Culture 4

Bibliography
Bruchac, Joseph. 2000. SQUANTO’S JOURNEY. Ill. By Greg Shed. Orlando, FL: Harcourt. ISBN 0152018174.

Plot Summary
This is the story of Squanto. The story is told from the Native American perspective. The story about the pilgrims is usually told from the perspective of the pilgrims. This is Squanto’s life story. He is a Native American that was born in 1590. He was of the Patuxet people. He narrates his story and tells how the white men came to his land. He became friends with John Smith and several others. One day a man who said that he was friends with John Smith invited him and several of his friends to his ship for a feast. This man, Thomas Hunt, was not a friend of John Smiths, and he took Squanto and the others as captives. He took them all to Spain. Some religious men freed them. Squanto then went to England and learned how to speak English. He is able to then go back to America and live as a guide and an interpreter.

Critical Analysis
This is a much needed interpretation of the story of the pilgrims. It gives a Native American perspective that is not usually told. The plot centers on the life of Squanto. The text is written as if he is narrating his life story. This is a very authentic story and is not the typical sugar coated version of the first thanksgiving. It tells how he was taken into slavery, but was able to make it back to his homeland. The story then continues on about his life and the contributions he made during his life as a friend and interpreter to the English. The author uses some, but not a lot of, culturally authentic words throughout the story. The words are from the Patuxet language. He seamlessly writes these words into the text. The words are usually italicized and then the meaning of the word follows. For example: “I remembered I was pniese, a man of courage.”

The beautiful pictures are a definite bonus to this story. The book says that the illustrations were done in gouache. This is a form of watercolor that uses opaque pigments rather that the usual transparent watercolor pigments. The pictures have a lot of browns, golds, blues and greys in them, adding a soft touch to the story. The characters in the story look authentic for that time period.

The author has a Author’s Note page at the end that shows that he is part Native American. It also shows that he still had to do a lot of research so that the book would be an authentic representation.

Review Excerpts

From School Library JournalGrade 2-5-A picture book that focuses on the young Indian who helped the Pilgrims survive the brutality of the New England winter. When he was 24, an English captain abducted Squanto along with 20 of his tribesmen and took them to Spain to be sold as slaves. Spanish friars helped him escape to England where he learned the language and dreamed of going back to his native land. When he finally returned, he served as translator and mediator between the English colonists and the other Indian tribes. He convinced Samoset, a sachem of the Pemaquid, to accept and work with the white settlers. It was this cooperation that helped the tiny Plymouth Colony to survive. Many authors have given the Native American credit for his role in the survival of the colony. What distinguishes this first-person account is the authenticity of detail. In his author's note, Bruchac describes the research that he used to flesh out the story with dates and names. However, because of the wealth of facts, the text has a stilted quality. Shed's full-page gouache illustrations are beautifully executed in golden, autumnal tones. There is a richness of detail in the pictures that echoes the passion for historical accuracy in costume and interior-and-exterior dwellings. However, the full-bled illustrations tend to overwhelm the text and the uniformity of their size and placement can become somewhat tedious. Still, most libraries will want to own this version.Barbara Buckley, Rockville Centre Public Library, NY Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From BooklistGr. 4-8. The history is fascinating--the crucial role played by the Patuxet Indian Squanto, who helped the first New England colony survive--but it doesn't work very well in this picture book. The long, first-person, fictionalized narrative is awkwardly contrived to bring in the facts, and the full-page gouache paintings are romanticized, with all the noble Native Americans bathed in a golden glow. The facts are exciting, and Bruchac and Shed have painstakingly researched the events and the details, from the food served at the first Thanksgiving feast to the clothing worn by the Pilgrims ("Not hats with buckles on them!" Bruchac exclaims in his long, informative author's note). Squanto survived captivity and slavery in Europe, then he returned to play a crucial role as mediator in New England, living in the world of the whites and of several Indian nations. Older readers will want to go from here to find out more about the fascinating man and about the history from the Native American viewpoint. Hazel RochmanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.


Connections
Compare and contrast the various stories told about Thanksgiving
Research Squanto and the Patuxet people
Discuss how present day Native Americans live