Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1448798 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 32 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 2-4–Kiki lives in Los Angeles, but her family is from the Tiwa tribe of the Taos Pueblo in New Mexico, and she is visiting there for the first time since she was a baby. As Kiki experiences baking bread in an adobe oven, shares her family's trust in the guidance of the Creator, and discovers a common bond with others in the Pueblo community, readers learn about her culture. Realistic acrylic paintings emphasize people and their environment with intense earth colors. The praying posture of Kiki and her mother conveys the wind's powerful yet peaceful movement in harmony with the Red Road, a Native cultural attitude of responsibility and positive actions that is defined in the glossary. Border patterns of Pueblo and Plains tribal origin provide additional continuity between the clear, sequential text and evocative art, which together create an authentic work for use one-on-one or to foster classroom discussion about ethnic diversity and identity.–Julie R. Ranelli, Kent Island Branch Library, Stevensville, MD
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Kiki is furious when her teacher and the kids in her Los Angeles school assume she knows all things Native American just because her parents were born on a reservation. But when her family goes back to the Taos Pueblo to spend time with Kiki's grandparents, the child has an opportunity to explore her Tiwa heritage and learns that, like her parents, she belongs to both the pueblo and the city. The story is very reverential, and the art is stiff. But the details, based on the personal experiences of the artist and the author, are authentic, and with little on the contemporary Indian experience available for the age group, the book will open up discussion about cultural stereotypes. Pair it with immigration picture-book stories about kids today caught between two worlds and finding the diversity and riches of both. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

A Journey of Understanding
A heart warming book for all ages, "Kiki's Journey" is delightful. It works as a story, a read aloud story, as a lesson in cultural differences, as well as a lesson of acceptance. The book would be great for kids of all ages, parents, and teachers. The illustrations are also a wonderful addition to the story.

Heartwarming story of discovery.
Written by Kristy Orona-Ramirez and illustrated by Jonathan Warm Day, Kiki's Journey is a picturebook about modern Native American life. A young Tiki girl living in Los Angeles knows little about her traditional culture and heritage, as her parents brought her from the pueblo to the city when she was a baby. During spring break from school, she has the opportunity to experience the pueblo with her parents for the first time. At first she feels like a tourist in a place that should be home, but the more she learns and sees, the better she understands the proud cultural history and traditions that precede her, and above all, the importance of family ties. The boldly simple and colorful artwork is the perfect complement to this heartwarming story of discovery.

Heart warming pride
This story was extremely meaningful; it had a very good plot.
My favorite part of the story was when Kiki figures out how to be proud of her Indian race.The whole plot of the story is Kiki travels from the city to the Indian reservation and feels intimidated and ashamed about her traditions. Kiki then is told by her grandma to be proud of what she is.