Little Owls is a great adventure story. Twelve-year-old orphan and warrior, Tea Little Thunder, rescues owls, schoolmates, a crazy Vietnam era veteran, and herself with the help of her great-grandfather and the spirits of her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. It is a great adventure story, but it is much more. Through back stories sandwiched between Tea's adventures, Little Owls explores the Native American world of the mid 1980's. The story of Otis Red Leaf highlights the federal fence around the Pine Ridge, a vision quest, secret Sun Dance, baseball at a county fair on the reservation, and the end of Indian prohibition. Priscilla Yellow Rose travels from abused girl child, through the Vietnam War, and to a place where she creates the perfect school in the Pine Ridge country of South Western South Dakota. Aaron Walker returns to Saint Paul from the Vietnam War with only one leg and an adoring little sister. When he fails to adjust, tragedy strikes and voices lead him to Miss Rose's school with a gun. Little Owls is an enjoyable page turner. It is also a thought provoking narrative.
