The basket game ‘Monshimunh’
˜ for four or more players ˜
You will need:
One shallow basket
Five flat stones
Paint (two colours)
Forty straws
Here’s what to do:
Paint a cross on one side of two stones
Paint a round circle on one side of the remaining three stones
Here’s how to score:
Five unmarked sides...............................................................take one straw
Two circles............................................................................take two straws
Two circles and two crosses................................................take three straws
Three circles and two blank sides.........................................take four straws
Two crosses, one circle and two blank sides.......................take eight straws
Here’s how to play:
Place the five stones in the basket
Player one gently tosses the stones, catching them in the basket
Place the basket on the floor and see which way up the stones have landed
If the stones match any of the combinations above, take the number of straws indicated
The first to get eight straws is the winner
* * *
FACT
The Native Americans invented the game lacrosse.
* * *
Dream-catchers
Dream-catchers are a circle or teardrop of bent wood, measuring a few inches from side to side, with sinew string tied across the shape and a feather hung from the middle. Made originally by the Native American Ojibway tribe, dream-catchers are still used today to protect children from nightmares.
Make your own shield
Cut the centre out of a paper plate; you will be left with an ‘O’ shape
Punch holes at regular intervals around the rim of the ‘O’
Get a length of string and, securing it with a knot through the first hole, weave it from side to side, through the holes
You can thread beads on to the string as you go, then secure the end of the string with a knot when you have finished
Glue or tape feathers to the bottom of the dream-catcher
Make a loop of string and attach it to the top of the dream-catcher, so that you can hang it up
* * *
FACT
Native Americans believe that good dreams slide down the feathers and into the person sleeping below.
* * *
What If…
If you could bring any plastic figure to life, what would it be and why?
Would you share your secret with anyone? Who?
Where would you take your miniature friend: the park, to school, to the shops?
If you became a minuscule figure, like Little Bull, where in the world would you like to go: America, China, Australia?
Which part of history would you like to visit: the Wild West, Victorian London or maybe one hundred years in the future?
What would you take with you: food, a camera?
Would you want to go back home after your adventure…?
Find Out More
For Native American collections big and small, visit these museums, or log on to these websites:
The British Museum, London:
www.britishmuseum.org
The Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford:
www.prm.ox.ac.uk
The Ulster Museum, Ulster:
www.ulstermuseum.org.uk
Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, Hastings:
www.hmag.org.uk
Native Languages of the Americas: www.native-languages.org/kids.htm
If you like books about North American Indians, why not read more by Lynne Reid Banks?
The Return of the Indian
The Mystery of the Cupboard
Secret of the Indian
The Key to the Indian
Or find these books at your local library
Dog People: Native Dog Stories Joseph Bruchac
North American Indian (DK eyewitness books) David Hamilton Murdoch
If you liked the size difference between Little Bull and Omri, why not read…
Power of Three Diana Wynne Jones
The Borrowers Mary Norton
Mistress Masham’s Repose T.H. White
About the Author
LYNNE REID BANKS was born in London in 1929. Her father was a GP and her mother had been a well-known actress. Aged ten when the Second World War began, she was evacuated to Canada with her mother and cousin, where she spent the war in Saskatoon, a small prairie town. When the family was reunited in 1945 Lynne had to learn secretarial skills before she was allowed to study for the stage. After acting for five years, her father died, and she went over to journalism, eventually becoming one of the first women reporters on British TV in 1955. Seven years later, shortly after the publication of her first novel, she emigrated to Israel where she married and lived throughout the 1960s, teaching, writing and having three sons.
She returned to the UK with her family in 1971 and has lived ever since in London and, more recently, Dorset, writing full-time, travelling and giving talks. She particularly likes going into schools abroad as a volunteer teacher, and has done so in India, Israel, Nepal, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Navajoland in Arizona, Bulgaria and Hungary.
Also by the Author
Other titles in Lynne Reid Banks’
famous adventures of Omri and Little Bull
Return of the Indian
The Secret of the Indian
The Mystery of the Cupboard
The Key to the Indian
Also by Lynne Reid Banks
The Dungeon
Stealing Stacey
Angela and Diabola
Tiger Tiger
Harry the Poisonous Centipede
Harry the Poisonous Centipede’s Big Adventure
Harry the Poisonous Centipede Goes to Sea
Bad Cat, Good Cat
Copyright
First published in Great Britain by J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd 1981
First published by HarperCollins 1988
This Essential Modern Classic edition published by HarperCollins Children’s Books 2009
HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd,
77–85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London W6 8JB
The HarperCollins website address is
www.harpercollins.co.uk
Text copyright © Lynne Reid Banks 1981
Illustrations copyright © Piers Sanford 1999
Cover photographs © Toys/shutterstock
© Background Gary S Chapman/Getty Images
Note from the author copyright © 2000 Lynne Reid Banks
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Ebook Edition © APRIL 2013 ISBN: 9780007379798
Version 1
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