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Summary
Summary
Publisher Marketing: Anikwa and James, twelve years old in 1812, spend their days fishing, trapping, and exploring together in the forests of the Indiana Territory. To Anikwa and his family, members of the Miami tribe, this land has been home for centuries. As traders, James's family has ties to the Miami community as well as to the American soldiers in the fort. Now tensions are rising--the British and American armies prepare to meet at Fort Wayne for a crucial battle, and Native Americans from surrounding tribes gather in Kekionga to protect their homeland. After trading stops and precious commodities, like salt, are withheld, the fort comes under siege, and war ravages the land. James and Anikwa, like everyone around them, must decide where their deepest loyalties lie. Can their families--and their friendship--survive? In "Salt, "Printz Honor author Helen Frost offers a compelling look at a difficult time in history. A Frances Foster Book Review Quotes: " [Readers] will come away with heightened sympathy for non-combatants caught up in the course of violent change."-- "The Wall Street Journal" "Printz Honor Book author Frost ("Keesha's House", 2003) has written, with artful economy, another affecting novel in verse. Interspersed among selections narrated in the alternating voices of the two boys are poems about the salt that is necessary to the survival of both peoples." Booklist, starred review "Sensitive and smart: a poetic vista for historical insight as well as cultural awareness." -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review "Salt is an important novel for students to read and consider as they are learning about the War of 1812 in their social studies classes. The perspective of the boys helps bring personal meaning to a period of history that can be hard for students to grasp." -- VOYA "The verse is succinct, yet beautiful, and the story is rich in historical and natural details. Fans of frontier and survival stories will find much to love within these pages." -- "School Library Journal"
Author Notes
Author Helen Frost was born in Brookings, South Dakota in 1949. She received a Bachelors degree in Elementary Education with an English concentration from Syracuse University and a Masters degree in English from Indiana University. She has taught writing from pre-school through university and has published poetry, children's books, anthologies, a play, and a book about teaching writing.
Skin of a Fish, Bones of a Bird, a collection of poetry, won the Women Poets Series Competition in 1993. Poems from that collection were awarded the Robert H. Winner Memorial Award and the Mary Carolyn Davies Memorial Award by the Poetry Society of America. She worked with the Fort Wayne YWCA and the Fort Wayne Youtheatre to help high school students write about how they had been affected by violence. This workshop led to a play and an anthology of student writing, both entitled Why Darkness Seems So Light. Keesha's House was awarded a Michael L. Printz Honor from the American Library Association in 2004.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Using a narrative poetry format, Frost (Hidden) artfully crafts a fiction-based-on-fact story of events at Fort Wayne in the Indiana Territory in 1812. Pages alternate between the insightful voices of two 12-year-old friends: Anikwa, a member of the Miami nation, and James Gray, whose family runs the fort's trading post. The poems offer each boy's perspective on events, such as playing together in the woods or, later, the siege of the fort and subsequent burning of Miami villages. The layouts of the boys' narration visually highlight the contrast between their cultures: Anikwa's centered verses expand and contract in the organic shape of traditional Miami ribboncraft, while James's left-justified, double-line stanzas represent the U.S. flag's stripes, Frost explains. Lyrical poems about salt, a traded commodity necessary to both cultures, are interspersed: "Tears come from earth and sky,/ from words moving through us./ We taste them as they fall,/ leaving salt streaks on our faces." Author notes and a glossary of Miami words conclude a very personal account of history that offers much for discussion. Ages 10-14. Agent: Ginger Knowlton, Curtis Brown. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
In her signature poetic style, Frost (Crossing Stones, rev. 11/09) uses an 1812 incident at Fort Wayne, Indiana, to illuminate the issues and human costs of westward expansion. Anikwa is a Miami; his tribe has been in the village of Kekionga for generations. Settler James and his family live at the trading post near the fort. The two twelve-year-olds are good friends, though each knows few words of the other's language, and together they roam the woodland that sustains them both. Then American and British armies (the latter probable allies of the Native Americans) descend on Fort Wayne in preparation for battle. Apprehension on both sides breeds injustices and resentments that flare into catastrophic preemptive acts and retaliation. In the boys' alternating narration, telling incidents and character-revealing actions are interlaced with thoughtful commentary. When Anikwa asks, "Who started the fire?" his grandmother replies, "Grief / gathered kindling. Fear struck the flint. / Anger fans the flames." Vital salt (which the Miamis harvested until they were required to buy it, and which they're "given" after the conflict) is the theme of a dozen lyrical interludes -- as elemental, essential to all creatures; as a symbol of tears, of taste, of life. Poignant and beautifully fashioned, this is a story that resonates far beyond the events it recounts. The book includes notes on form (James's lines, of even length, resemble stripes on the American flag; Anikwa's are symmetrically patterned like "Miami ribbon work") and a glossary of Miami words. joanna rudge long (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Set during the War of 1812, near the present-day city of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Salt is the story of the friendship between Anikwa, a Miami Indian boy, and James, the son of a trader. As both British and American armies advance on the area, other Native American peoples arrive hoping to fight with the British against the Americans. The plan fails, and Anikwa's peaceful people must flee. Will they have to abandon their traditional home, and will the friendship between the boys be sundered? Printz Honor Book author Frost (Keesha's House, 2003) has written, with artful economy, another affecting novel in verse. Interspersed among selections narrated in the alternating voices of the two boys are poems about the salt that is necessary to the survival of both peoples. Frost explains that the form of Anikwa's verses, rich in Miami words, evokes the diamond and triangle shapes of Miami ribbon work, while James' more linear form suggests the stripes of the American flag. While acknowledging the uncertainties, misunderstandings, and occasional animosities of war, Frost also celebrates the relationship of both the Miami people and the Americans with the land and with each other. Explanatory notes and a glossary of Miami words are appended to this lovely evocation of a frontier America and the timelessness of friendship.--Cart, Michael Copyright 2010 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-7-Frost's novel in verse examines the relationship between settlers and members of the Myaamia tribe just before the War of 1812 in what is now Fort Wayne, IN. Told through the experiences of two 12-year-old boys, the story explores friendship, loyalty, and fear of the other from both boys' perspectives. While the narration by Tom Picasso and Michael Bakkensen, who voice James and Anikwa, respectively, is excellent, the audio format does not serve the work especially well. The front matter includes a long list of characters, which is hard to follow when read. The story is told in the boys' alternating voices; in print, this conversation takes place on facing pages, each with a distinctive design. James's text is long and narrow like the stripes of an American flag, while Anikwa's zigzag poems suggest Myaamia ribbon work. Unfortunately, this visual enhancement and the author's notes about form are absent from the audiobook. For this reason, consider shelving audio and print together, and provide information about the Myaamia Community History blog (ow.ly/GWchV), where students can access Salt FAQ's for historical background from the Myaamia perspective. VERDICT Recommended when used with the print book.-Toby Rajput, National Louis University, Skokie, IL (c) Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Frost explores the wide-ranging impact of wartime aggression through the intimate lens of two 12-year-old boys caught in the crossfire of the War of 1812. Anikwa, a member of the Miami tribe hailing from Kekionga, often spends his days hunting and playing in the forest with James Gray, whose home is in the stockade near Fort Wayne. For centuries, Anikwa's ancestors have lived in this area, and James' family has enjoyed amicable relations with the Miami and other Native Americans with whom they exchange goods. While these differing communities have learned from and helped support each other through adverse conditions, British and American claims to the Indiana Territory near Fort Wayne force them to re-examine their relationship. As other tribes and thousands of American soldiers gather to fight to establish the border between Canada and the United States, Anikwa's grandmother laments, "We can't stop things from changing. I hope / the children will remember how our life has been," foreshadowing how the boys' friendship, which has always been able to bridge cultural and language gaps, will face unprecedented challenges. Frost deftly tells the tale through each boy's voice, employing distinct verse patterns to distinguish them yet imbuing both characters with the same degree of openness and introspection needed to tackle the hard issues of ethnocentrism and unbridled violence. Sensitive and smart: a poetic vista for historical insight as well as cultural awareness. (Verse novel. 10-14)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Excerpts
Excerpts
JAMES Dang mosquito bit me right where I can't reach it. I rub my back against a hickory tree--up and down, side to side. There--almost got it. Might look silly, but nobody's watching. Except a squirrel--I hear it up there in the branches, and I get out my slingshot. Ma will be happy when I bring home something for the soup pot. Where is that old squirrel, anyhow? Sounds like a whole family of 'em, laughing at me, and I can't see even one. What? Not again! It's Anikwa, laughing as he jumps down from the tree and lands beside me. How long has he been watching? I swear he can sound like anything! Squirrel, bumblebee, bluebird, or bullfrog. Once, I heard my baby sister crying, but when I turned to look--it wasn't Molly, it was him! ANIKWA James looks up in the tree like he thinks there's a real squirrel hiding somewhere in its branches. I suck in my cheeks to make myself stop laughing-- he shakes his head, puts away his stone and slingshot, gives me a smile that means I got him this time, but next time he'll be watching if I try that trick again. Come on , he motions as he heads to the berry bushes. I've seen him out here picking berries every afternoon since they started to get ripe. Makiinkweeminiiki , I say, pretending to put berries in my mouth and pointing down the trail toward the bushes. He nods his head. Yes , he says, blackberries . As we walk to the berry patch, he tries my word-- makiinkweeminiiki , and I try his-- blackberries . I roll both words around like berries in my mouth. Copyright © 2013 by Helen Frost Excerpted from Salt: A Story of Friendship in a Time of War by Helen Frost All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
