Meet Kaya: An American Girl (American Girls Collection Series: Kaya #1) Book

Kaya is a Nimíipuu (called Nez Perce by Americans) living in 1674, and travelling with her family to the river to join other Nimíipuu in catching the salmon headed upstream. Kaya's is prideful, particularly of her horse, Steps High, and leaves to race with a group of boys, leaving behind her little brothers. All of the children are punished for her transgression, and Kaya strives to act more humbly. Though she has a couple of minor setbacks, she shows her bravery when she rides her horse into the swiftly moving river to save her friend.

This is one of the books in the American Girl series, which features young girls living in historical times. The books are intended to serve as a jumping off point to interest girls in various historical periods (and, of course, to sell American Girl dolls). Like the other American Girl books, Meet Kaya is appropriate for ages 8-12, and will skew heavily to girls. Unlike other books, Kaya's stories were prepared with guidance from an advisory board made up of cultural historians and Nez Perce Elders. They approved plot lines, historical matter at the end of the books, and glossaries of Nimíipuu words. Booklist calls the Kaya series "both historically accurate and culturally sensitive," but A Broken Flute has a number of complaints about the series, including anachronistic word choices, overreliance on nature metaphors, inaccurate details of family life and rituals, and a general "filtering through a white consciousness."