Binding: PAPERBACK
Publisher: HarperCollins
Date published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780064461627ISBN:0064461629
Description: Good. 0064461629 Visible wear to covers or edges, but a good clean copy with all pages present and binding firm. Not really gift worthy quality, but more than adequate for reading or study copy. read more
Description: Fair. No dust jacket as issued. Slight bend on the covers, inscription on inside cover. Sewn binding. Paper over boards. 298 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: Children/juvenile. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Date published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780064461627ISBN:0064461629
Description: Very Good. Describes a book that doesn't look quite brand new. May show some small signs of wear or minor spine creasing. Note this book is considered a trade or oversize paperback book. Our ultimate goal is to provide you with a satisfying customer experience. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: HarperTrophy
Date published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780064461627ISBN:0064461629
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 320 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: Children/juvenile. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Troll Associates
Date published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780439652100ISBN:0439652103
Description: Very Good. Trade paperback. Near fine. Very slight general wear. Completely clean, tight, straight, unmarked....Ships USPS same/next day most orders with free delivery confirmation (US). Safe packaging. APO/FPO, HI, AK, among some other US addresses may have delayed delivery times. Heavy or large items may be subject to an additional fee for priority or international shipment. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: HarperTrophy
Date published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780064461627ISBN:0064461629
Description: LOIS LENSKI. Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 320 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: Children/juvenile. A NEWBERY HONOR BOOK read more
Binding: PAPERBACK
Publisher: HarperCollins
Date published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780064461627ISBN:0064461629
Description: Very Good. 0064461629 Great condition Soft Cover book, clean pages, mild creases to spine, light edge/corner rubs, this book is GREAT! Shop & Save With US. read more
Description: Fine. 0439652103 Excellent condition Soft cover book, clean pages, No creases to spine, this book is Near NEW! Shop & Save With US. read more
"I went into this book a bit skeptical of its choice as one of the books for our county-wide read this year, the theme of which is "Native American Culture." I couldn't help thinking that a book by a white author written about a white girl taken captive by Native Americans might not really fit the theme. However, I was really impressed with this book.
It's based on the true story of Mary Jemison, a pioneer girl who as taken captive by the Senecas around the age of 13. In the introduction, the author tells us that the Mary lived out her life with the Senecas until a very old age. Still, this doesn't really take away from the story because the question becomes not "will she stay?" but "will her broken heart and longing for home ever heal and how?" Mary (or Molly as she is called throughout much of the book) very realistically struggles between conflicting feelings of anger and bitterness at being held captive and being "made into an Indian" and growing love and respect for her new Seneca family. Her struggles continue until the end of the book when she learns that her birth family was killed shortly after she was taken. But instead of falling back into anger and despair, Mary has grown as a person and reacts with sadness and acceptance. Her final feelings are summed up well in the line
"Perhaps the Englishman was right--she ought to hate the Indians for the crime which they had committed against her--but in her heart there was no feeling of revenge, no hate. It was only war that she hated--war which set nation against nation; the French against the English, and the poor Indians between them both."
Mary comes to not only love her Seneca family, but to truly respect the Seneca way of life and the ways in which she has grown under their guidance.
This is a very good book for upper elementary to junior high readers with a difficult subject matter that is dealt with realistically but gently enough for the intended audience."
"I was looking for a book to read and grabbed this one because one of my 5th graders really enjoyed it way back when. It was interesting. It's amazing how your perspective can change based on your experiences. She grew to love the indians, though they took everything away from her. I actually wished to hear more of her story, though it did come full circle."
"I recently found a box of books that I hadn't opened for many years. In it were several books from my youth that I had wanted to read at some point. Indian Captive was one of them.
I really enjoyed this story much more than I thought I would. Lois Lenski did a good job of helping me feel a little girl's turmoil at being kidnapped from her family and forced to live among people she didn't look like or understand. Lenski did a lot of research for this novel, and so I felt as though I learned quite a bit while reading. I had no idea that Native Americans used a kind of "eye for an eye" system when it came to human lives: for every Indian the white men struck down and took away from an Indian family, the Indians would capture a white person in exchange. This white person would be scalped with the scalp presented to the lost Indian's family, or the captive would be presented to the family so that they could decide to torture him or her to death or to raise him or her in place of their lost loved one.
Mary Jemison was lucky: her Indian family decided to raise her as their own. They nurtured her and taught her their ways. Several years after she first came to the Indians, Mary was offered the choice of leaving to resume living with the "pale-faces" (though she had learned by this time that her family had been murdered a day or two after she was separated from them). But she chose to stay with her Indian family.
At any rate, this book made me curious enough to search out more about Mary (Molly) Jemison. Someone was smart enough to get her account of her life before she died, and it is available through the Gutenburg Project online. I read through that as well, and it was every bit as fascinating as this fictitious account led me to believe it would be."
"Civil rights and equality have made a lot of headway against racism in the last century.
"Well, duh," some might say.
"But there's still so far to go!" others might protest.
I personally grew up without any particularly scarring incidents of racism. Sure, I got made fun of for my small eyes and flat face, but so did the white girl with the big nose and, personally, I think she took it a lot harder than I did.
It's great that the social norm is no longer racism and that we're seeing more diversity in media, arts, and culture. It no longer amazes me to see unbiased news reports about minorities or television shows featuring more ethnic characters.
What amazes me is when I find fair treatments of minorities from books written over fifty years ago, before the civil rights movement was in full swing.
Lois Lenski wrote and illustrated Indian Captive in 1941. The new cover makes it look all modern (and kinda creepy, actually), but the story is old.
It's based on the true story of Mary "Molly" Jemison, who was captured and then adopted by Seneca Indians. Her family was killed in that very raid. Instead of fighting against her captors and hating them and escaping at the first opportunity (although she certainly did try), she learned to love them and appreciate their culture. After a while, she adopted the Seneca right back.
The real Mary Jemison lived with the Seneca for the rest of her life. She married twice, to Indian men both times. She finally gave an interview at the age of eighty to describe her capture and eventual assimilation into the Seneca tribe.
The book is a pretty faithful treatment of Seneca life. The Indians that adopted Molly were mostly kind, but there were certainly some exceptions. There were parts of their culture that Molly learned to love, but other parts with which she was unable to reconcile herself.
It's a children's book, so don't expect to see any gory scalpings, and some might argue that the book is biased toward Native American culture. But considering when it was written, I'd say that it's pretty remarkable that a book this kind to an Indian tribe that kidnapped a young white girl and killed her family was even published.
Is it the most compelling book ever? Probably not; it was a little plainly written, even for 1940s children's lit. But it was interesting and educational and a darned entertaining read.
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