The Secret of the White Buffalo

Kelly L. Green is co-author of The Ethical Shopper’s Guide to Canadian
Supermarket Products and associate editor of the Canadian Book Review
Annual.

C.J. Taylor masterfully combines art, language, and legend to create a
truly remarkable contribution to literature for children. Her retelling
of the legend of how the peace pipe came to the Oglala Sioux tribe is
rich and awe-inspiring.

Setting the scene with a page of text outlining the tribe’s dilemma
when the buffalo are late returning in the spring, and the tension that
mounts as tribe members begin to turn on one another, Taylor builds
suspense. The reader turns the page to find an almost overwhelmingly
beautiful painting of two young scouts sent to search for the buffalo,
their backs to a white-cloud buffalo arising from behind an expanse of
green hill and golden-orange horizon. The rest of the book, which
describes the visitation of the sacred white buffalo woman (spirit of
the buffalo) and her gift to the tribe of the healing tradition of the
peace pipe, does not disappoint.

Children will love the detailed description of the white buffalo
woman’s dress, and her explanation of the peace pipe’s purpose and
symbols. (“The buffalo stands for the earth, our mother who gives us
food. The eagle feathers stand for the sky and the twelve moons. The sky
is our father who watches over us. The ribbons represent the four
corners of the world.”) They will also appreciate (as will their
mothers and female teachers) the justice the white buffalo woman metes
out to the “selfish and bad-tempered” young scout, Black Knife.

This is a book that satisfies deeply on first reading, but that
requires multiple readings to fully grasp the significance of both
textual and illustrative detail and symbolism. Highly recommended.