Grandma Jenny's Trip Summary

When looking at a children's book it is difficult to evaluate what is good and what is bad. The book “Grandma Jenny’s Trip” written by Bently Spang and published by Rigby does a good job. The book is nonfiction about his grandmother Jenny, who lived on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation when Native Americans were just getting used to reservation living. Jenny’s life was in a time where Native Americans were starting to understand how to live like the “White Man”, this was the only way to surviving at this time. The story was abou thow Bently Spang and his cousins would ask there grandmother to tell them a story from when she was little. Grandma Jenny told them about how in the summer the family would go on a family trip to Miles City, which was 100 miles away and would take them two weeks to get there. The reason for them traveling was to sell all the different creations in Miles …show more content…
There isn’t a lot to work with to get kids to want to keep listening. There needs to be more of a story to follow along with, because all it sounds like to me is a bunch of things the family would do when traveling. I also don’t know if that is because I’m a Cheyenne myself and i already know these things happen. Compared to a class that has no idea that Native Americans do these different tasks it could have a completely different effect. I wouldn’t read this book to a Native American class that knows about these task, but for kids who don’t i would positively recommend it. I have addressed a few issues with this book, but I still love the fact it was written by a Native American and especially a Northern Cheyenne. Bently Spang did an good job on writing a childrens book about his culture and family. There were a few issues but they can be surpassed if you just monitor who the book is being read to or taught. I would personally teach it alongside the students learning about Native