# Help ID a book I read as a kid **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 26, 2020, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-book-i-read-as-a-kid/848584 "2020-02-26T23:34:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2020, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-book-i-read-as-a-kid/848584/1 "2020-02-26T23:34:00Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-book-i-read-as-a-kid/848584/2 "2020-02-27T05:56:35Z")
Here’s a website devoted to this very concept - children’s books where we remember the plot but not the author or title. [http://www.loganberrybooks.com/solved-m.html](http://www.loganberrybooks.com/solved-m.html) ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-book-i-read-as-a-kid/848584/3 "2020-02-27T10:37:13Z")
Thankjs, I’ll check that out. Isn’t it strange how things like this can suddenly bug us? ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-book-i-read-as-a-kid/848584/4 "2020-02-27T10:47:42Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Thankjs, I’ll check that out. Isn’t it strange how things like this can suddenly bug us? Oh, definitely not so strange, at least not to me. This one is still bugging me. 🙂 > **[Impossible ID? This 50s/60s kids' story collection](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=605867)** > > The sheer implausibility of success has kept me from posting this for a while, but what the heck…I’ve seen some amazing things on SDMB. In the late 60s/early 70s I had some books that were sort of Time Life-style: hard bindings, fairly thin content... ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-book-i-read-as-a-kid/848584/5 "2020-02-27T13:00:17Z")
_The Shaman’s Last Raid_, by Betty Baker. Harper Collins, 1963 Also released under the title _The Medicine Man’s Last Stand_. Scholastic, 1965. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-book-i-read-as-a-kid/848584/6 "2020-02-27T13:09:45Z")
It was also made into an _ABC Afterschool Special_ in 1975: > **["ABC Afterschool Specials" The Shaman's Last Raid (TV Episode 1975) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0972979/?ref_=nm_flmg_wr_1)** > > The Shaman's Last Raid: Directed by Wes Kenney. With Ned Romero, Dehl Berti, Virginia Paris, Monika Ramirez. Despite his failing health, a Native-American medicine man is determined to teach his great-grandchildren the traditions of the Apache... ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2020, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-book-i-read-as-a-kid/848584/7 "2020-02-28T00:33:46Z")
Thank you all for the IDs! I am going to search for a copy of the book. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-book-i-read-as-a-kid/848584/8 "2020-02-29T05:09:17Z")
Aww, I finally knew one and somebody beat me to it. 🙂 I have a copy of this book. It was a childhood favorite, and I still re-read it occasionally. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-id-a-book-i-read-as-a-kid/848584/9 "2020-02-29T15:01:01Z")
When I started this thread I was so frustrated. I could see the illustrations even, I just couldn’t remember names or the title.😃