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Summary
Summary
After her critically acclaimed books of interviews with Afghan, Iraqi, Israeli and Palestinian children, Deborah Ellis turns her attention closer to home. For two years she traveled across the United States and Canada interviewing Native children. The result is a compelling collection of interviews with children aged nine to eighteen. They come from all over the continent, from Iqaluit to Texas, Haida Gwaai to North Carolina, and their stories run the gamut -- some heartbreaking; many others full of pride and hope.
You'll meet Tingo, who has spent most of his young life living in foster homes and motels, and is now thriving after becoming involved with a Native Friendship Center; Myleka and Tulane, young artists in Utah; Eagleson, who started drinking at age twelve but now continues his family tradition working as a carver in Seattle; Nena, whose Seminole ancestors remained behind in Florida during the Indian Removals, and who is heading to New Mexico as winner of her local science fair; Isabella, who defines herself more as Native than American; Destiny, with a family history of alcoholism and suicide, who is now a writer and pow wow dancer.
Many of these children are living with the legacy of the residential schools; many have lived through the cycle of foster care. Many others have found something in their roots that sustains them, have found their place in the arts, the sciences, athletics. Like all kids, they want to find something that engages them; something they love.
Deborah briefly introduces each child and then steps back, letting the kids speak directly to the reader, talking about their daily lives, about the things that interest them, and about how being Native has affected who they are and how they see the world.
As one reviewer has pointed out, Deborah Ellis gives children a voice that they may not otherwise have the opportunity to express so readily in the mainstream media. The voices in this book are as frank and varied as the children themselves.
Author Notes
Deborah Ellis says her books reflect "the heroism of people around the world who are struggling for decent lives, and how they try to remain kind in spite of it." Whether she is writing about families living under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, street children in Pakistan, the coca protests in Bolivia, or the lives of military children, she is, as Kirkus attests, "an important voice of moral and social conscience."
A lifelong small-town Ontarian -- born and raised in Cochrane and Paris and now living in Simcoe -- Deb has won the Governor General's Award, the Ruth Schwartz Award, the University of California's Middle East Book Award, Sweden's Peter Pan Prize, the Jane Addams Children's Book Award, and the Vicky Metcalf Award for a Body of Work. She recently received the Ontario Library Association's President's Award for Exceptional Achievement, and she has been named to the Order of Ontario.
She is best known for her Breadwinner series, set in Afghanistan and Pakistan -- a series that has been published in twenty-five languages, with more than one million dollars in royalties donated to Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan and Street Kids International. Her novel, No Ordinary Day (about a young girl living on the streets of Kolkata), was nominated for the Governor General's Literary Award, the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award, the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Award and the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award, and it has received starred reviews from School Library Journal, Horn Book and Booklist . Her most recent novel is My Name is Parvana .
Loriene Roy lives in Austin, TX.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-Ellis's commitment to giving voice to young people, especially marginalized or underserved youth, is evident in this collection of interviews with children from various indigenous cultures throughout Canada and the United States. Here, children as young as nine tell stories about their identity and what it means to them to be Native or Aboriginal. Many of the accounts are harrowing to read. Alcoholic parents, lives spent in and out of foster homes, and bigotry and discrimination are an almost daily part of their lives; yet most of the children express hope for a better future for themselves and find ways to immerse themselves in their traditional culture through art, language, dance, and/or connections with community elders. Ellis's transcriptions of these interviews allow the authentic voices of the young people to come through, and brief introductions providing context and, in some cases, historical information, are enormously helpful and insightful. With many of the children dealing with similar issues, stories can begin to feel repetitive and occasionally confusing, hence weakening the impact of some individual tellings, though educators looking to use this book with students will find some real gems to share with groups. The stories are not organized in any discernible manner, neither by age nor affiliation, and the result feels almost random and chaotic. Important and provocative, this is a good choice for libraries wanting to add a contemporary, youthful perspective on issues affecting indigenous people in North America.-Jody Kopple, Shady Hill School, Cambridge, MA (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
In an invaluable, eye-opening narrative history, Ellis (the Breadwinner series) presents interviews with dozens of youth ages nine to 18 from among the 565 federally recognized Native tribes in the United States and 617 First Nations communities in Canada. Ellis briefly introduces historical traumas that continue to resonate, from the 1830 Indian Removal Act, attacks on Indigenous language and culture, and the forcible removal of Native children from their homes to government-sponsored, church-run industrial boarding schools. After establishing each setting, Ellis shares the children's first-person stories, which matter-of-factly address the influence of their heritages on their home environments, views, and communities. Valene, an 18-year-old Cree, after describing years of bouncing from home to foster care to crisis center, acknowledges, "My younger siblings can say I love you, but I can't." Fourteen-year-old Danton, a talented Metis musician, says, "We are so lucky to be alive at a time when we are encouraged to be proud of who we are." Unsettling and sad, humorous and inspiring, these collected stories are a testament to the remarkable resilience these children marshal in the face of significant challenges. Ages 12-up. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
In this cultural undertaking, Ellis interviews Native American and aboriginal children and teens, ages nine to eighteen. Whether heartwrenching or uplifting, each first-person narrative is compelling, insightful, and incredibly moving. Introductory matter sheds painful light on the historically horrific treatment of North America's indigenous peoples, as well as the challenges they face still. An extensive list of charitable and informational organizations is appended. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
In distilled interviews, 45 young Native Americans express hope, resilience, optimism--and, rarely, anger--amid frank accounts of families plagued by drug, alcohol and sexual abuse, as well as murder, suicide, extreme poverty, and widespread discrimination, both public and private. The interviewees range in age from 9 to 18 and in locale from the Everglades to Nunavut, Martha's Vineyard to Haida Gwaii. Despite this, likely due to editorial shaping, Ellis' interviewees sound about the same in vocabulary and "voice." Together, they tell a wrenching tale. Many are foster children; several suffer from or have siblings with spectrum disorders and other disabilities; nearly all describe tragic personal or family histories. Moreover, the narratives are shot through with evidence of vicious racial prejudice--not just in the distant past: "My mother works with residential school survivors," tellingly notes Cohen, a Haida teen. Even the youngest, however, display firm tribal identities and knowledge of their collective history and heritage. Also, along with describing typical activities and concerns of modern day-to-day living, these young people embrace their distinctive cultural practices and almost without exception, express a buoyant attitude. As gay Chippewa 16-year-old Zack puts it, "They tried really hard to kill us all off, and we're still here!"--a welcome and necessary reminder to all. (introductory notes, photos, annotated lists of organizations) (Nonfiction. 12-16)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* In an informative foreword to Ellis's important book, former ALA President Loriene Roy writes, Indigenous peoples are still here. There are, in fact, 3.08 million in the U.S. and 565 federally recognized tribes in Canada. From these, Ellis has interviewed 45 young Native people, aged 9 to 18, and the resulting selections often touch on universal problems for Native youth suicide, alcohol and drug abuse, poverty, broken families, grief ( We talk a lot about grief, one boy says, because that's been a big part of our lives as Native people). But the voices also speak about opportunities and accomplishments. Many of these young people are leaders in community centers, and one is an actress. Another is a gifted musician, and still another is a mechanical and software engineer. It's clear, though, that almost all have had to overcome significant societal and cultural challenges. The history of Native and indigenous peoples is one of exploitation, abuse, forced acculturation, and violence. The children in this book have inherited this history, Ellis writes. That they are here at all is a miracle. It's heartening that so many of these young people are positive about their lives, no matter how troubled, and about their futures. We're going to keep moving forward, one boy affirms. Ellis' book is an excellent opportunity for classroom discussion and individual, empathy-inducing reading.--Cart, Michael Copyright 2010 Booklist
