature. At the end of the book there is a breakdown of the pipe that provides a diagram of the pipe than a breakdown of the different components that forms the pipe as well as an explanation to how it contributes to the symbolism of the pipe.

Another difference of this particular Goble telling is the fact that this book doesn't explore just one legend but multiple legends. As such this is one time where the reader gets to know more than just one story. It starts off with the end of the world and humans except one woman who was saved. Furthermore it also explores the expulsion from the original territory and the struggle to find food until White Buffalo Woman brings a message from her Bison people encouraged by the Great Spirit.

For those who enjoy getting to know Native American culture and lore this would make for a great start as well as one that may lead you to look into more Native American lore.

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This picture book retells the Lakota myths surrounding the first pipe, given by the White Buffalo Woman at the behest of the Great Spirit.

This book is best suited for upper elementary or middle school students. It contains mature themes: a mass extinction event, human migration, war, famine, and attempted sexual assault.

References are given on the verso of the title page. The author's note at the beginning of the book gives more information about the myths and about the creative decisions behind his retelling. A detailed diagram of a Lakota pipe and information about the Lakota's pipestone quarry are given at the back of the book.

[Josh Bader · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW. Thats one word that can describe this book. This book is great. So much provided detail of the story of the White Buffalo Women. The best part is at the back of the book. The pages in the back descrbibe the tools and weapons that were used during this time and story. This was so unique that really shocked me the most out of everything in this book. DEFINITELY RECOMMEND!

[Abby Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Illustrations are great. The story is authentic but slow for kids.

[Alexis Vesey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paul Goble’s work, The Legend of the White Buffalo Woman, was written after his travels to the Black Hills of South Dakota. He moved to this region to get a first-hand account of the culture and struggles of many tribes of the Plains Indians. This story is based on accounts from the Lakota people he came across during his studies.
The book has a wonderful Author’s Note that explains the context of the story. The text explains that the Peace Pipe was brought to the Lakota people during a time of great struggle among tribes. It also offers information about how Paul Goble came to understand the story of the original Peace Pipe. An interesting fact presented in this note is that no exact drawing of a Peace Pipe can ever be made in respect to the Great Spirit who presented the tribesmen.
This story starts by explaining the countless wars between tribes. Then the Lakota tribe is introduced. They must migrate away from their original lands due to these wars. Food deprivation leads to a terrible struggle among the Lakota people. They used to be migratory hunters, yet they have not been able to find the buffalo they used to hunt since moving territories. In their utmost moment of struggle enters the White Buffalo Woman. She brings with her the Peace Pipe that the Great Spirit has willed her to introduce to the Lakota people. She offers the knowledge of how to pray and bring peace across nations with this Peace Pipe. The White Buffalo Woman guarantees that her Buffalo Nation will now be united with the Lakota people, providing food and materials to the tribe. The Great Spirit then allows the White Buffalo Woman to turn back into a beautiful white calve. From then on, the Lakota tribe offers abundant thanks to the Buffalo Nation and the Great Spirit for the support.
This book gives a wonderful portrayal of this under told history of Native American prayer. Paul Goble’s interpretation and representation is strikingly consistent with the Lakota tale of this important culture symbol. The story offers students a greater understanding of the Lakota traditions and beliefs.

[Taya · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a great mixture of information and entertainment. The story was very interesting, but because it is a large part of the Native American tradition and belief systems, it is highly educational as well. One thing I noticed while reading this piece was that the colors were very typical for a Native American story. Their traditions place a lot of meaning into red, yellow, black, and white, and these four colors were used frequently throughout the illustrations. The information found on the end pages were a great addition to the story as well. It reinforces the fact that this information is more than just a story and leaves readers with background information to apply to what they just read.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the author's note: Oral tradition does not tell when White Buffalo Woman gave the pipe, only that it was at a time of some great change or suffering caused by war or famine. White man's history suggest it might have been in the late 1600s ...

Goble includes notes to the reader about the legend, pipes, and the Pipestone Quarry, which I appreciate. The art, as always, is lovely, but the legend itself is not going to be one of my favorites. This does not read like a book intended for children.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

native american story told by Paul Globe one of the best native story tellers, the art work is block print, the stories, are related to native stories, explaining the creation of the world, of man and how things are.

[Libby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Lakota tale tells the origin of the peace pipe to Plains Indians. The illustrations are beautiful, and the book is specific and authentic. In the back of the book there is a specifically labeled diagram of the peace pipe.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of the origin of peace pipes.

[Kienie · Rating 3 out of 5]

As usual, beautiful art.

[Ellie Dynek · Rating 5 out of 5]

A vividly drawn and well-told story of the American Indians' version of creation

[Mckinley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit structured but still good, simple retelling.

[Martip · Rating 4 out of 5]

XO Paul Goble. Love this.

[Carley Moisio]

This book is about the Native American people who stopped praying to their creator and life was getting hard. They were visited by a woman who taught them how to pray and gave them a sacred bundle to keep safe until she returns. The birth of a white buffalo calf signify's her return to purify the world.
I would read this book when teaching about the Native American culture and how other cultures are different from the American culture.