Grandma's Tipi: A Present-Day Lakota Story (children's book)

Now that Clara is almost in third grade, she’s finally old enough to spend her first summer away from home visiting Grandma and her cousin Juniper on the Standing Rock Reservation. To welcome her visit, Uncle Louie brings an extra-special surprise in his pickup truck: the family tipi that Grandma keeps, passed down for generations.

The Girls learn how to stack the poles and wrap the canvas covering around them, how to paint spirit pictures on its walls, and how the circle of the tipi reminds us all how to live in the great Circle of Life. During their summer days spend playing outside, doing beadwork together, telling stories, singing songs and sleeping under the stars, the tipi brings the family closer together.

S.D. Nelson’s bold art style, inspired by nineteenth century Lakota ledger drawings, beautifully brings to life this intergenerational story about family and honoring Native American traditions.