The Indian School

by Gloria Whelan, Gabriela Dellosso (Illustrator)

A critically acclaimed historical novel by the author of the National Book Award-winning novel Homeless Bird . When shy ten-year-old Lucy comes to live with her aunt and uncle at their mission school, she's surprised at the number of harsh rules and restrictions imposed on the children. Why, she wonders, should the Indians have to do all the changing? And why is her aunt so strict with them? Then a girl called Raven runs away in protest, and Lucy knows she must overcome her timidity and stand up to her aunt—no matter what the consequences. With her trademark lyricism, spare prose, and strong young heroine, award-winning author Gloria Whelan has once again taken a chapter from history and transformed it into gripping, accessible historical fiction that is perfect for schools and classrooms, as well as for fans of Linda Sue Park and Louise Erdrich.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Childrens, Historical, Juvenile, Native American

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Gloria Whelan is the best-selling author of many novels for young readers, including Homeless Bird, winner of the National Book Award; Fruitlands: Louisa May Alcott Made Perfect; Angel on the Square and its companion, The Impossible Journey; Once on This Island, winner of the Great Lakes Book Award; Farewell to the Island; and Return to the Island. She lives with her husband, Joseph, in the woods of northern Michigan.

Reviews

[Kasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good story. It is a 4.3 on the AR reading list. I have been been pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoy these good simple stories by Whelan.

[Booktearainyday · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trovare qualcosa in italiano sulle scuole per indottrinare i bambini nativi americani sembra impossibile. Mi sono affidata a questo libro, ma ne ho ricavato ben poco.

[Guitargirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gloria Whelen... is a wonderful author and the Homeless Bird and they are both good but I like Homeless Bird better.

[Kate Mester · Rating 1 out of 5]

Offensive on all possible counts.

[Susan Forsgren · Rating 4 out of 5]

When we see the things all people have in common, not differences, everything is better.

[Sarah A · Rating 3 out of 5]

My daughter’s class is reading this as the term’s book. I got it from the library and read it in 45 minutes.
This book is good and bad!

There is a lot of offensive material - starting with the title. The book is dark - it starts with the main character becoming an orphan after her parents are killed. The story explores the exploitation and persecution of native Americans in a very light way - touching on the diseases of white people killing off large numbers of native Americans as well as killing them off for other reasons. It touches on the white missionaries thinking they were superior and stopping the native Americans from celebrating their own culture and traditions. The Native American children are given “proper” white names in the school and they are not always treated with respect especially by the aunt.

I’m not Native American so I cannot comment on just how offensive this book is to their way of life.

To many, the book probably doesn’t go deeply enough into how utterly the white missionaries ruined, bullied and persecuted the native Americans.

However as a children’s book for 8-9 year olds, I think this is a good starter book for many American children to learn about their history, to learn that native Americans have a vast and glorious culture and that a lot of it was lost or destroyed due to white people. The book does give them ideas about children being orphaned and raised in a different way and some of the struggles associated with that. It gives insights into the life at the time. I wouldn’t want my daughter delving too deeply into the atrocities at this age and this book is just enough to make her start to wonder, start to realize and accept that history isn’t pure and simple but made up of lots of nastiness and people doing what they thought was the right thing at the time but now we know it really wasn’t!

So - yes it is superficial but it’s also enough to spark ideas and thoughts and interests for kids at this age to get them thinking about history, religion, and life.

However it is also the sort of book that can put kids off reading as it is miserable and has old fashioned language.

I can see this book causing problems but I can also see it being used by the right teacher to stimulate thought.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has it's positives and negatives like any, but maybe because the negatives were a bit more socially impactful than most, it seemed like they had more power. Then again, the positives were also more socially impactful, so that's why this book was hard to rate. This was written in the mid 90's so you can expect some signs of age. That being said, it is one of the only children's books from that period written about schools for Native American children; European-focused schools that worked to strip away indigenous languages, cultures, appearances....everything. That was a great topic...but it wasn't written by someone who has been impacted by those schools, so the positives were significantly more highlighted than the negatives. There is a distinct mood of "why should white settlers think that everyone should change for them?" throughout the book, but not enough to make it clear that missionary schools were colonizing forces. The book is a pretty short read and is an interesting story for the most part, so I'm happy I read it, but it's biased in the opposite direction of what you'd read if this was written today.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

As far as a book by a white person in the 90s about schools for Native Americans, it could have been worse. It definitely shows how Native American culture can be appreciated and how they were stripped of their ways and land. However, it doesn’t go beyond “well, that’s unfortunate”. It’s very middle ground with a message of “hey white people tried to help but didn’t do a great job with respect. Oh well.” And nothing changes haha. I get the book is for 8-9 year olds, but I still feel its a little sugarcoated.

[Kayla Sullinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay. I didn't like Aunt Emma. Not just because she treated the Native American kids badly but that she was also uncaring towards Lucy as well. Like it was Lucy's fault her parents died. I liked how in the end she softened a little though.

[Narayan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda liked it. It showed how influencing someone to do right or wrong can change someone's life if it impacts them hard.

[Sanah Shah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book really stimulated how life in indian schools were. I wish the book had a better end and it wasn’t so short. Overall, I think it’s a good book.

[Chp5]

It was good because it helped you imagine the Indian schools back then.

[Kailyn | Wonder. Wander. Read · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting historical fiction, but kind of a over-worn conclusion of “we set out to teach them, but they taught me.” Similar to The Sign of the Beaver, with Sign of the Beaver being preferable.

[Jennifer Heise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this was not too bad, as the main character, an orphaned white girl, goes to live with her missionary aunt and uncle who run an Indian School. Compared to most of the true stories I've read, it's rather whitewashed. Despite the oppression of the Native American students -- "Mary" who works in the kitchen can't even remember her tribal name, she's so beaten down by the aunt's bullying-- the uncle is well meaning and caring, and the aunt is mostly redeemed at the end by her love for a small native boy they take in while his father is up North finding them a new place to live (smallpox had ravaged their village).

The narrator has some commonality with the native american children as her aunt takes away the books she brought from home and complains about her niece's flighty ways, but the narrator knows from the get-go that the native americans are far more repressed than she is. She makes friends to some extent with Raven (the older sister of the boy mentioned above) and her intervention after Raven escapes from the school but hides out nearby, and the brother is taken with pneumonia, brings some positive results.

On the other hand, the children are relatively well treated and well fed, and there's no outright mention of the proselytizing and evangelization that was the real purpose of these schools.

Basically, this is a very gentled-down telling of the Indian Schools story, with a very light challenge to the reader's privilege. Not being NA myself, I wasn't sensitive to it, but I'm sure there is lots to be bothered by. Compared to the NA stories of my youth, though, it's a world better.

[Leah Good · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars (rounded up to three because I might have liked it better if I was in the age group it was written for).

"The Indian School" tells the story of Lucy, a young orphan who goes to live with her aunt and uncle who run a school for indian children. While there, Lucy forges a friendship with a tough indian girl named Raven.
Even her stern aunt becomes fond of Raven's little brother, Star Face. When the little boy becomes gravely ill, Aunt Emma and Raven learn to work together to nurse him back to health.

After recently visiting an indian mission in Missouri, I enjoyed this fictional taste of what that life was like. As usual, Gloria Whelen's writing feels authentic and well researched. The primary reason for the low ranking is because I felt the morals presented could be confusing to the intended age group. While it is not portrayed in a positive light, Lucy's aunt acts in a superior manner to her husband, and Lucy's growing sense of self-sufficiency and independence sometimes carries a slightly rebellious flavor.

[Eden Silverfox · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Lucy's parents die, she goes to live with her Aunt and Uncle who run a school for Indian children. Things are different there, her Aunt is very strict and Lucy wonders why the Indians have to do all the changing.

This was a nice story of friendship and accepting someone for who they are and not wanting to them or how they live their life. It is a nice read, but if children read this, I would hope their parents tell them about how life was for the children who went to Indian schools. While I'm sure not all people who ran schools for Indian children intentions were bad, Indian children were often mistreated and forced to do everything the "White" way.

But this is a nice book that does teach some good lessons.

[Katt Hansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished this book yesterday and I have mixed feelings. So much of the story just seems to scratch the surface of what's there. You have an orphaned girl going to live in a strange environment with people who could be friends, but where there could also be a great deal of conflict. And while there IS conflict, it doesn't really deliver.

Still, it's an enjoyable story and a good look at a period in time that doesn't get a lot of treatment in kids books. If you're studying Michigan history (and a lot of Whelan's books seem to deal in Michigan history) you could do worse than to pick this one up. It's a quick read, and honestly something I would consider using with struggling older readers.

So...good but not great. Cautiously recommended.

[Miss Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

gr 3-6 89 pgs


1839, Michigan. 11 year old Lucy is taken in by her aunt and uncle after her parents are killed in a wagon accident. Her Aunt Emma and Uncle Edward run a school for Indian children. Aunt Emma is strict and cold; Uncle Edward is more caring but won't stand up to his wife. Lucy doesn't stand up to her aunt either even though she doesn't agree with her. When two new children come to the school, Raven refuses to follow all of Aunt Emma's strict rules

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enh.

Not remarkable, but a solid, basic short chapter book showing how a stern white matriarch of an "Indian school" bends towards the Indian children in her care. Book is a bit dated now, but it would still be worth including in a unit in school that covers the era.

[VAle · Rating 3 out of 5]

preso in biblioteca

Storia breve e carina, rende in poche pagine l'atmosfera del tempo e dei luoghi di cui narra. Una storia che parla della diversità e di quanto sia difficile fare la scelta giusta, senza carere nella pesantezza e nella retorica.

[Mary]

I have had this book since fifth grade and finally read it. There are some valuable lessons about loyalty, affection, and the importance of remembering your heritage. quick read. Definitely fifth grade or lower level reading.

[Ashley Melton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chapter book. Great way to introduce how the Native American culture was integrated to white society.

[Haley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can't wait to read

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story had a good message about the importance of maintaining a persons culture, especially for children.

[Janie R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this historic read about an Indian school.

[Terralyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can read books where it's historically accurate to use certain derogatory phrases or words... but this book was so completely written for white people. It's unabashedly prejudiced.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tender story, goes a little too easy on the harshness of most Indian boarding schools but it's a kid's book so I understand.

[Fotima · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this book. I like the book story and chapter 2-3-4-6. I like this is chapter.

[Tulika Singh]

It is a good book