“The summer morning we left, a misty fog covered the train station so thick that the morning sun struggled to peek through. Regina answers Chich saying they’re no longer Indians by saying, “But….what if I still want to be one?” In spring 1957, her daddy signs them up for the Indian Relocation Program, they will go to Los Angeles: Charlene describes Chich’s “scarred breakfast table.”

When Chich tells Regina what’s happened, Ms. Charlene draws such a warm, pretty picture that you feel the loss of this place and fellowship like a stab to your heart. Not everyone who lives on a reservation is alcoholic and unhappy! That’s my experience, but not all young people know that. Ms. And third, well, if he does bother you, you must’ve been misbehaving.” Second, he’s over six feet tall and smells like a wet dog.

She says, “Getting a toilet inside was one of the happiest days of my life.” But then she tells the tales her Daddy shared: “Old Sasquatch won’t bother you. “Our house, with chipped white paint and warped boards, was surrounded by acres of tall grasses, plots of fragrant mock orange, and a forest filled with chirping squirrel and robins.” You write about things this way if you really love them, even if they aren’t perfect. Regina’s grandmother Chich tells her, “The President has just signed the bill from Congress saying that we’re no longer Indian.”īut before that we are treated to an exact, beautiful description of the res and the people there. That’s just how it was.” But it gets messy fast. She has always lived on the Grand Ronde reservation, thirty miles from Salem, Oregon, but Congress passes a bill that says that the Umpqua (and other tribes in Oregon) have been terminated. It stayed there till the last page, and it’s still talking to me now. But just after reading the first chapter, “The Walking Dead”–SNAP!, the voice of ten year-old Regina Petit was in my head.

At first, I was sorry it wasn’t an audio book, because it is sometimes easier for me to listen to books. Whitman for sending the uncorrected proof to review. Indian No More, by Charlene Willing McManis with Traci Sorell, is one of the best books I’ve ever read. Review Source: Indigo’s Bookshelf: Voices of Native Youthīook Author: Charlene Willing McManis, Traci Sorell

Indian no more book