cover image Thunder Bear and Ko: The Buffalo Nation and Nambe Pueblo

Thunder Bear and Ko: The Buffalo Nation and Nambe Pueblo

Susan Hazen-Hammond. Dutton Books, $16.99 (32pp) ISBN 978-0-525-46013-8

Thunder Bear, an eight-year-old boy growing up in a New Mexico Pueblo village, is at the center of Hazen-Hammond's (Timelines of Native American History) first children's book; at the same time, her crisp color photographs and supple text offer a broader portrait of the rituals and beliefs of the Pueblo nation. The author's primary focus is on the spiritual connection between the Pueblo people and ""Ko,"" or buffalo, which had all but become extinct 100 years ago. Thunder Bear's grandfather, the spiritual leader of their branch of the Pueblo, earlier played an important role in bringing buffalo back to their town, Nambe Pueblo. Now Thunder Bear's father, the tribe's Buffalo Keeper, experiences a ""spiritual and cultural renewal"" after a new group of buffalo arrives in the village as a result of a court decision--much cheered by the Pueblo--to prohibit buffalo-hunting on a portion of state-owned land. Youngsters will learn much about the age-old bond between Thunder Bear's people and their sacred buffalo ""brothers,"" but still more intriguing is the extent to which Pueblo traditions are embedded in contemporary life. Photos clearly document the integration of old and new: animal skins hang from curtain rods above Thunder Bear's family computer and a grazing buffalo scratches its neck on the author's shiny red car. The lack of captions should not discourage browsers--images and text are carefully coordinated, inviting the reader to dip in at any page. Ages 7-11. (Feb.)