What is unique about education for the “indigenous” children, those who belong to colonized ethnic groups? Given its special limitations and opportunities, how can indigenous education effectively address the needs of these children and their communities? With an overall focus on this second question, Francis & Reyhner address the first question in Part 1, laying a foundation for both the practical classroom strategies and the curriculum and materials suggestions elaborated in Part 2. Their preface states: “The idea that language learning and literacy can be enriched with the inclusion of indigenous languages is what this book is about.”

The importance of language revitalization is strong in the authors' discourse. In chap.1, they stress the value of bilingualism and provide a framework for visualizing the domains of language use and language learning, highlighting sources of input for first and second language development as well as basic and higher-order language development in bilingual children. This distinction between higher-order language abilities and the language of basic communication remains a theme throughout the book, as does the importance of school as a major source of input, especially in late childhood. Shedding light on “the state of the languages” in chap. 2, Francis & Reyhner provide representative surveys of indigenous language status and educational strategies in various countries in the Americas. Though describing diverse situations, they highlight the similarity of issues faced by indigenous peoples throughout the Americas, an emphasis further exemplified in chap. 3 through a discussion of historical perspectives on bilingual education and the influence of language policy and planning in specific contexts.

Even while this universality of circumstances for indigenous peoples provides space for some guiding principles for language revitalization and education, the authors do not ignore the fact that each situation, being found in a different context and in a different stage of language revitalization, will require unique action. The need for such action reminds us that the involvement of the speech community provides “the ‘final word’ on the question of language preservation” (p. 19). Common to indigenous speech communities is the question of the value of bilingual education. The authors reject the “backward-looking preservationist” perspective, which seeks to maintain diglossia by keeping indigenous languages within their traditional domains. Instead, they highlight the new power available to indigenous languages as those languages enter new domains, “a transcending of the standard diglossic framework” (62).

How can the resources of indigenous languages be used to meet the linguistic and cognitive development needs of children in the modern world? Pedagogical approaches that make use of the indigenous language help children in learning the national language, help them develop advanced cognitive skills, and at the same time promote the preservation of the language.

Upon this foundation lies the core of the book, the discussion of classroom strategies for effective bilingual education, addressed in Part 2. Even while constrained by unequal language status and other limitations, teachers can make use of some unique opportunities available in indigenous language education. Some of the strategies offered in this book are relevant to second language and literacy instruction and to bilingual education in general: the use of language in context, challenging language tasks, and appropriate grouping of multilevel learners. The authors deliberately focus, however, on issues and teaching strategies specific to indigenous education.

The most powerful evidence for the enrichment provided by the use of indigenous languages in education is presented through the authors' continued reference to the building of Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP). As restated in the conclusion (chap. 8), the authors apply J. Cummin's Common Underlying Proficiency Model throughout the book to indigenous language bilingualism. They build on the premise that CALP-type language proficiencies exist in all languages, including those without written discourse, and that these “academic-type discourse proficiencies and analytical abilities, since they are not strictly ‘language bound,’ are at the disposal of the bilingual child” (189), and thus transferable to academic work in another language.

A perfect opportunity to build on higher-order discourse proficiencies already present in indigenous cultures comes through the use of traditional oral discourses. The authors present Coyote stories as flexible teaching tools, describing two unique stories and some teaching points that can be pulled from them. Through traditional oral discourses, teachers can present elements of literature, providing opportunities to focus on two major educational objectives: academic discourse proficiency and second language proficiency. The authors discuss specific strategies for the use of traditional texts to expand academic discourse proficiency, including text-processing strategies, predicting strategies, conscious reflection on discourse devices, and discovery of structures and patterns to use in students' own writing. For the development of second language proficiency, teachers can make use of these authentic, complete texts, particularly aided by the repetitive structures in the traditional stories. This applies to indigenous language learning for some students and to national language learning for others, who can use translations of traditional stories. The authors provide specific follow-up activities for traditional stories, along with a description of how cloze activities can be applied for indigenous-language literacy.

Francis & Reyhner touch on numerous issues, not excluding additive versus subtractive bilingual development, cross-linguistic interference and transfer, code-switching, the immersion approach, language and academic assessment, and the differing needs of children dominant in the national language versus those dominant in the indigenous language. Their practical suggestions include a description of Language Learner Sensitive Discourse, suggestions for monolingual teachers in bilingual classrooms, ways to understand cultural miscommunication, and insights into distinguishing and addressing global and local errors. In their final chapter, Francis & Reyhner provide a manageable list of school and community resources, including books, articles, Internet sites, and programs and organizations related to indigenous language education. Extensive notes elaborate on various points of interest, and the glossary clearly defines field-specific terminology.

Although it presents many relevant topics from which insights can be drawn, the book often leaves the reader searching for connections. The material would be more accessible with clearer organization of and connection between points within the chapters. Still, the authors bring an optimistic perspective to the bilingual teacher's challenges, seeing problems as “circumstances that the creative teacher turns into opportunities” (78).

Francis & Reyhner defend the potential of and provide practical resources for the use of indigenous languages in the classroom, emphasizing the value of language revitalization and of the use of children's multiple language resources for the development of cognitive academic skills. “Independent of the degree of social prestige and utility of writing in a particular indigenous language, bilingual children's academic and cognitive development is tied to opportunities that they will have in school to learn about, and be proficient in, reading and writing in the two languages they speak or understand” (131).