Dear Lauren,
Since at first glance I new Sitting Bull was going to be a multicultural picture book because of the title Sitting Bull Remembers and cover illustration of a Native American man. I looked on the back flap to see if the author, Ann Turner was Native American and to read up about her. There was no picture of her and nothing in the blob about her led me to believe that she was Native American or should know a lot about Native Americans. I decided to research her online to see if she earned the right to write about Native Americans. I wanted to know if this account of Sitting Bull was going to be accurate. When I went to Ann Turners website as specified on the back cover of the book under "About Author" a sit unrelated to Ann Turner came up with links having nothing to do with Turner or her books. This site was not helpful at all in determining if she had a right to be righting about Native American culture. Being that I am not a Native American I have no way of knowing if this book portrays accurate information.
At first glance I also believed this was a biographical account of Sitting Bull. However, upon reading the author's note on the endpapers it is not a biography, but a historical fiction.
Using the website on Dr. Kurkjian's homepage called "Evaluating Literature" for historical fiction I felt as though the Book Sitting Bull Remembers meets all of the criteria. Ecspecially, the criteria for do the characters actions, thoughts, etc. match that of the time period. The book is meant to portray the 1800's when white settlers came to settle in the Souix Nation's territory in search of gold. While settling they built railroads and drove the buffallo away, which were a major food sourch of the Sioux Nation tribe. The author does a good job telling how Sitting Bull might really have felt when this was actually taking place. Would you agree with me?
The first thing I notice about Sitting Bull Remembers is the powerful imagery that is present on even the first few pages. On the second page of the picture book, is the line "Rivers sparkle like the eyes of a child." The book is full of similes, metaphors that bring up powerful images to the reader such as how sparkly the river is, just like that of a child's eyes. I liked how the author used a poetic narrative style to tell her story of Sitting Bull. The language and vocabulary she uses offers a nice touch to the story itself. The language chosen helps to tell what Sitting Bull may have felt like when he was taken off of his land by force because of "the white man" coming onto the Sioux Nations territory and eventually forcing them onto reservations.
I found it interesting that there were two sets of illustrations going on in the book. On the page where the narrator describes how he first got his name "Sitting Bull" the illustrations show a detailed picture of the narrator riding on his horse with his bow and shield. Then, above that image is a less detailed image that looks like a child drew it. I think the illustrator, Wendell Minor uses the less detailed, child drawing image to show the narrator thinking back to the past. What did you make of the two sets of illustrations on some of the pages? Why do you think the illustrator did this?
I did not like how on the page where the narrator describes being "caught like a bear in a trap without claws (they took my weapons)..." the author uses parenthesis to clarify what she means by "without claws." I think that hear she is dumbing down the text. Without the parenthesis a great discussion could have arose in class where we asked our students to think about what the author might have meant be "like a bear in a trap without claws." I felt like the author thought she needed to include the parentheses in order for her reader to get what she meant. However, this ruins the chance for the reader to think for him/herself. Do you agree with me? Explain why or why not.
I think this picture book does a nice job of showing another side to history other than a "white only version." Children should see that the Native Americans were fighting to defend their homes and land to protect their people because it was trying to be taken away from them out of greed by "the white man."
Sincerely,
Heather
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Hi Heather,
ReplyDeleteI went onto Ann Turner's website as well, because I was interested in studying her qualifications as an author of Native American history. She does not seem to be of Native American decent, however she is a well known author of over 40 books. She particularly likes writing historical fiction, for both picture books and novels (young adult). I did find that the illustrator spent time on the prairies in order to make the illustrations more accurate and realistic, which I think helps to build the authenticity of the text.
So, I guess I agree that I was also unable to find information that would suggest Ann Turner is qualified to write a book about Native American's. However, unlike our "literature cirlce" book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (whish WAS written by an actual Native American), the Native American's were painted in a positive light. It is clear that the author view Native Americans as the victims of the white settlers' greed.
I also agree that, being that we are not Native Americans ourselves, it is difficult to accurately judge Turner's portrayal of Native Americans. The one thing that stood out to me as a possible offensiveness is the "voice" that Turner used in her writing. Sitting Bull speaks in a way that I would picture a Native American to speak, in that he does not use contractions in his speech (ie: "Some people say that I killed Custer, but it is a lie." rather than "it's a lie"). It struck me that this "voice" may be offensive to Native Americans, because the author is NOT a Native American. I guess I liken it to a Non-African American writing a story with African American dialect or slang.
Having said that, I also think that the book has some good literary merit, due to the strong use of figurative language. I thought the simile at the very end of the story was quite powerful, "Now the white men give us food, and the once proud warriors are like toothless old ones, dependent on gifts." But wait a minute... would a true Native American refer to the elders in such a negative light??? "Toothless old ones, dependent on gifts?" Maybe I'm reading into things a bit too much, but I can't help but look at these books with a critical eye now ;)!
I really liked the historical note at the end. I read this book to my class, and SERIOUSLY debated as to weather or not I wanted to read the historical note to my students BEFORE or AFTER reading the picture book. As I suspected, my students were not familiar with Sitting Bull. I decided to read the picture book first, and THEN share the author's note. I actually made this decision based on the information that I gained from the Nancy Boyles workshop at the NERA conference that we attended this fall. She states that the beginning of the year is a good time to build strong reading foundations (making predictions, author's message, etc.), which will LEAD the students towards making meaningful connections later in the year. So, I thought that the students would have a more genuine opportunity to make and adjust their predictions WITHOUT the background knowledge. Nancy Boyles also advocated the importance of reading a picture book several times, because the first time the reader is really just getting the gist of the story. The following day, we read the story for a second time, but THIS time, I shared the author's historical note.
I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on whether or not the author may have written in a way that is at all offensive to the Native American culture. Did you sense that the "voice" was that of a stereotypical Native American, or was it just to help create a sense of authenticity?
-Lauren :)
Lauren,
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question regarding Ann Turner's writing voice where she writes without contractions I agree that I noticed this dialect throughout the book Sitting Bull. However, I felt as though this style worked well for the book given it a nice rhythm and flow. When I read the words on the page I felt as though some of the lines read almost like poetry. Take this line for example:
"In this dark room,
in this place of fences, strange smells,
and men with yellow eyes
where finally I am caught
and cannot get free,
I close my eyes and I am home again..."
I like how the author heavily describes the surroundings of Sitting Bull's once one in such great detail. The land where Sitting Bull once called home as a place that is now very different and distant to him because of "white man" coming and changing and destroying the land Sitting Bull once knew. I think that the book would not have read so poetically without the great detail of place. If the author simply said, "the place where Sitting Bull once lived now looked very different and strange to him" it would not have had the same kind of flow and rhythm as the lines Turner used to describe how Sitting Bull was feeling.
I found it very interesting that in the Author's Note at the end of the book it said that Sitting Bull was not meant to be read as a biography, but as a fiction book that was based on historical accounts. I think that Ann Turner does a nice job getting the feelings across of how Sitting Bull may have actually felt while his home and life was being swept away from him by the "white man" coming and taking his land away from him and putting his people on a reservation. The reservation life is very significant for me after reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Native American because in that novel we learned how much Arnold or "Junior" as he was dubbed spoke about how much the reservation was like a trap that dragged you down and for a Native American it was very hard to escape the "rez" life once you were on it you stayed stuck forever. For Junior it was of utmost importance to escape reservation life or he felt as though he would never amount to anything in life. The whole premise of the novel was Junior leaving the Rez and sharing his experiences of what life was like for him once he did. Well, after reading Sitting Bull it was like seeing how "stuck" Native Americans truly did become once they were placed on these reservations and taken off their land because still today many Native Americans still live on reservations. I'm surprised that Native Americans knowing how awful the reservations are for them still today choose to stay on them and live. Why do you think Native Americans today still live on reservations when Junior described them as a place where everyone is poor and alcoholics? Why do you think more people don't leave as Junior did to go on to a better life? Also, if the reservation is seen by Native Americans as something so awful then why were they so upset by Junior leaving the reservation do you think?
From,
Heather
Hi Heather,
ReplyDeleteGreat connection! The settings of the books are so similar, yet so ENTIRELY different! I do agree with you that the author, Ann Turner, wrote very poetically. She has a very rhythmic way with words, that made Sitting Bull a beautiful story and helped to establish the mood of the story. Certainly very sad and somber, and I agree with you that Turner's writing style magically helped to establish these feelings. Both books, Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian and Sitting Bull, were both set on or around Indian reservations. Actually, the plots of both stories are quite similar too. In each case, the main character is trying to escape the reservation. The major difference in the two stories is the setting. Sitting Bull was set long ago, when the white people had recently invaded the Native Americans' land and greedily taken in for themselves. Part Time Indian was set in very modern times with modern slang, internet access, and all of the modern struggles facing teenagers today, like bullying and fitting in. The "voice" used in the two stories are SO entirely different, yet each one perfect for the time periods given. This makes me think that each author very successfully created an authentic feel by using a voice that was appropriate to the setting of the respective story. Part Time Indian managed to weave humor into the tragic undertones, while Ann Turner remained very somber throughout the entire story. Both authors managed to stay true to the serious nature of the underlying message that Native Americans have been wronged by the white settlers of our North American continent.
One could make a further a connection about the LIES that Native American's have been told. Remember how Junior said that, "... Native Americans should be better liars, considering how many tines they have been lied to.."? Sitting Bull also commented on the lies that the Native Americans were told. He alluded to treaties that had set aside land especially for Native Americans, yet these same treaties were violated when gold was found on Native American territory. This is clearly a message that both authors hope to convey to their readers.
In answer to your question about WHY these Native Americans choose to live on the reservations when they are so lethal, I think it is often the only place that they are truly accepted and feel at home. It seems clear that many of them are poor, and based on the Part Time Indian account, many are alcoholics. Not only do finances make it difficult for Native Americans to escape, there is a sense of loyalty and comfort that the Reservations offer Native Americans that could not be found elsewhere. It is HOME to them! I wish that there was something we could do to help them to improve the reservations so that they could still have the sense of community, without the vast discrepancy in standards of living. For the few individuals, like the author of Part Time Indian, it seems a bit like "selling out" to leave family and friends on the reservation.
I used this book with my 5th graders again to use the "finding evidence" strategy. They were able to infer how Sitting Bull was feeling using textual clues. These textual clues helped me to further recognize Turner's use of figurative language.
Do you have any other ideas for using this book in the classroom??
-Lauren :)