The Lost Kachina
Kindergarten-Grade 4 - As this book begins, a Hopi carver makes a doll - Angak'china (or Long-Haired Kachina). A white schoolteacher buys him: "The kids will get a kick out of this. A real Hopi Kachina doll." Angak'china answers, "Of course I'm real, don't be silly," but the woman doesn't hear him. He ends up on her classroom shelf, dusty and unappreciated, until she retires and a Hopi teacher replaces her. He tells the children about the spirit whom the doll represents. This bland and didactic story does little to explain about Katsinam (the preferred spelling) or the dolls that are used to instruct children about these supernatural beings. The search for a nugget of usefulness amidst the bland text and flat, coloring-book-like art proved to be in vain.- Nina Lindsay, Oakland Public Library, CACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.