By Gabriella Kaye Ms. Kaye is the MPMRC Children’s Librarian.
Joseph Bruchac (Abenaki) is well known for his numerous accomplishments. He writes books for both children and adults. He tells stories (in 2002 people of all ages came to listen to his fascinating storytelling here in the Children’s Library). He writes poetry and he started Greenfield Review Press, which publishes books by Native American authors. Among his more than 50 books are two great ones for middle school students, both about young Abenakis, but set over two hundred years apart.
Bruchac’s newest publication, The Winter People, is sure to turn up on many different reading lists. It is recommended for ages 10 to 15, but is suitable for reading aloud to younger children – and adults will also find it hard to put down. Set in 1759 during the French and Indian war, The Winter People is the story of Saxso, a 14-year-old Abenaki boy who comes of age in the aftermath of the destruction of St Francis, his tribal village in Quebec, by starving British soldiers. By relying on the skills he has learned from his people and on his faith in both Catholicism and Klist, son of the Great Spirit, Saxso tracks the small group of soldiers who have taken his mother and sisters hostage.
The story of the raid on St Francis, led by Major Robert Roger, was made famous by the Kenneth Roberts novel Northwest Passage, which also became a popular movie in 1940. The version told here is very different because it is related from the Abenaki perspective. Mr. Bruchac did a tremendous amount of research and talked to many Abenaki people while writing this book, which was named one of the Best Books of 2002 in School Library Journal.
Bruchac’s The Heart of a Chief is also an award-winning book about an Abenaki boy, but the narrator, Chris Nicola, is an 11-year-old growing up today on the (fictional) Penacook Indian Reservation in New Hampshire. Penacook is a close community with beautiful natural areas, but many of its residents are living at the poverty level – and struggling with the issues surrounding sovereignty and development. Chris, whose father is in rehabilitation for alcoholism, lives with his grandfather, an important source of instruction and direction in his life.
Chris and his buddies from the Penacook Indian School are moving up to the public junior high school in the fall, and Chris is nervous about getting along with the other, non-Native kids from town. However, Chris emerges as a leader at school. He introduces his classmates to a different angle on traditional school topics, like Thanksgiving, and eventually heads a protest against the school’s use of an Indian mascot. With new confidence from his success at school, Chris also starts to voice his opinion in the Penacook community about the future of the reservation – sometimes in ways that get him into trouble.
While these Bruchac titles are set hundreds of years apart, many parallels can be seen between the two Abenaki characters and societies. Saxso and Chris are normal kids who do exceptional things – and are learning very similar values from their communities, despite their distance in time.
The Winter People. New York: Dial Books, 2002. ISBN 0-8037-2694-5
The Heart of a Chief. New York: Dial Books, 1998. ISBN 0-8037-2276-1
