Review By: Anonymous
Published: 2024
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Adventure
Audience: Grade 8–Adult
Number of Stars: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Goodreads Link: Sheine Lende
Content Warnings: None.
Publisher’s Summary
Darcie Little Badger’s Elatsoe launched her career and in the years since has become a beloved favorite. This prequel to Elatsoe, centered on Ellie’s grandmother, deepens and expands Darcie’s one-of-a-kind world and introduces us to another cast of characters that will wend their way around readers’ hearts.
Shane works with her mother and their ghost dogs, tracking down missing persons even when their families can’t afford to pay. Their own family was displaced from their traditional home years ago following a devastating flood—and the loss of Shane’s father and her grandparents. They don’t think they’ll ever get their home back. Then Shane’s mother and a local boy go missing after a strange interaction with a fairy ring. Shane, her brother, her friends, and her lone, surviving grandparent—who isn’t to be trusted—set off on the road to find them. But they may not be anywhere in this world—or this place in time. Nevertheless, Shane is going to find them.
Full Review
Sheine Lende is the prequel to the novel Elatsoe by indigenous author Darcie Little Badger. Sheine Lende expands the world developed in Elatsoe and goes back in time to follow Sheine, who we learn is the grandmother of Elatsoe and who is part of the line of Lipan Apache women who pass on the knowledge of how to raise ghosts. The world Little Badger builds in this series is unique and offers a lot of room to explore themes relevant to young readers because while it’s a fantasy novel, the world it takes place in is just slightly different from the world we inhabit. Sheine Lende can summon ghosts, there are descendants of fairies who can travel by fairy ring, and there are even water monsters that live in seashells. So even for a reader that isn’t a huge fan of science fiction or fantasy, the world is really only slightly a stretch. Additionally, the novel is centered around a great mystery as Sheine Lende has to find her mother who has gone missing on a rescue mission.
What I found most compelling about Sheine Lende was the way in which it uses this fantasy story to explore very real and timely themes having to deal with indigenous sovereignty. Sheine Lende and the women in her family can conjure ghosts, but this isn’t really presented as some magical power; it is traditional knowledge passed down through generations of Lipan Apache people. It’s very central to the way the novel explores the importance of preservation of indigenous knowledge and cultures as well as the way in which our society has systematically worked to erase these things.
Little Badger explores this overtly when she has Sheine Lende bring up the fact that the Lipan Apache are still not a federally recognized tribe and also in a way that is thematically accessible to young readers. Shiene’s family and greater tribal community experience displacement after flooding destroys their neighborhood and they are exploited in their time of need by a wealthy, white neighbor. Overall this book is an enjoyable read for anyone who loves a good science fiction or fantasy novel, mythology, and adventure.
🪶 Indigenous Knowledge vs. “Magic”
In many fantasy novels, powers are unexplained or “chosen.” In Sheine Lende, the ability to raise ghosts is framed as Traditional Ecological and Ancestral Knowledge. This distinction is vital for understanding the book’s themes of sovereignty and cultural survival.
- Generational Transmission: The power isn’t a random gift; it is a discipline learned from ancestors.
- Sovereignty & Recognition: The story highlights the real-world status of the Lipan Apache. Unlike many fictionalized depictions of Indigenous people, Little Badger anchors her world in the modern struggle for federal recognition and the fight against systemic erasure.
- The Geography of Displacement: The “devastating flood” mentioned in the plot serves as a metaphor for the historical and ongoing displacement of Indigenous communities from their ancestral lands.
📝 Classroom Applications
- Social Studies (U.S. History/Government): Use the book’s mention of “Federal Recognition” to research the legal criteria tribes must meet to be recognized by the U.S. government and why the Lipan Apache are currently recognized by the State of Texas but not the federal government.
- ELA (Prequels & World Building): Compare Sheine Lende with Elatsoe. How does knowing the grandmother’s history change the reader’s perspective on the events of the first book?
- Media Literacy: Discuss how Little Badger uses “slightly different” fantasy elements (fairy rings, seashell monsters) to mirror real-world environmental or social issues, such as exploitation during natural disasters.
