The Menominee

My Menominee son is one of the dancers on the front cover of this book, so I really wanted to like it this book. Although this book contains some accurate information about the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, including great photographs, there is one inaccuracy that is so glaring, it puts the whole book into question. The author says, (the Menominee) lived near the mouth of the Menominee River in Wisconsin." The map on page 7 then shows the WRONG Menominee River! The map is the Menominee River that runs through the present-day city of the city of Milwaukee and emptying into Lake Michigan! However, the Menominee River that cut through the Menominee's original 9 - 10 million acres is the one that separates the modern-day cities of Marinette, Wisconsin and Menominee, Michigan. In fact, according to the Menominee Creation Story, they were created at the place where the Menominee River empties into the Bay of Green Bay (in the present-day city of Marinette, Wisconsin). What a unforgivable mistake! It puts the rest of the information contained in the book into question. As a middle school social studies teacher at Menominee Tribal School for 20+years, the inaccurate map really bothered me. When the book first came out, I admit I ordered 10 copies because my son was on the cover, and I planned to give one to all family members (I did this before actually reading the book). But when I saw that map, I was disappointed. I got a correct map and made it small enough to fit over the wrong map, copied it 10 times, and taped it over the incorrect map before giving the book away. I also had my Menominee middle school students write the author and publisher to tell them where the Menominee Tribe's Menominee River was, and provided them with an accurate map. We never received a response from the author, and received a form letter (thank you for your inquiry) from the publisher which demonstrated that they didn't even read the letter or see the accurate letter. My students felt invisible. There is some valuable information, but you would need to already know Menominee history and culture and know what is accurate and what is not to be able to get anything out of it.