I really appreciated the approach that Dan SaSuWeh Jones took to telling the story by weaving together the personal histories of his grandmother, mother and niece and their time at a specific American Indian boarding school with the general history surrounding the origination, purpose, and eventual outcome for many of these schools. This, by no means, is a comprehensive history of the topic. However, Jones sets expectations well in the beginning of the narrative. He describes just enough to get readers interested in learning more about this topic and also tells several victims stories. Every time that a victim has a chance to tell their story or have their stories, a little bit of justice is achieved. With that being said, the format of the narrative could use some improvement, hence a four star rather than a five. It still serves as an excellent introduction to the topic as well as a narrative easily digestible by upper grades in middle school as well as high schoolers.

Generations of one family attended the same Indian Boarding School. Both a history of US policies on Native Americans and of many generations of one family and how the Boarding School system affected them, this is a must read for all. The United States policies on Native Americans are an ever shifting quicksand. Having them interwoven with the family story shows you the true affect of these policies. Highly recommended.

I recommended this on the Sept 3rd episode of All the Books. Here is a rough transcript of the podcast.

I’m Canadian, and in recent years here, there has been more education and attention on what were originally called Indian Residential Schools.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada testimonies especially shone a light on the generations of Indigenous people who were abused in these schools, and how much they damaged families.
When I was very briefly a teacher, teaching about residential schools was woven into the curriculum in multiple subjects and all through elementary, middle, and high school.
Something very similar happened in the U.S., as well as in other colonizer countries, but the history of American Indian Boarding Schools is rarely discussed, and when it is, it isn’t usually given a lot of weight.
It’s hard to overstate how devastating it is to forcibly take generations of children away from their families and try to strip them of their language and culture.
This middle grade nonfiction book follows one family over four generations of being forced to attend Chilocco Indian Agricultural School.
Dan SaSuWeh Jones tells the stories of the children who went to this school over the hundred years it existed, including the children who died there.
The description says this is a “powerful look at the miseducation and the mistreatment of Indigenous kids, while celebrating their strength, resiliency, and courage--and the ultimate failure of the United States government to erase them.”
It received starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly, so I hope it makes its way into classrooms and school libraries.
I hope this starts conversations about American Indian Boarding Schools and the ongoing legacy of colonialism in the United States.
And that’s Stealing Little Moon: The Legacy of the American Indian Boarding Schools by Dan SaSuWeh Jones

This is such an important book. Everyone should read Stealing Little Moon: The Legacy of the American Indian Boarding Schools to ensure they are well educated on this important piece of American history. I learned so much and I intend to continue learning more about this.

4.5 stars rounded up.

Wow! Despite this being a Middle Grade nonfiction book, I really learned a lot! I highlighted so many passages from this book and I don't think I've highlighted so much in a setting outside of academia.

Also, I think this book might be better for upper MG and the YA set because of the content (and possibly the book's length and semi dry-ish nonfiction tone too).

I'm really glad a book like this is being published. Native American boarding schools was something I never learned about in K-12 or college. I only know about this topic because of the news about the Kamloops Indian Residential School in Canada, and because lately, I've been interested in US history from marginalized perspectives.

Even though this book is written for younger audiences, adults can definitely learn a lot if you're new to Native American history during the colonial period and modern times. The author made it easy to read and follow along, even though he does go off on (related) tangents. (Which is why I had to knock down half a star.) If you're familiar with nonfiction books on history written this way instead of chronologically, then this might not bother you.

Along with learning about the history of boarding schools and how Native children were treated by the US government, I loved how the author talked about his family's experiences with Chilocco Indian School. It really gave a well-rounded perspective on how Chilocco went from destroying any traces of Indigeneity to one that fully accepted its students for who they were when US policies on boarding schools became more progressive.

I really appreciated the mini biographies of historical boarding school attendees, especially the pictures showing these children in their traditional clothing before vs. after the boarding school officials essentially destroyed their culture and forced them to wear European clothing, forced haircuts on them, etc. The black and white photos were really powerful.

I also loved the chapters on the American Indian Movement and their protests at Alcatraz and Pine Ridge, including how they brought light to the US government's historical and ongoing mistreatment of Native Americans, their cultures, and their land.

The author also mentioned successful Native American activists today (such as US Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland) and how their parents and grandparents were affected by boarding schools and US policies. He also talked a bit about Native Americans in the film industry and how it has evolved from racist stereotypes to much more accurate representations and portrayals today.

I really appreciated learning about all of these topics. I'd definitely recommend for anyone interested in US history or Native American history, written in a way that's easy to read and digest.

Thank you to Scholastic Focus and NetGalley for this arc.

This is an important topic, and I'm glad to see more books being written about it, especially at the middle grade level.
I anticipated much more of a memoir style, based on the title, but the book jumped around to a lot of different parts of Indigenous history.
Sometimes it jumped forward, then back again, and other times it just seemed to repeat the same time periods/events in slightly different words.
While the topic is important, and definitely should be part of a middle grade/high school curriculum, this book may confuse the timeline a bit for students.
I appreciated the history shared, and it will definitely lead me to seek out more on certain events, tribes, and topics after this.

Such a necessary and difficult read. This will be difficult to truly comprehend by young readers, but deserves true introspection. The material was heavy, but I think abuse survivors may see themselves in these true accounts. In addition to the darkness, there is light and joy, and a beautiful culture that has been carried on thanks to the strength of the human spirit. I highly recommend this book for upper middle school-adults.

Stealing Little Moon by Dan SaSuWeh Jones shares often the untold stories of the American Indian boarding schools. He dives into, specifically, the history of Chilocco and Ponca Nation. Through familial accounts and research, he shares the tragedies that Indigenous people faced upon the opening of these schools and how American policies have perpetuated this systemic oppression. I certainly learned a lot while reading this book. That being said, the format threw me off. Upon starting the book, I was interested in reading about the author's family. However, as the book continued, he began to shy away from personal accounts and jumped from topic to topic nonsensically. While this might be revised before the book is published, it made reading the information quite confusing. Nonetheless, I think this is a great read for any upper-middle school/high school student (and adults, of course).

Thank you to Netgalley and Scholastic Focus for the E-ARC! All opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and Scholastic for an advanced copy of this book to read.

Stealing Little Moon is about the history of the American Indian Boarding School system. These boarding schools were set up across America as a way to strip Native Americans of their cultural heritage, to Christianize them, and to turn them into a people that more resembled their white counterparts in the US and Canada. These schools and systems were harsh and cruel. That really is an understatement.

I'm happy to see more books coming out that reveal the horrors of this time in American History. If there is one thing that is consistent throughout the life of this country, it's the universal mistreatment and dehumanization of Native Americans. As a people, it's impossibly for us to begin to repair the damage we have caused unless we first acknowledge the depth of the damage that was caused and its affects that reach into modern life.

The first part of this book was good, though I was expecting more of a memoir or stories of individuals in one family tree that carried throughout the book - more like one cohesive story. That's not what this book is. It tells multiple stories of boys and girls and various boarding schools throughout their use. I did find that some of the concepts and stories began repeating themselves as the book went on. For that reason, and because I was coming into this reading with some knowledge of this history already, I didn't finish the book. I have such a big stack of books I need to get through, I just didn't see value in finishing it for me. However, for someone who doesn't know anything about the American Indian Boarding Schools, this would make a great introduction.

This is recommended by the publisher for middle grade. Due to some content, I would recommend for 10+ and older for more sensitive readers.

I give this a 4 only because it would be hard to sit down and read cover to cover. However, it is ideal for classroom use, particularly in high school US history and APUSH. It’s a story that needs telling and is told truthfully and with an eye towards justice throughout. I love how the lense of history fluctuates here. Sometimes we get highly personalized, individual perspectives and others pan back and look to the full landscape of Native American struggle for agency. I thoroughly enjoyed this author’s previous collection of spooky stories. I makes me enormously pleased that he has taken on such important subject matter here. All social studies teachers need to read this book, and the land we now call the US would be much better for it. Thank Mr. SaSuWeh Jones! Mahalo!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. I thought this was a very in-depth book. It’s crazy how one group of people thought they had to completely change and get rid of another’s way of life, culture,etc…because they thought theirs was better; when it wasn’t.

The non-fiction middle grade book, Stealing Little Moon: The Legacy of the American Indian Boarding Schools by Dan SaSuWeh Jones follows the family of the author. In the foreword, we learn that this story will cover four generations of his family and their connection to the Indian boarding school Chilocco Indian Agricultural School. I received this as a NetGalley ARC and the novel will be published September 2nd. This novel informs us about the heartbreaking and true experiences of what happened to many indigenous families in the United States and Canada through SaSuWeh's family's firsthand account.

This book was well written and took a lot of different history and events and put it in a middle grade genre. It was done really well. I honestly think that is a great book for everyone. I had a little understanding of the Indian Boarding Schools, but this gave me a better understanding of what was happening. While being informative, it was also an understanding and nuanced look at what the Chilocco school was for the variety of students that walked through those doors for almost 100 years. The information, pictures, and personal connection in this book would make it a great choice for a literature circle, a class novel reading, or for any non-fiction/history reader.

Thank you, Netgalley for the ARC. While I found the content interesting, I had issues with the format. I would read a paragraph and it would abruptly stop and jump to a different idea. Then, thr original idea would pop back up again. The flow of the ebook made it hard to follow in some places. Therefore, while the content is enjoyable, I would not recommend the ebook (hopefully the issues will be fixed whem it is published).

Stealing Little Moon was a great book that explored the topic of Indian boarding schools, something I had heard about, but was never taught. I am glad I picked up this book because it gave a lot of great information. I think it is engaging and easy to read for students in middle school. I will be purchasing this title for my high school library because it fills a void in my collection and I think students would be interested in this topic.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
This part of history is not well known but so important. I don't remember learning about this during my years at school.
This book provides an eye-opening look at what the Native American families went through when their young children were taken from the families and sent to boarding schools that were poorly run. It's heartbreaking to read about those young kids being taken and how the government tried to make them like white man. Everyone should read this book, not just middle grade readers.

"Stealing Little Moon" is directed at middle school students. I will say, though, that I enjoyed it so much. It was well written about a topic that has been silenced for decades, the indigenous boarding school indignities. It's time that we present our entire history, and books like this is a start. Highly recommended.
Thank you to Scholastic and Net Galley for a digital ARC of this title in exchange for my honest reviewed. All opinions are my own.