Stealing Little Moon: The Legacy of the American Indian Boarding Schools

When she was four years old, Little Moon There Are No Stars Tonight was taken from her family by federal agents and sent to the Chilocco Indian Agricultural School in Oklahoma, one of the many boarding schools the United States ran to separate Native children from their languages and cultures. Her grandson, Dan SaSuWeh Jones, a former chairman of the Ponca Tribe, follows his family's ties to Chilocco from its opening in 1884 to its closing in 1980, when he was working on its maintenance crew. Drawing on family memories and on accounts from students at other schools, he shows what children lost and endured and how they held on to who they were. Written for young readers, the book won the 2025 Orbis Pictus Award.