Indian literature, that is literature about Native peoples of the New World, ranks, without any doubt, among the top ten genres of literature for children. In terms of Czech literature, a major portion of this genre consists of translations. However, among all the authors writing about, and in many cases rather exploiting, this, Indian, topic, there is one point of view, and a fundamental one, missing and it is that of Native authors themselves. On the one hand it is not all that surprising, considering the fact that works by Native authors do not, generally, belong into the mainstream literature and therefore are rather difficult to draw attention and interest of Czech publishing houses. On the other hand these works offer an interesting and valuable alternative. In works by Native authors, the somewhat blurred boundaries between children and non-children literature become even less clear, as many themes and aspects, that we usually associate with literature for children, appear, quite frequently, also in books for adult readers.

The unique Native way of percieving and interpreting the world reflects itself in the way Native authors write about it. Even in contemporary adult fiction, it is not unusual to find numerous examples of spiritual and supernatural phenomena, such as animals (even things like stones, trees and other objects) speaking and acting like humans or taking on human forms or intermingling of different spiritual and physical worlds (the contemporary world, the world of the ancestors, the world of gods and supernatural beings, the world of the future and others).

No matter how paradoxical it may seem, Czech readers’ most strongly fixed stereotype of an Indian was set by a German author Karl May. This fact itself shows well enough how far the misinterpretation, of who and what is Indian, has got. May’s central character, Winetou, is, more or less, Cooper’s ”noble savage” brought to heavenly perfection. As May writes in his authobiography, he designed the character of Winetou as a role model, an ideal image of a Christian human being, which is fine in terms of a function of role models in children’s literature, but is more than questionable as far as interpreting and representing Indians as a race and culture is concerned. Quite an appreciable exeption to the row of authors misinterpreting and exploiting the Indian topic can be found in a Canadian author Ernest Thompson Seton. Having spent part of his life among Indians and knowing much more about them than other authors (including May, Cooper, Curwood, Grey or Steuben), he managed to capture and interpret some interesting aspects of Native culture, but still, his books seem to be too white hero focused to make much difference.

On the whole we could say that predominant amount of Indian stories (by non-Native authors) consists of, what might be called, hero stories, that is stories with one or more central characters that stand out from the rest of their culture and race. Ordinary individuals, who are the true representatives of their culture, are not so much in the focus. These just stand the heroes in their way or peek out of the bush behind them, but are not given much space to promote their day to day activities and ways of life.

And here we can find the alternative represented by works by Native authors, who do not seem to be so obsessed with outstanding individuals, but rather tend to concentrate on the ordinary aspects of life of their culture, showing its variety, richness and uniqueness.

So, how can be the Native point of view useful and interesting for the genre of Indian literature and for the whole mosaic of literature for children? Firstly, it can be quite effective in breaking down the established stereotypes and misinterpretations of Indians and their culture and valuable for providing difficult-to-get-somewhere-else information about this culture and its representatives. Secondly, in our so much self-focused western culture, the Native point of view represents so badly needed alternative perspective on life, lifestyle, values, religion, family, history or environment. And finally, it is a good read.