thoughts on...

Heart of a Chief by Joseph Bruchac.

Upon finishing Heart of a Chief, I had a lot to consider. I recognized this adolescent book to be possibly the only one, to date, that I have read that is so honest in its multicultural issues.
I thoroughly enjoyed this read.

In terms of characters, Chris Nicola was a strong main character who developed quite rapidly throughout the story.

The plot was intriguing, and although everything seemed to fall into place a little bit too "nice and neatly," I was very satisfied with the outcome. All the questions and 'loose ends' of Chris' life were tied up very nicely within the last two chapters.

I thought it was quite helpful for the authenticity of the book when the author, Bruchac, included Penacook language throughout, in order to give the reader a bit of Penacook heritage. It also made me feel like the author knew what he was talking about in writing this book, instead of someone just writing about general Native Americans. I felt like I was learning about the Penacook tribe and traditions as well as about Chris' life.

According to Sims Bishop's categories of Multicultural literature, I would have to classify this novel as, a Socially Conscious Book, but I would almost also put it as Culturally Conscious, also.

I claim "Socially Conscious" because it 'features a social agenda that is intended to teach. The problem of the book centers around a 'difference'' between the Penacook on the 'rez' and the Caucasians in Rangerville.
I believe one of the issues on the social agenda for this book that Bruchac was trying to get out into the open was that of "Using Indian Names for Sports Teams" (I took this from the actual novel, page 98). In the past, I had heard some debate about this, but had never really taken into account the Native American's point of view.

I know I definitely learned a lot as Chris was talking about the cons of keeping "Indian Names" for sports teams. I liked how Bruchac had Chris open his presentation with a joke that put his plight in terms of dominant culture, with the joke about calling someone "Mr. President" in return for calling someone, "Chief."

It was a simple proclamation like that that made me realize how easy it is to appropriate from a culture and de-value a culture's honor by using them in almost, derogatory ways.
I also think the way Chris discussed all these problems, with using Native American names and traditions in such a light and almost mocking tone, is in a simple way that adolescent readers will understand and relate too. The way it is written is so that it isn't preaching at the reader, it is simply explaining why using Native American traditions for fun is dishonorable to them and their customs, and it is written so effortlessly, that after one reads it, it makes them wonder how they didn't come to such a conclusion on this social issue before.

I realize I may sound jumbled in how I am explaining this right now, but its the best way I can describe what I learned from this read.

Bear with my somewhat garbled rambling, if you will. [smile].

Quickly, I also liked how the social issue of alcoholism was touched on in Chris' story, and that it didn't gloss over how hurtful alcoholism can be. It made Chris' story relatable, and that if a reader had a family member going through the same thing, they could see that there is still a "way back from the woods," and that it may not be easy or have a simple conclusion, but there is always hope...and always something to laugh about!

I also claim that this book is "Culturally Conscious" because it features a distinctive voice that can be attributed to a group of people, and it can positively generalize in some aspects, but never even come close to stereotyping the Penacook or Native American people.
I enjoyed learning about the Penacook culture, and about the differences across Native American nations because I had never had much schooling in this subject before. I respect Chris' character and the way Bruchac used Chris' voice to explain similarities and differences among Native American groups. I felt it was a very safe way to do it, without coming close to stereotyping Native Americans at all.

I appreciate all this book has to offer and will be using it in my future classroom to help my students learn about Native American culture, especially a bit of Penacook culture, in a safe and authentic way.

Until next post.