In this beautifully illustrated book, we are invited on a personal tour of daily life at San Ildefonso Pueblo with Sonja Roybal, who is 10, and her 8-year-old sister Desiree. Sonja and Desiree know they are lucky. Growing up in San Ildefonso, they enjoy what most other American girls enjoy -- from bike riding to swimming to computer games to playing with friends. But they have much more: their Indian heritage. In the Roybal family, heritage is not just something grandparents remember with pride. It is a way of daily life that preserves a central place for traditional customs, prayers, and reverence for the natural world. Heritage is listening to stories passed down in the Tewa language, learning pottery-making from their mother and grandmother, making bread in an outdoor oven. It is ceremonial days when everyone gathers to dance and celebrate as Pueblo Indians have done for thousands of years.
A personal story that will appeal to both children and adults, Pueblo Girls has much to teach about Pueblo Indian life and about the rewards and challenges of keeping an irreplaceable traditional culture alive in the modern world.