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50books_poc(Oh, but I'm behind with posting!)
5. Joseph Bruchac, Children of the Longhouse.
Set in a Mohawk town in 1491, Children of the Longhouse alternates between Ohkwa'ri and Otsi:stia, twin brother and sister, as they work together to outwit the town bully.
Even though the POV alternates between the pair, this is very much the brother's story. It is Ohkwa'ri who is threatened by the bully (even if Otsi:stia does much of the strategic thinking), and it is Ohkwa'ri who gets to do the exciting things, such as build a personal lodge in the forest or take an honorary role on the adults' team in the big lacrosse game. (I just went through the book again to see if I had overlooked cool stuff Otsi:stia did, but not so much: her chapters tend to relate what happened to her brother at the council meetings.)
By the way, the cover teaser -- "It's a man's game— but he's still a boy" -- is a stupid misrepresentation of both the tekwaarathon game depicted on the cover and the book itself. This isn't a book about a boy who has to, somehow, against all odds, live up to a man's role. Quite the opposite, in fact: the book is downright critical of what happens when boys have to find their own way into manhood (as has happened to the bully), and Bruchac places quite a lot of attention on how the adults care for and guide Ohkwa'ri and Otsi:stia. Bah, Puffin Books! Bah!
6. Joseph Bruchac, The Arrow Over the Door.
Bruchac's version of a story traditional among Friends (pdf) about an encounter between American Indians and Quakers during the American Revolution.
In Bruchac's version, French-speaking Abenaki travel south to investigate for themselves the war between the Songlismoniak (English) and the Bostoniak, in order to decide if it is in their best interest to join the war or not. There is a lot of excellent Native-centric historical framework set out here, and that alone is worth the price of the book, in my opinion. Bruchac makes it clear that there has already been a century of heavy interaction between Indians and Europeans, and that history has shaped both Indians and colonists. F'rinstance, the Abenakis and French cannot be distinguished from each other by clothing, and it is made clear that this not a case of Abenakis "modernizing" and adopting "European" clothing, but local clothing being a synthesis of both French and Indian cultures. Bruchac gives a quick review of the political situation from an Abenaki perspective, with the American Revolution being yet another intercolonial war, hot on the heels of the previous one, and the Abenaki characters are well aware that they are being recruited by King George in order to replace Indian allies that had left the war in disgust at imperial racism.
In addition to the Native-centric history, there's other subtle stuff going on in here that I like lots. One of the common tropes in white-authored children's lit about American Indians is the Indian kid who is embarrassed by his family and is considering turning his back on their way of life; in this book, that kid is the Quaker kid. (I laughed and laughed, when I realized.) Stands Straight, the kid on the Abenaki side of the story, feels no such conflict about his family -- and why should he? Unlike Friends in New York society, Stands Straight's family is not othered in his greater community, and Stands Straight is in no way convinced of European supremacy.
Bruchac's historical notes, in which he describes his research and explains the changes he made to the Quaker source material, are nearly as interesting as the book. The "original" source material was written much later than the events, and drips with racism and cultural improbabilities -- see the pdf linked above for details. No one seems to deny that the Quaker story is based on an actual event; however, it's not clear what the event actually was, other than that there were unspecified French-speaking Indians, a Quaker meeting for worship, and no bloodshed. While there is much fabrication in Bruchac's version, there was no less fabrication in the Quaker version -- both versions of the story are told with a particular goal in mind, and I like that Bruchac lays out his goals and reasoning for us.
My sole reservation about the book: Bruchac is quite a bit more laudatory about Quaker/Indian interactions than sets easy with me. While Quakers have a long and well-earned reputation for staunchly opposing virulent racism, the Equality Testimony did not prevent them from buying into white supremacy, which is unremarked upon here. Bruchac points out several things that do credit to Quakers, such as Ely S. Parker selecting Quakers to be Indian agents as part of his reforms of the BIA, but Bruchac declines to note areas where Quakers contributed to harm, such as supporting the Carlisle Indian Industrial School or running "civilizing" Indian schools of their own. I know that it's not Bruchac's job to push Quakers to be honest with themselves about their own history, but since Quaker tradition often runs toward self-congratulation with regards to racism, I would rather that Bruchac's praise had been a little more restrained, yanno?
5. Joseph Bruchac, Children of the Longhouse.
Set in a Mohawk town in 1491, Children of the Longhouse alternates between Ohkwa'ri and Otsi:stia, twin brother and sister, as they work together to outwit the town bully.
Even though the POV alternates between the pair, this is very much the brother's story. It is Ohkwa'ri who is threatened by the bully (even if Otsi:stia does much of the strategic thinking), and it is Ohkwa'ri who gets to do the exciting things, such as build a personal lodge in the forest or take an honorary role on the adults' team in the big lacrosse game. (I just went through the book again to see if I had overlooked cool stuff Otsi:stia did, but not so much: her chapters tend to relate what happened to her brother at the council meetings.)
By the way, the cover teaser -- "It's a man's game— but he's still a boy" -- is a stupid misrepresentation of both the tekwaarathon game depicted on the cover and the book itself. This isn't a book about a boy who has to, somehow, against all odds, live up to a man's role. Quite the opposite, in fact: the book is downright critical of what happens when boys have to find their own way into manhood (as has happened to the bully), and Bruchac places quite a lot of attention on how the adults care for and guide Ohkwa'ri and Otsi:stia. Bah, Puffin Books! Bah!
6. Joseph Bruchac, The Arrow Over the Door.
Bruchac's version of a story traditional among Friends (pdf) about an encounter between American Indians and Quakers during the American Revolution.
In Bruchac's version, French-speaking Abenaki travel south to investigate for themselves the war between the Songlismoniak (English) and the Bostoniak, in order to decide if it is in their best interest to join the war or not. There is a lot of excellent Native-centric historical framework set out here, and that alone is worth the price of the book, in my opinion. Bruchac makes it clear that there has already been a century of heavy interaction between Indians and Europeans, and that history has shaped both Indians and colonists. F'rinstance, the Abenakis and French cannot be distinguished from each other by clothing, and it is made clear that this not a case of Abenakis "modernizing" and adopting "European" clothing, but local clothing being a synthesis of both French and Indian cultures. Bruchac gives a quick review of the political situation from an Abenaki perspective, with the American Revolution being yet another intercolonial war, hot on the heels of the previous one, and the Abenaki characters are well aware that they are being recruited by King George in order to replace Indian allies that had left the war in disgust at imperial racism.
In addition to the Native-centric history, there's other subtle stuff going on in here that I like lots. One of the common tropes in white-authored children's lit about American Indians is the Indian kid who is embarrassed by his family and is considering turning his back on their way of life; in this book, that kid is the Quaker kid. (I laughed and laughed, when I realized.) Stands Straight, the kid on the Abenaki side of the story, feels no such conflict about his family -- and why should he? Unlike Friends in New York society, Stands Straight's family is not othered in his greater community, and Stands Straight is in no way convinced of European supremacy.
Bruchac's historical notes, in which he describes his research and explains the changes he made to the Quaker source material, are nearly as interesting as the book. The "original" source material was written much later than the events, and drips with racism and cultural improbabilities -- see the pdf linked above for details. No one seems to deny that the Quaker story is based on an actual event; however, it's not clear what the event actually was, other than that there were unspecified French-speaking Indians, a Quaker meeting for worship, and no bloodshed. While there is much fabrication in Bruchac's version, there was no less fabrication in the Quaker version -- both versions of the story are told with a particular goal in mind, and I like that Bruchac lays out his goals and reasoning for us.
My sole reservation about the book: Bruchac is quite a bit more laudatory about Quaker/Indian interactions than sets easy with me. While Quakers have a long and well-earned reputation for staunchly opposing virulent racism, the Equality Testimony did not prevent them from buying into white supremacy, which is unremarked upon here. Bruchac points out several things that do credit to Quakers, such as Ely S. Parker selecting Quakers to be Indian agents as part of his reforms of the BIA, but Bruchac declines to note areas where Quakers contributed to harm, such as supporting the Carlisle Indian Industrial School or running "civilizing" Indian schools of their own. I know that it's not Bruchac's job to push Quakers to be honest with themselves about their own history, but since Quaker tradition often runs toward self-congratulation with regards to racism, I would rather that Bruchac's praise had been a little more restrained, yanno?
