Off the Bookshelves: Native American Stories

Recently we have been reading a few outstanding stories about young Native Americans and I thought I would share. We have enjoyed stories about pioneering early Americans (Little House on the Prairie series, Caddie Woodlawn) or kids surviving on their own like in My Side of the Mountain and Cabin on Trouble Creek, but sometimes it is also good to get the other side of the story and learn a bit about those tribal cultures that were here before Europeans while also being entertained with a good story.

Right now we are reading The Birchbark House by Louise Edrich. This is the first of three books about a young Anishinabe (or Ojibwa) girl growing up at a time that the white settlers were moving into her tribes homeland, a small island on the south of Lake Superior. There is sadness and death in the books (starvation, smallpox, fire, animal attack and tribal conflict), but also a great many funny and charming happenings which illuminate how it must have been to grow up and live off the land in this area. I heartly recommend them for young readers if they are emotionally ready to also face those sadder things. A terrific review of the books can be found here. The other two books are called the Game of Silence and The Porcupine Year.

Another great book along similar lines is The Education of Little Tree. This is a little closer to home in that it is about a young Cherokee boy growing up in a traditional way (or trying to) in the Appalachian mountains during the time of the Great Depression. He is homeschooled by his grandparents and there is some conflict about this from outside authorities. The book also has death, alcohol (his grandfather has a still), cruelty and a very sad ending. There is so much that I found of value in it, however. It offers a different perspective that is valuable in and of itself. My only difficulty with it was in reading it aloud, I had trouble with the "mountain" English that the first person account was told in. It was so clearly incorrect English, my ingrained desire to speak "correct" English was severely strained. You should also know that there is some bad language in the book. A great deal of this I was able to edit out as I read. The book has also apparently inspired a film, though I have not seen it. 

Finally, I'd like to reccomend a book that takes us even farther south to the Everglades. Called The Talking Earth, and set in more modern times, author Jean Craighead George takes us into the world of the Seminole Indians. This book explores the beauty and dangers of the Everglades as well as the conflict between old ways and new science. This is a wonderful book about a young girl growing up and trying to reconcile all of these things in a world under attack from pollution, development and new ideas. I highly recommend it. 

Most of these books are aimed at ages eight and up. Enjoy!