Back in the 60’s, when I was in grade school, I read a book I liked then but lost track of. I’d like to see it again to see how, all these years later, I would view it now.
It was a book for kids my age, grade school or maybe middle school. The family was Native American, although called Indian in the book, and I think they were Apache. The parents were artists of some sort, and there were two kids, a son and a daughter. There was also an uncle. The boy was a litlle older than the sister. For reasons I don’t remember their great-grandfather had to come and live with him for a while. He was old enough that, as a young man, he’d lived on the land before reservations came. This guy was cranky and didn’t like being around folks that didn’t show the culture he’d been raised in. To humor him the kids listened to his stories and tried some of the cultural things, like clothes and activities, he’d grown up with. At one point a film was being made, and the kids were hired as extras(it was a Western), and helped with authentic outfits and so on. Great-grandfather barely know what a movie was, and almost shot an actor when guys dressed as US Cavalry rode down on a “village” the kids had helped set up. He DID run off some cattle. Other things happened and I think eventually the old guy went back home.
I read this book, as I said, in the 1960’s, when I was in grade school. Does it ring a bell with anyone?
