Turtle Island

Yellowhorn, Eldon & Kathy Lowinger. Turtle Island. 2017. 116p. ISBN 9781554519446. Available at

For most Western folks, the history of the Americas begin in 1492, when Christopher Columbus “discovers” a new continent on his way to India. Despite the absence of written records, there is plenty of archeological evidence and storytellings that describe what the Native peoples did and how they lived before the arrival of Europeans. Turtle Island chronicles this history starting at the last Ice Age, based on this evidence, and by records left by the generations that followed. Moments in time are imagined based on what is now known, and a series of topics are explored, such as the animals that shaped the Native peoples’ environment, the art they left behind, and how they successfully adapted to their surrounding to thrive in often hostile environment.

Beautifully illustrated and with an emphasis on the Native peoples’ storytellings of their own creation and myths, Turtle Island provides a voice and a perspective on Native people that is currently missing from today’s historical discourse about the first inhabitants of the Americas. Fans of history will appreciate the thoroughness displayed by the authors in discussing those who were here first, and, though tragic, their history represents the hope that the future will bring to Native peoples.