Strange events and an undercurrent of tension permeate The Chichi Hoohoo Bogeyman. While secretly exploring an old fort on the South Dakota prairie, three Indian girls encounter a stranger. One of the girls playfully names him the chichi hoohoo bogeyman, after the Sioux, Hopi, and white figures used to discipline children. On a forbidden outing the girls again encounter the stranger, who starts to chase them as they run away in fear. Swearing themselves to secrecy, they become further unsettled when they return home and hear the adults talk of recent unexplained occurrences at home, perhaps driven by spirits. The most rebellious of the girls disappears before the mystery of the chichi hoohoo bogeyman comes to light.

 

Booklist praised the “fresh, in-tune portrayal of the girls and their families” and recommended the book for readers in grades 3 to 5. This Bison Books edition includes a new introduction by the author.

Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve is a well-known Lakota writer and a recipient of the 2000 National Humanities Medal. She is the author of Lana’s Lakota Moons (Nebraska 2007), Grandpa Was a Cowboy and an Indian and Other Stories (available in a Bison Books edition), and many other children’s books. Her memoir Completing the Circle (Nebraska 1995) won the North American Indian Prose Award.

 

Nadema Agard is a Lakota-Cherokee-Powhatan artist, curator, educator, museum professional, and consultant in repatriation and multicultural–Native American arts and cultures as well as the director of Red Earth Studio Consulting and Productions.