Muskrat and Skunk: Sinkpe na Maka

Muskrat and Skunk: Sinkpe na Maka (A Lakota Drum Story).

On Saturday, October 28, 2017, Prairie Edge Book and Music store will be hosting an author's book signing by our friend and colleague Don Montileaux. Don is an enrolled member of the Oglala/Lakota, Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation of South Dakota and has established himself as a respected Fine Art artist, Author and Mentor.

Don has been a supporter of Lakota youth and has mentored many young artists in our area.

Don Montileaux’s latest children’s book, Muskrat and Skunk (Sinkpe na Maka), A Lakota Drum Story, tells of the very first pow-wow on earth. Written in both the English and Lakota languages, Montileaux’s story is brimful of delightful woodland scenes by the author himself. (Agnes Gay provides the Lakota translation of the English text.)

In the beginning, there was a muskrat and a skunk living in the forest. Both discover tools of nature that allow them to create drumbeats on a log. The music they create, the drumbeats, entice an entire population of woodland creatures into a circle of dance. The contemporary Lakota pow-wow mirrors the dance animated by the charming animal illustrations in the book.

A story which would entertain a wide range of readers, especially with its emphasis on Lakota translation, and the author’s fantastic and fun animal drawings, the book is primarily a children’s book. It was funded, in part, by the Great Plains Education Foundation, Inc., in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and the author dedicates the book to ‘ …all the grandchildren in the world.’

Don will be available here, in the store from 11am - 2pm to talk about his newest children's storytelling book Muskrat and Skunk: Sinkpe na Maka, A Lakota Drum Story and his other children's stories that are available in the book and music store. Join us to help celebrate this wonderful artist, author and friend.