Buffalo DreamerReview posted May 8, 2026.
Listening Library, 2024. 2 hours, 10 minutes.
Review written February 16, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
2024 National Book Award Finalist, Young People's Literature
2026 American Indian Youth Literature Award Honor Book, Middle Grades
Buffalo Dreamer is short and sweet and packs a lot of power.
12-year-old Summer and her family are traveling to Canada to the reservation where her mother grew up for their annual vacation. Summer's looking forward to wonderful times, riding horses with her cousin and enjoying her grandparents and her extended family.
But when she crosses the border into Canada and nears the reservation, she starts having vivid dreams about a girl running away from a residential school. Meanwhile, modern equipment has been brought to the residential school where Summer's grandfather went to school - and they have found bodies of kids buried there.
Could Summer's dreams be showing her what really happened?
This book navigates the line between talking about horrific abuse in the past and expressing confident joy in the present - and the power of connection between the generations.