STORYTELLER'S BRACELET

Narrator Johnnie C. Hayes's warm, old-fashioned storytelling is ideal for this magical yet painful tale. In the 1800s, the U.S. Government wrenched young Native Americans from their homes and compelled them to go to boarding schools in the East so that they would lose their "savage" ways. In this story, Otter and Sun Song, who are betrothed to wed when they're 18, are sent to such an institution. Hayes clearly captures their differences. Otter copes, and even thrives, while Sun Song suffers horrifically, especially at the hands of the monstrous-sounding Headmaster Dobbins. Adding to the atmosphere, Sun Song conjures Grandmother Sycamore, a tree, who whispers to her that after much travail, she will be safe and help her family. Most moving is hearing Otter use his pictograph bracelet to see a future in which red, brown, yellow, and white people intermingle and live peacefully. S.G.B. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2017]