Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve was born on February 21, 1933. She is an American author, with a focus on books about Native Americans for children.
Virginia was raised on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. She graduated from St. Mary's School for Indian Girls in Springfield, South Dakota and received her bachelor's and master's degrees from South Dakota State University where she met her husband. She has published over twenty books on South Dakota history, Native American history, poetry, fiction and non-fiction works for children, as well as one about her female ancestors, "Completing the Circle"
“The Medicine Bag” by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve tells the story of a kid name Martin. He has a Sioux grandpa who lives on a reservation, and he loves to tell many stories of him. However, many of the stories he tells to his friends are exaggerated to the point that the person his friends think his grandpa is like, is nowhere close to the reality of Martin’s grandpa. This is fine when his grandpa lives on the reservation, but his grandpa decided to come to Martin’s house. Not wanting his friends to see that his grandpa was not as good as he told, Martin pretends his grandpa isn’t at his house and doesn’t treat him with respect. He is embarrassed and obsessed because of his Grandpa. The story shows us the theme that you shouldn’t be embarrassed of you ancestry.
The line from “The Medicine Bag” that best illustrates Martin’s conflict with his Grandpa’s arrival is:
“His get-up wasn’t out of place on the reservation, but it sure was here, and I wanted to sink right through the pavement.”
Martin always lied about his grandpa not being there when his friends came to meet him, and in this time he saw no scaping from the situation, more than "wanting to sink his head through the pavement"
