ALA Booklist

Kiki is furious when her teacher and the kids in her Los Angeles school assume she knows all things Native American just because her parents were born on a reservation. But when her family goes back to the Taos Pueblo to spend time with Kiki's grandparents, the child has an opportunity to explore her Tiwa heritage and learns that, like her parents, she belongs to both the pueblo and the city. The story is very reverential, and the art is stiff. But the details, based on the personal experiences of the artist and the author, are authentic, and with little on the contemporary Indian experience available for the age group, the book will open up discussion about cultural stereotypes. Pair it with immigration picture-book stories about kids today caught between two worlds and finding the diversity and riches of both.

Horn Book

Kiki and her parents journey from Los Angeles to Taos Pueblo so Kiki can visit her relatives and learn more about her Tiwa heritage. The details of the text and art are authentic, but both come across as purposeful and stiff. Moreover, Kiki's initial concern about her teacher assuming she'd "know everything about all Native Americans" is never fully resolved.

Kirkus Reviews

A significant number of facts and information about the Taos Pueblo are included in this tale, but the story lacks spark and seems contrived and message-driven. Orona-Ramirez (Taos Pueblo/Tarahumara) tells a gentle story of a Taos Pueblo child living in Los Angeles, who dislikes her tribe being grouped together with all other Indian tribes. A resulting visit to her parents' home Pueblo gives Kiki a sense of belonging and much information about her heritage. Day's (Taos Pueblo) paintings contain authentic patterns from the Pueblo and Plains Indians, and although colorful and instructive, they seem stilted and uninspired. It's not clear why patterns from the Plains Indians are included. The didactic text will not draw a significant audience, and although books about contemporary Native American Indians are few, this one should be a marginal purchase. (Picture book. 5-8)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

While young Kiki has lived in Los Angeles all her life, she knows that her mother and father grew up in Taos Pueblo, and she's proud to be Tiwa. Then, after many years' absence, Kiki and her parents drive two days to New Mexico to visit her Grandma and Uncle Tim. As Kiki witnesses their daily lives, she begins to wonder where she belongs. Kiki gives voice to a common struggle of straddling two worlds, but unfortunately, the narrative takes on an overearnest tone. Expository sections seem more akin to a social studies discussion than the heroine's own interpretation of her heritage and history, while shared family stories get short shrift. Day's saturated, naïf illustrations occasionally buoy the story, capturing the wide-open landscape and the way the New Mexico sky frames the Pueblo's tan adobe buildings. The roughhewn renderings lose much of their charm, however, when it comes to portraits of the characters. Still, the girl's emotional journey does end happily: with some gentle nudging from Grandma (""""Remember that even though you are far away, living in that big city, always be proud of this place and who you are""""), Kiki understands that it's possible for her """"heart to belong to both the Pueblo and the city,"""" as her parents' hearts do. Ages 6-up.

School Library Journal

Gr 2-4-Kiki lives in Los Angeles, but her family is from the Tiwa tribe of the Taos Pueblo in New Mexico, and she is visiting there for the first time since she was a baby. As Kiki experiences baking bread in an adobe oven, shares her family's trust in the guidance of the Creator, and discovers a common bond with others in the Pueblo community, readers learn about her culture. Realistic acrylic paintings emphasize people and their environment with intense earth colors. The praying posture of Kiki and her mother conveys the wind's powerful yet peaceful movement in harmony with the Red Road, a Native cultural attitude of responsibility and positive actions that is defined in the glossary. Border patterns of Pueblo and Plains tribal origin provide additional continuity between the clear, sequential text and evocative art, which together create an authentic work for use one-on-one or to foster classroom discussion about ethnic diversity and identity.-Julie R. Ranelli, Kent Island Branch Library, Stevensville, MD Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.