Stealing Little Moon: The Legacy of the American Indian Boarding Schools

In 1885, armed federal agents stormed the Ponca reservation. Though panicked parents tried to hide their children, four-year-old Little Moon There Are No Stars Tonight was one of several Native youths taken from their families. The children were transported hundreds of miles to the Chilocco Indian Agricultural School in Oklahoma; there, they were cut off from their culture, and many given new, “American” names. Via urgent, intimate-feeling first-person prose, Jones (Living Ghosts and Mischievous Monsters), Little Moon’s grandson, chronicles the history of Chilocco from its opening in 1884 to its closure in 1980. Through extensive research and interviews with key figures, the author details the goal of “all residential boarding schools” (“Kill the Indian in him, and save the man”), their strict rules, and the inhumane and traumatic conditions under which the children lived. Quotes and stories from Chilocco survivors—as well as relevant personal experiences from his childhood that Jones threads throughout—unravel heartbreaking situations and further deepen the text’s visceral and empathetic depiction of this horrific chapter in U.S. history. Ages 8–12. (Sept.)

Update: The text of this review has been adjusted for clarity.