White Bead Ceremony [With Native American Language Cards]

First-time author Watkins, who is of Shawnee and Cherokee heritage, pens a sympathetic if wordy story that boasts a rarity for books about Native American culture: a realistic, contemporary setting. Four-year-old Mary's grandmother decides it's high time that the child receives her Shawnee name, and the task of selecting just the right one is entrusted to the elder women of the family. They focus on the horse-name group--helpful, hard-working, beautiful horses, the reader learns, were an important part of Shawnee culture--and choose Wapapiyeshe (it means ``white-necked, moving''). But when relatives gather for the ceremony, Mary's aunt Laura, who was supposed to bring the white bead necklace traditionally given to a girl at her naming, has car trouble and can't come. Grandma Greyfeather saves the day with a necklace made of white buttons from the sewing basket and the celebration begins. The book provides a welcome glimpse at how tribal traditions are woven into the fabric of modern-day life; its educational value is enhanced by the inclusion of Shawnee vocabulary cut-out ``flashcards'' and a thumbnail-sketch history of the Shawnee people. But it never entirely rises above the double handicap of an overlong text and pedestrian illustrations. Ages 5-8. (June)