Asian Pacific American Literature

Bibliography
Wong, Janet S. 2000. This Next New Year. Illus Choi, Yangsook. New York: Frances Foster Books. ISBN 978-0-374-35503-6




Summary
A Korean American family prepares to celebrate the Chinese New Year. The family looks forward to all the good luck they hope the New Lunar Year will bring to them.

Critical Analysis
The Chinese New Year is about to begin and the narrator, a young Korean American boy is ready to celebrate it. The narrator begins by comparing the January 1st New Year day with the Lunar New Year. The book is filled with cultural markers that describe Asian customs during the Chinese New Year day and how his American friends celebrate the Chinese New Year too. His family eats duk gook while his French/German friend eats Thai food to go. His Mexican/Hopi friend says the Chinese New Year her favorite holiday because her neighbor from Singapore gives her red envelopes filled with money.

The narrator and his mother clean the house and sweep out last year’s dust. He evens cleans himself extra clean so he can soak up all the luck he and wears his cleanest clothes. He will be brave when they light the firecrackers at midnight and during the parade to scare away the bad luck. And he won’t say one awful thing “because this is it, a fresh start, my second chance.” This must be a reference to making a resolution during the January 1st New Year and now making it again during the Chinese New Year. After all the narrator is American and he probably celebrates both New Year's Day.

The illustrations are colorful and bright and depict many Asian cultural markers. There is a red and gold banner with Chinese writing that is displayed at the family table as they eat with chopsticks sitting on pillows on the floor. There are a couple of pictures of the long dragon that is used during Chinese New Year parades. There are Chinese lanterns lighted outside and his friend Evelyn receives her red envelope from her neighbor. The characters and children are drawn with a diversity of skin coloring and hair color.

The author, Janet Wong includes an author’s note at the end of the book which describes the Lunar New Year, a few customs about how her family celebrates it and what it means to her. This is cute multicultural book that explains a few of the customs of the Chinese New Year and how a Korean American boy celebrates the holiday in America with his family and friends.


Awards/Honors
Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award
Nick Jr. "Best Holiday Book[s] of 2000"

Review Excerpts
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books v. 54 no. 1 (September 2000) p. 42
"Unfortunately, Choi's paintings aren't quite up to the standard set by the ebullient text; figures are stiff and doll-like, and her overuse of shortened foreground makes the scenes repetitively flat. Nonetheless, the narrator's joyous obsessions offer a delightful contrast to more staid primary-grade explanations of Chinese New Year."- Bush, Elizabeth, reviewer

MultiCultural Review v. 10 no. 1 (March 2001) p. 102
"This is a perfect book to share with primary students on the lunar new year to help them appreciate Chinese-American culture. By pairing this book with one about the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, it would be easy to note common New Year's similarities of putting aside the past and looking forward to the future."- Lickteig, Mary J., reviewer

Connections

Website Janet S. Wong

Wong, Janet S. 2007. Twist: Yoga Poems. Ill. Julie Paschkis. New York, NY: Margaret K. McElderry Books. ISBN 10-0689873948

Wong, Janet S. 2002. Apple Pie Fourth of July. Ill. Margaret Chodos-Irvine. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Inc. ISBN 10-015202543X

Wong, Janet S. 2000. Night Garden Poems from the World of Dreams. Ill. by Julie Paschkis. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books. 0689826176

Wong, Janet S. 1999. The Rainbow Hand:Poems About Mothers and Children. Ill. By Jennifer Hewitson. New York: Margaret K. McElderberry Books. ISBN: 0689821484






Bibliography
Say, Allen. 1993. Grandfather’s Journey. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0395570352.








Summary
A Japanese American man tells the story of his grandfather’s journey to America and return to his homeland. The grandfather is torn between a love for both countries and the narrator travels to America and experiences the same feelings as his grandfather.

Critical Analysis
The illustrations in this book are incredible and beautiful. It was awarded the Caldecott Medal is 1994, a medal awarded to the artist of the most distinguished American children’s picture book published that year. The story is a about a Japanese man’s journey, the author’s grandfather, and his love between two countries, the United States of America and Japan.

Allen Say draws his grandfather and family in traditional Japanese clothing of their time when they are in Japan and in American clothing when they are in America. The first picture is of his grandfather as a young man dressed in traditional Japanese robes. The next picture he is wearing “European clothes.” When his grandfather returns to Japan, his wife and daughter are illustrated in Kimonos and there is picture of Allen Say as a boy with his grandfather in a green Japanese robe. Another illustration shows his grandfather seated on the floor on a mat, with legs crossed, dressed in grey robes.

The text and illustrations describe the sights and people his grandfather saw in America and the landscapes of both countries. He writes about the conflict his grandfather experienced loving the country he is in while longing for the other one and how he feels connected to him because he now experiences the same thing. This story is a slightly different take of the theme of cross cultural conflict. His grandfather simply loves the country he is in while longing for the other. There is a mention about World War 2 and how his grandparents home was destroyed and but he still longed to see California before he died.

“The funny thing is, the moment I am in one country I am homesick for the other.” Allen Say writes about how he now knows his grandfather. It is a touching tribute to his grandfather and a beautifully illustrated story.


Awards/Honors
Bulletin Blue Ribbon
Caldecott Medal Book
ALA Notable Book
Booklist Editors' Choice
Boston Globe/Horn Book Award
Horn Book Fanfare Selection
School Library Journal Best Books of the Year
New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books of the Year

Review Excerpts
Booklist v. 89 (July 1993) p. 1974
"As in the best children's books, the plain, understated words have the intensity of poetry. The watercolor paintings frame so much story and emotion that they break your heart. Looking at the people in this book is like turning the pages of a family photo album, the formal arrangements and stiff poses show love and distance, longing and mystery, beneath such elemental rites as marriage, leaving, and return. . . . Allen Say has traveled and found riches everywhere. He captures what the Jewish American writer Irving Howe calls an 'eager restlessness.'" -Rochman, Hazel, reviewer

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books v. 47 (September 1993) p. 23
"Both the joy in new vistas and the ache of remembrance are captured in Say's large watercolor paintings, fresh perspectives on purple mountains' majesty and amber waves of grain. (Japan looks pretty good, too.) As in Tree of Cranes, which is about the narrator's California-born mother, the paintings are precise, cool portraits and views that fix recollections into images, and the book as a whole is an album where both a picture of a family standing amidst war's devastation and a romantic pastorale of courting lovers find their place in memory."- Sutton, Roger, reviewer

Connections
Other books by Allen Say
Say, Allen. 1991. Tree of Cranes. Ill. by Allen Say. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
ISBN 039552024X

Say, Allen. 1999. Tea with Milk. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 10- 0395904951

Say, Allen. 2010. The boy in the garden. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. ISBN 9780547214108.

Say, Allen. Kamishibai Man. Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company. 2005. ISBN 9780618479542.









Bibliography
Lin, Grace. 2006. The Year of the Dog. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0316060003.





Summary
A young Taiwanese American girl tries to find herself, her talent and new best friends during the Chinese Year of the Dog.

Critical Analysis
The book starts and ends on the day of the Chinese New Year. It is the Year of the Dog. Dogs are faithful, friendly, honest and sincere. Based on those characteristics it is a year for friends and family and finding yourself. Pacy is a young Taiwanese-American girl who lives in upstate New York. During the course of the Year of the Dog, Pacy finds her best friend and her cultural identity and her calling in life. This is a sweet, funny book. The drawings throughout the text are cute and representative of the drawings Pacy draws. Young girls of all cultures will identify with Pacy and her friends and family.

The book is full of cultural markers of Taiwanese/Chinese culture. Pacy struggles with accepting her dual cultural identity. Her family tries to blend both the Chinese and American cultures and she experiences some cross cultural conflicts. Pacy is her Chinese name, it is the name her family uses. Her American name is Grace, the name her friends use at school. Pacy is not sure if she is to call herself Chinese or Taiwanese. Her parents are from Taiwan and some people think Taiwan is part of China, plus her parents speak both Chinsese and Taiwanese. When Pacy asks her mother what she was supposed to say when people ask her what she is, her mother tells her to tell them she is American.

On the day of the Chinese New Year Pacy cannot fill a dish with only Chinese candy because her sister kept eating the candy. The candy dish needed to be filled with sweet things so they could have a year full of sweet things so Pacy fills the tray with M&Ms. Her father likes the idea and said they should both include both Chinese and American candies since they are Chinese-American. The family celebrates the Chinese New Year with all the Asian customs, cleaning the house, cooking a big meal of shrimp, meat dumplings,and vegetables, giving the children Hong Bao (special red envelopes with money).

The next day at school Pacy gets very excited and quickly bonds with a new student, Melody, who is also of Taiwanese descent. The families also bond together because they are the only Asian Americans in their town.

A family baptism is filled with more cultural markers. The family colors eggs red as a symbol of good luck and fill the baby’s crib with red envelopes of money, there are red banners with Chinese writing and English writing. The family celebrates with a large feast of stir-fried noodles, cooked duck, lychees eggplant, shrimp and vegetables, white rice, pork buns and red meat.

Pacy references the Chinese calendar and the animals that represent each year a few times throughout the book. A friend at school asks her about it and she explains it as “You know how horoscopes use animals for some months? Well for Chinese people it’s for every year.” She tells her new best friend Melody that they are lucky because they were both born the Year of the Tiger and tigers and dogs are friends so the Year of the Dog is a lucky year for them both.

During the year Pacy tries to find herself and what she wants to be when she grows up. She thinks maybe a scientist when she participates in a school science fair but she did not win a prize. Then she thinks maybe she can become an actress and wants to try out for the part of Dorothy in a school play of the Wizard of Oz, but becomes discouraged when a classmate tells her Dorothy is not Chinese. Pacy questions her cultures importance in society and she and Melody have a conversation about it. Pacy tells Melody that Chinese people are not important and Melody disagrees. The girls go to the library and ask for a Chinese book and look at the culturally inauthentic book The Seven Chinese Brothers. Pacy comments that those aren’t real Chinese people. She wants a “real Chinese person book.” Melody tells her to write her own book. So she does. Her class is assigned to write a book that will be entered into a contest and Pacy writes about the vegetables her mother grows in a garden and uses to cook a tasty soup.

Interspersed throughout the book are little vignettes about Pacy’s family history. There is a story about her grandfather, her mother as a child in school, her grandmother walking to school and staying there with the other grandmothers due to the pain of the foot binding and not having to walk back and forth. The stories are used by Pacy's family to explain how they understand what she is going through and that they too have experienced conflict about their own culture.

Pacy becomes painfully aware about how she doesn’t quite fit in again this time with her own culture when her family attends a Taiwanese American Convention with Melody’s family. Some girls call her a Twinkie, yellow on the outside and white on the inside, because she doesn’t know how to speak Chinese or Taiwanese. When Pacy questions why her family had to go to the convention her mother tells her a story about how a Chinese friend helped her when she was experiencing the culture shock of moving to America when she was in college. She tells the importance of staying connected with people of your culture because they understand where you come from and that she only needs to be who she is Chinese-American.

The cross cultural conflict comes up again during the American holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas. The parents don’t quite understand some of the American traditions but attempt them anyways because the kids want a turkey and gifts. Pacy asks for a china doll, like the dolls pioneer girls had. Her parents give her a Chinese doll, that looks and is dressed like a Chinese woman.

The book closes with Pacy realizing that the Year of the Dog was indeed a good year for her. She found a best friend and discovered what she was good at and wanted to be when she grew up. She even won a special prize which made her rich. She is ready for the next year that is coming up, the Year of the Pig.

On a personal note, my 9 year old daughter was very excited when she saw that I was reading this book. She told me it was her favorite book and showed me her journal and what she wrote about it. We are Mexican American but she related to many things in the book and the cultural struggles Pacy went through. I can see why she liked it so much, it is a cute, funny book and it is about struggles all young girls have regardless of their culture.

Awards/Honors
• 2006 Fall Publisher's Pick
• Starred Booklist Review
• 2006 ALA Children's Notable
• 2006 Asian Pacific American Librarian Association Honor
• 2006 National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA) GOLD Winner
• 2007-2008 Texas Bluebonnet Award Masterlist
• 2007 Nene Awards Recommended List (Hawaii's Book Award Chosen by Children Grades 4-6)
• 2007 Cochecho Readers' Award List (sponsored by the Children's Librarians of Dover, New Hampshire)
• NYPL 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing 2006
• Kirkus Best Early Chapter Books 2006
•2006 Booklist Editors' Choice for Middle Readers
•Cooperative Children's Book Center Choice 2007
•Boston Authors Club Recommended Book
•2007-2008 Great Lakes Great Books Award nominee
•2007-2008 North Carolina Children's Book Award nominee
•2007-2008 West Virginia Children's Book Award nominee
•2009 Beverly Cleary Children's Choice Award (OR) nominee
•2009 Pacific Northwest Young Readers Choice Award (WA, OR, ID)nominee

Review Excerpts
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books v. 59 no. 6 (February 2006) p. 272
"The book is strong in the classic virtues of accessibility and warmth, . . . and it's unusual to see that tradition combined with an insider story of a second-culture family (lively interpolated stories often give glimpses into Grace's mother's very different youth and immigrant experience); it's nice to see a book where second-culture identity is part of an everyday-life narrative rather than a problem novel. Short, easy chapters make this additionally suitable for reading aloud to younger audiences, and readers will find this a comradely, if somewhat bland, look into one girl's year. Tidy, solidly lined drawings, seemingly created by the narrator, pop up in margins and chapter headings throughout and enhance the book's approachability."- Stevenson, Deborah

The Horn Book v. 82 no. 2 (March/April 2006) p. 190-1
"With a light touch, Lin offers both authentic Taiwanese-American and universal childhood experiences, told from a genuine child perspective. The story, interwoven with several family anecdotes, is entertaining and often illuminating. Appealing, childlike decorative line drawings add a delightful flavor to a gentle tale full of humor." - Feldman, Roxanne H

Connections
Website Grace Lin

Other book by Grace Lin:

Lin, Grace. 2009. The Year of the Rat. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 9780316033619.

Lin, Grace.2009. The Ugly Vegetable. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge Publishing. ISBN 9780881063363.

Lin, Grace. 2009. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. New York: Little, Brown and Co. ISBN 9780316114271.

Native American Literature

poetry



Bibliography
Bruchac, Joseph. 1995. The Earth Under Sky Bear’s Feet: Native American Poems of the Land. Illus. Locker, Thomas. New York: Scholastic Inc. ISBN 0-59013153-2









Plot summary
A young Iroquois girl is afraid of the approaching night and wants to go into the lodge. Her grandmother tells her if they go in they will not get to see Sky Bear. The girl is intrigued and her grandmother tells her stories about what Sky Bear sees and hears during the night. There are twelve poems from various tribes about Sky Bear and what she sees on Earth throughout the night.

Critical analysis
Bruchac has written beautiful collection of poems about Sky Bear and the things she sees on Earth during the night. The poems were inspired by Native American songs and stories about the earth, the night and the stars. Sky Bear is a constellation of stars commonly known as the Big Dipper. The oil paintings by Locke complement the poetry well depicting landscapes, animals, stars, and the people within the poems. Sky Bear sees many interesting things during the night: fireflies, a flute player, the Northern Lights, other stars in the sky, mice, piñon gatherers, caribou, a wolf, spirit dancers and the dawn.

The poems were inspired by twelve different tribal groups of North America. The twelve tribes represented are: Mohawk, Anishinabe, Pima, Missisquoi, Winnebago, Cochiti Pueblo, Lenape, Chumash, Inuit, Lakota, Navajo, and Pawnee. In the Author’s Note, Bruchac writes “I wanted to remind readers that, as Native children have always been taught, there can be as much to see in the living night as in the more familiar light of day.” Several of the poems have some Native American language sprinkled within but there is no glossary presented to translate the words. A reference is provided on the last page that lists the stories, poems and songs that Bruchac’s poetry is based upon. Bruchac is of Abenaki heritage.

That bear was Sky Bear,
running on through the stars.
Look up now
and you will see her,
Circling the sky.

When I look up at the night sky I will no longer see the Big Dipper, instead I will see Sky Bear and imagine all the things she sees on Earth as she crosses the night sky.


Review excerpts
School Library Journal v. 41 (November 1995) p. 87
A companion to Bruchac's Thirteen Moons on Turtle's Back (1992). . . . Bruchac has once again compiled a thoughtful collection that eloquently bears out the theme of unity among all creatures. The selections display a wide range of emotions. Some are pensive meditation; others resound with hopeful energy. 'Mouse's Bragging Song,' a whimsical delight, is the arrogant boast of a little creature who thinks he alone can touch the sky. Locker's luminous oil paintings add detail and depth." Taniguchi, Marilyn, reviewer

The Horn Book v. 72 (January/February 1996) p. 85
"From the Mohawk and Missisquoi peoples of the Northeastern United States to the Pima, Cochiti Pueblo, and Navajo peoples of the Southwest to the Subarctic Inuit, these pieces reflect an awe and appreciation for the natural world. Locker's deeply hued paintings burst with the beauty of night across North America as his varied palette easily captures the Lenape's dark eastern woodland sky as well as the vast horizon of the Great Plains. The poems contain many images that will capture children's imaginations. . . . {They} provide an imaginative introduction to American Indian folklore and offer teachers a fruitful point of departure for classroom discussion. - Fader, Ellen, reviewer

Connections
This is the companion book to Thirteen Moons on Turtles Back: A Native American Year of Moons, which is about a grandfather telling his grandson about the thirteen moons of the year.

Bruchac, Joseph. 1992. Thirteen Moons on Turtles Back: A Native American Year of Moons. Illus. Locker, Thomas. New York: Scholastic Inc. ISBN 0-590-99508-1




picture book



Bibliography
Tingle, Tim. 2006. Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship and Freedom. Ill. By Jeanne Rorex Bridges. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press. ISBN 9870938317777.






Plot Summary
The Bok Chitto River was the boundary between the Choctaws and plantation owners. If a slave was able to cross the river, the slave was free. Martha Tom, a young Choctaw girl, crossed the river in search of blackberries and stumbled onto a forbidden slave church. The preacher sent his son, Little Mo to help guide her back to the river. A friendship developed between the two and over several years Martha Tom crossed the river to visit the church and her friends. Then one day Little Mo’s mother was sold and their family was devastated. Little Mo suggested they attempt to cross the Bok Chitto to freedom. With the help of Martha Tom, her mother and several women, the family crossed the river safely to freedom.

Critical Analysis
“Crossing Bok Chitto” is truly a multicultural story. It is a tale about a friendship between a black boy and Choctaw girl and also about how some Choctaw women helped a family of black slaves cross a river to freedom. Tim Tingle is an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and was inspired to write this tale after speaking with a tribal elder from Mississippi and learning the history of his own tribe and other tribes that helped “the runaway people of bondage.”

A page about the Choctaws today and a note on Choctaw storytelling is included at the end of the book. Tingle writes “The story is documented the Indian way, told and retold and then passed on by uncles and grandmothers. Crossing Bok Chitto, in this new format - of language and painting, this book way of telling - is for both the Indian and the non-Indian.” The illustrator, Bridges is of Cherokee ancestry. The illustrations authentically depict the setting and clothing of the slaves, Choctaws and plantation owners. The emotions of Little Mo and his family are heartbreaking portraits when his mother is sold. The Choctaw women are visions of angles when dressed in their white wedding attire and long flowing black hair.

The is a bit of the Choctaw language weaved within in the story. The first time Little Mo crosses the river with Martha Tom he observes a wedding taking place. The men sing an old wedding song in Choctaw. Martha Tom also sings a song she had learned at the slave church but in Choctaw as they helped Little Mo and his family cross the river to their freedom.

This is a wonderful tale about the power of friendship. It is also a bit of history that has been passed down in stories told by Indians about the how their people helped runaway slaves to their freedom.

Awards/Honors
Texas Bluebonnet Master Award List 2008-2009
American Indian Youth Literature Award, Best Picture Book, 2008
American Library Association, Notable Children’s Book, 2007
Jane Addams Peace Award Honor Book
Once Upon a World Children’s ook Award, 2007 Honor Book
Anne Izard Storytellers’ Choice Award
Oklahoma Book Award, Bet Children’s Book, 2007
Oklahoma Book Award, Best Illustrations, 2007
Paterson Prize for Books for Young People
Skipping Stones Honor Book
Texas Institute of Letters Best Children’s Book, 2006
Teddy Award, Texas Writers League, 2005

Review Excerpts
MultiCultural Review v. 15 no. 3 (Fall 2006) p. 94-5
"[This book], originally one of the stories in Tingle's excellent collection Walking the Choctaw Road, is now a picture book. . . . [It] is an awesome story of survival, generosity, courage, kindness, and love, enhanced by Bridges's luminous acrylic on watercolor board paintings on a subdued palette of mostly browns and greens. In an endnote, [the author] describes how this particular story came to be. Today, Choctaw families—as well as Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole—continue to tell the stories of how they aided the ‘runaway people of bondage.’- Slapin, Beverly

School Library Journal v. 52 no. 7 (July 2006) p. 88
Dramatic, quiet, and warming, this is a story of friendship across cultures in 1800s Mississippi. While searching for blackberries, Martha Tom, a young Choctaw, breaks her village's rules against crossing the Bok Chitto. She meets and becomes friends with the slaves on the plantation on the other side of the river, and later helps a family escape across it to freedom when they hear that the mother is to be sold. Tingle is a performing storyteller, and his text has the rhythm and grace of that oral tradition. It will be easily and effectively read aloud. The paintings are dark and solemn, and the artist has done a wonderful job of depicting all of the characters as individuals, with many of them looking out of the page right at readers. The layout is well designed for groups as the images are large and easily seen from a distance. There is a note on modern Choctaw culture, and one on the development of this particular work. This is a lovely story, beautifully illustrated, though the ending requires a somewhat large leap of the imagination. – Riedel, Cris

Connections
Other books by Tim Tingle
Tingle, Tim. 2010. Saltypie: A Choctaw Journey From Darkness into Light. El Paso, TX: Cinco Puntos Press. ISBN 9781933693675.

Tingle, Tim. 2006. When Turtle Grew Feathers: A Tale from the Choctaw Nation. Atlanta, GA: August House. ISBN 9780874837773.

Tingle, Tim. Walking the Choctaw Road: Stories from Red Peoples Memory. ISBN 0938317733

Students can research the Choctaw Nations of Oklahoma and Mississippi and learn about the history of the tribe and the present day culture of the people.

Websites
http://www.timtingle.com/

Jeanne Rorex Bridges
http://www.rorex-art.com/



novel




Bibliography
Smith, Cynthia Leitich. 2001. Rain is Not My Indian Name. New York: Harper Collins. ISBN 0-688-17397-7







Plot summary
Cassidy Rain Berghoff is a fourteen year old, Native American girl of mixed blood who lives in a small town in Kansas. Her best friend, Galen is killed in an accident on New Year’s Eve. Six months later Rain slowly emerges from her depression and begins to reconnect with her family and community. Rain’s Aunt Georgia is running a camp for Native American teenagers in her town but Rain refuses to participate despite the urgings from her family. Rain has a passion for photography and takes up her hobby once again when her brother’s girlfriend asks her to take pictures for the town newspaper about the Indian Camp. As Galen's birthday approaches on the fourth of July, Rain starts to come to terms with the tragedies in her life and her hertiage.

Critical Analysis
This is a story about grief and healing. It is also about a young girl embracing her heritage and what it means to her. The beginning of each chapter starts with a Rain’s journal, where we get a glimpse into her past and innermost thoughts about the people in her life and her heritage.

Six months after the death of her best friend Rain slowly begins to emerge from her depression. She unwittingly becomes part of a political battle about funding for a Native American Youth Camp her Aunt Georgia is coordinating. Rain is not ready for it, she is still grieving, plus she thinks it sounds like “the kind of thing where a bunch of probably suburban, probably rich, probably white kid, tromped around a woodsy park, calling themselves, “princesses”, “braves’ or “guides.” Her brother's girlfriend, Natalie is the editor of the town newspaper and hires Rain to take photos of the Indian Camp for the newspaper.

Rain starts to think about her heritage as she observes the Indian Camp behind the lens of her camera. “Rain is not my Indian name, not the way people think of Indian names. But I am Indian and it is the name my parents gave me” she wrote in her journal one day. Rain is of mixed blood ancestry. She is Muscogee Creek-Cherokee and Scots-Irish on her mother's side and Irish-German-Ojibway on her dad’s side. She thinks about the sterotypes of Indians she has seen at school and the questions she gets about her own lineage. She thinks about the people in her community and their cultures. The story has a mix of characters from other tribes and cultures: Queenie, a black girl whose great grandfather was Seminole, the Flash, who is Jewish and Galen, his mother and Natalie who are white.

While Indian camp is going on Rain is also thinking about her best friend Galen who died on New Year' Eve and her mom who died when she was 8 years old. Rain finally makes peace with their passing and honors her mother by visiting her grave and creates a website in Galen's memory.


Cynthia Leithch Smith is of mixed blood like her protagonist. Her tribal affiliation is Muscogee (Creek) Nation and she is biracial of Euro-American heritage. This was her first novel.


Awards/honors
2001 Writers of the Year in Children's Prose by Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers. Finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award

Review excerpts
MultiCultural Review v. 10 no. 3 (September 2001) p. 115-16
"Smith writes about a mixed-blood 14-year-old coming to terms with the sudden death of her mother and, more recently, of her best friend, her might-have-been boyfriend. Told in the first person, each chapter begins with a refreshingly nonlinear journal entry. In both journal and narrative, we see a smart teenager with an acerbic wit." - Slapin, Beverly, reviewer

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books v. 55 no. 1 (September 2001) p. 35-6
"Unfortunately, Rain's story does not come into focus quickly or clearly enough. Two short chapters introduce and then kill off Rain's best friend/boyfriend; after that, the complexities of the local backstory make it difficult for the reader to put together the big picture, in which issues of friendship and family are explored through fragmented views of interrelated plots. Still, Rain's observations are appealingly wry, and readers who stay with her until these themes are fully developed will find food for thought in this exploration of cultural identity."

Connections
Cynthia Leitich Smith’s blog - Cynsations
and website www.cynthialeitichsmith.com