Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
172nd out of 1,091 books
—
1,049 voters
The Light in the Forest
When John Cameron Butler was a child, he was captured in a raid on the Pennsylvania frontier and adopted by the great warrrior Cuyloga. Renamed True Son, he came to think of himself as fully Indian. But eleven years later his tribe, the Lenni Lenape, has signed a treaty with the white men and agreed to return their captives, including fifteen-year-old True Son. Now he must...more
Paperback, 192 pages
Published
September 14th 2004
by Vintage
(first published 1953)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
2,594)
Yes, folks, it's yet another book, probably not actually so dreadful on its own merits, that's been ruined by overzealous junior high school English teachers. We not only had to read this in seventh or eighth grade, but for some obscure reason, the powers that be forced us to watch a filmstrip of the movie, which I think was a feature made for that series The Wonderful World of Disney or whatever the hell it was called, starring James MacArthur (yep, that's Danno of "Hawaii Five-0" Fame) playing...more
My Book Review by: Marco Menjivar
Genre: The Genre of The Light in the Forest is adventure because True Son (a character in this book) goes through some challenges throughout his life.
Short Summary about this book: True Son is supposed to be with the white people but Cuyloga, an Indian, found him and took his white blood and filled it with Indian blood, now he thinks he's Indian but he tries to figure out what he is throughout this book.
The Compelling Literary Element is the Characters because th...more
Genre: The Genre of The Light in the Forest is adventure because True Son (a character in this book) goes through some challenges throughout his life.
Short Summary about this book: True Son is supposed to be with the white people but Cuyloga, an Indian, found him and took his white blood and filled it with Indian blood, now he thinks he's Indian but he tries to figure out what he is throughout this book.
The Compelling Literary Element is the Characters because th...more
I've read a number of reviews which seem to feel having been assigned to read this one in eighth grade somehow makes it a poisoned pill of sorts. I don't agree that required homework means the subject assigned thus must be crappy moralistic stuff grownups are yet again shoving down juvenile throats in a painful forced feeding, like we should all be kind to our classmates and stop bullying. Do not most of us think, "forced" lesson or not, that bullying should be stopped?
Unjustified use of vilifi...more
Unjustified use of vilifi...more
This very short novel is read in junior high English classes, deservedly, because the novel is engaging, but also full of issues that kids understand: alienation, moral dilemma-choices, family issues. The plot revolves a colonial boy kidnapped, then raised, by native Americans who, because of treaty obligations, must return to his real family, but who feels only tied to his native American family and culture. Excellent book.
Mar 09, 2009
El
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
late20th-centurylit,
i-hate-ya
John Butler was abducted from his family in Pennsylvania by Native Americans when he was very small and has grown up with the Lenape tribe in Ohio to the point that he considers himself one of them, which is a mutual feeling. The Lenapes have named him True Son, treating him as a full-blooded Indian. When Butler is ordered to return to his biological family he is crushed and feels his life is over. He suffers a lot of angst over this but ultimately discovers his new life is not as bad as he orig...more
Four-year-old Johnny Butler was kidnapped by raiding Indians and raised as True Son--fully adopted to replace a dead Indian boy. For 11 years he has learned Indian ways from his new father, Cayuga. Considering himself a future warrior, he is stunned and rebelious when his father (and others) must surrender their white captives (including wives) to make a land deal with the White Man. Hurt, humiliated and terrified, True Son mentally spits on all Western civilization. He despises white ways--thei...more
True Son, a boy of 15 who was captured by Indians as a child and was raised as an Indian, was to be returned to the whites as part of a peace treaty. Naturally True Son wanted to stay with his Indian tribe, but he had no choice in the matter and was forced to travel back across the Ohio River and live as a white, giving up the Indian way of life that he knew and loved.
Richter writes in the Acknowledgments that with his comparison of the two lifestyles, he can "...understand and sympathize with e...more
Richter writes in the Acknowledgments that with his comparison of the two lifestyles, he can "...understand and sympathize with e...more
A frontier boy raised by Indians sounds interesting enough, almost intriguing. John was captured by the Indians when he was a youngster and was raised by the Indians and all was right in the world until they were told to give the white people back their captives and so John (a.k.a. True Son), along with many others were forced back into the white man’s village where he really doesn’t want to be. True Son’s (a.k.a. John) family has accepted him as one of their own and Half Arrow, True Son’s cousi...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
My goal is to read and re-read some classics. This is for young readers, but a great story of a child who was captured by Indians in a
raid on his Pennsylvania settlement. He lives with the Indians until
he is forced back to his home when he is sixteen. It's not an easy
adjustment. The story is about a boy who is caught between two cultures
and is not at home in either. That proves true after he escapes back to
the Indians. He had an interesting view of the white man: "They are
young and heedless like...more
raid on his Pennsylvania settlement. He lives with the Indians until
he is forced back to his home when he is sixteen. It's not an easy
adjustment. The story is about a boy who is caught between two cultures
and is not at home in either. That proves true after he escapes back to
the Indians. He had an interesting view of the white man: "They are
young and heedless like...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Well this book is just a great read for anyone looking for an adventure tale dating back to the indian wars in America. This story is a story about a young white boy who was captured by the Lenni Lenape indians. These are for the most part a kind indian tribe but if you do something to offend them they wont hesitate to fight back. When i say fight back i mean they will completely burn your house to the ground and scalp you. The story is about this boy and how the military makes a treaty saying t...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
'True Son' is a white boy lovingly raised by Native Americans whom is forced by the 'white man' to return to his original white mother and father. True Son, called 'Johnny' by the whites, longs only to return to the free life he lived in the forest. He escapes but soon learns that he walks a fine and dangerous line between the whites and the Natives. If the whites see him as too savage and the Natives see him as too 'white', then where does he belong?
I've been waiting a long time to read this. I...more
I've been waiting a long time to read this. I...more
This is about life on the American frontier - about a young white boy captured and raised by Indians till he was 15 years old. Then, by decree of a government treaty with the Indians which called for white captives to be returned to their homes, in return for the Indians' land, the boy was given up by the only family he ever remembered. The switch was, not surprisingly, a failure... the boy thought of himself as Indian, his whole view of life and the world was through native American eyes and he...more
Blue is reading this an dissecting it for his 8th grade history / language arts class. I have some minor problems with the depiction of the Native American mind-set (particularly where True Son's father referring negatively to the behavior of a dying bear - does not agree with what I know). However, I do think this book does an excellent job of the complexities of race and culture. The author said he wrote this book after reading about how many abducted white adopters into Indian families attemp...more
Mar 26, 2013
Stephen
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
books-read-in-2013,
teen-reads
John Cameron Butler is abducted by indians during a raid when he's four but he's adopted by one of the raiders and lives the next 11 years as True Son a full member of the Lenni Lenape tribe. When the tribe agrees to a peace treaty and to return all "captives" True Son is an unwilling re-patriot into the world of the white man.
Written in 1953 this book has been largely forgotten, but is relevant and feels no more outdated than it probably did when first written. At 120 pages this book is a ligh...more
Written in 1953 this book has been largely forgotten, but is relevant and feels no more outdated than it probably did when first written. At 120 pages this book is a ligh...more
For my lit circle group I read a book called: The light in the forest. It is about a white boy who thinks he’s an Indian. He is trained to hate the white men even though he has their blood in him. I think the best genre of the book is historical fiction. I think this because most of this didn’t happen for real. I think the best compelling literary element for this book is the characters. I think this because the book has a cast of characters and they all have something that makes them special. S...more
This book is an outstanding adventure of a young white boy who grows up with a Native American tribe in what is now Delaware. The boy becomes very fond of the Native Americans and thinks the Indians who he grew up with are his real family. He thinks this until his white family comes to retrieve him. He has many troubles living with his white family. I can relate to this because when I was a junior in high school I moved to Wisconsin from Virginia. This is close to the situation as the boy in the...more
I read this book along with my 9th grade son who had to read it for school. The story is well written for the young reader, but also included a few gory details about brutality by one human against another. I didn't care to read such gruesome details. The dilemma of the main character trying to find his place in life was a super discussion-starter for my son and me. True Son, the main character, is a white boy who was kidnapped & adopted by the Indians to replace their dead son. He is raised...more
Identity issues 1950s style, this YA story takes up the life of True Son, a white boy captured by Indians as a toddler and raised by them as one of their own for some eleven years. True Son is forcibly reunited with his white family, but has completely identified with his Indian family and tribe. The story largely revolves around his rather difficult reunion with his birth family, his resistance to their way, and his desire to return to the Indian tribe and world. I found some pleasure in the te...more
I was so touched by the plight of the white boy, Johnny Butler who was four years old when his Lenni Lenape "father," Cuyloga, spoke the words that changed his white blood to Indian blood. Eleven years later, through a treaty, the boy is taken back to his "real" parents and his "true" home by the white soldiers. "True Son" is full of anger and longing for his Indian family, but when he does return to the Indian life and people he loves, things for him have changed. The native dilemma of both the...more
I remember reading this book when I was in the 5th grade or so. I really enjoyed it then, and I enjoyed it this weekend. Setting is American Colonies in the mid-1700's - a child is taken hostage in an Indian raid (I struggled over how to phrase this, and since they called the natives "Indians", and Conrad Richter referred to them as "Indians", I will do the same). The child is adopted, raised in a village in the forest for over ten years, then when he is 15 years old, he is given back to his bir...more
I can't decide what to think of this book. I finished it on the train home and, I hate to admit, had to do the really fast I'm-not-crying blink. It was a little depressing, but realistic, and I'm never quite sure how to evaluate those. I like when my books and movies end realistically, but it kind of ruins my day when the realistic ending is such a downer. It was a good book, with a lot of insight into both cultures and into why they couldn't get along. I'm actually kind of surprised that, since...more
This book let me think of one touching sentence which is about the love between the parents and the children, the sentence is "The one who grows you is more important than the one who gives you birth". Actually this is true because except your life, the one who grows you gives you everything you need. Even though this sentence is saying the parents that abandon their children, but True Son's situation is similar. To the abandoned children, their parents are strangers, and to True Son, Lenni Lena...more
When John Cameron Butler was a child, he was captured in a raid on the Pennsylvania frontier and adopted by the great warrior Cuyloga. Renamed True Son, he came to think of himself as fully Indian. But eleven years later his tribe, the Lenni Lenape, has signed a treaty with the white men and agreed to return their captives, including fifteen-year-old True Son. Now he must go back to the family he has forgotten, whose language is no longer his, and whose ways of dress and behavior are as strange...more
Jan 03, 2013
Connie
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Shelves:
classic,
historical-fiction,
native-american,
src-winter-2012,
young-adult,
adventure,
family
A white boy named John Butler had been captured by Native Americans when he was four years old. His adoptive father took him to Ohio, taught him the Native American culture,and renamed him "True Son." When he was fifteen, True Son was taken back to his white family in the Harrisburg area as part of a treaty agreement. He could not adapt to the white culture, and had been taught to not trust the white people.
This adventure story of a boy caught between two cultures was written for young adults. I...more
This adventure story of a boy caught between two cultures was written for young adults. I...more
This was an interesting story about a young white boy kidnapped and adopted by Indians who was returned to his white family 10 years later as a result of a treaty. The story is told from the perspective of the young boy who has a great deal of trouble adjusting and switching his loyalties.
While not a great book, this story held my interest and made me think about a number of different topics including the role of nature vs nurture, distrust and misunderstandings between different types of people...more
While not a great book, this story held my interest and made me think about a number of different topics including the role of nature vs nurture, distrust and misunderstandings between different types of people...more
This book is not as good as I'd expected it to be. Conrad Richter's writing style is prolix, rambling, and annoying. He often uses ten words when only five will do. I found myself reading sentences over and over again without actually comprehending what he was trying to get across. The opening paragraph couldn't be worse, and the ending was entirely unsatisfactory. I do have to admit that his characters are well imagined and the story plot is interesting, if slightly unimaginative. But aside fro...more
This was the only book that I read for English 11 Honors summer reading that I actually enjoyed, and I've talked to a few others in my class, and they have all said that it's also their favorite out of all of the books. I love learning about history, and one of my favorite time periods is the 1600's through 1800's. I also really love learning about Native American cultures. I thought this book did a wonderful job showing both the Native American's and the white's perspectives and reasoning behin...more
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Jan 26, 2009 05:23pm
Jan 26, 2009 05:43pm