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Joseph Bruchac: autobiography
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From: Debbie Reese <d-reese>
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 19:24:02 -0500
Bruchac's picture book autobiography, as described by KT Horning, sounds exquisite! I'll put it on my list to read. His work is so accessible - he's able to put his voice on the printed page. Those who've heard him know the qualities of his voice and his style are quite engaging. Reading his words feels very much like he's sitting beside you.
In the Author's Note and "Seeing the Island," Bruchac gives us a great deal of information that sets the stage for our reading. We don't have to wonder about the place. He tells us there is no Penacook Reservation in New Hampshire. And then he moves into the storyteller mode in "Seeing the Island." In those four pages, we learn a lot... who Gluskabe is, why he's telling this story "mostly" in English, his English name and his Native name, and how/when it is used...
Then in the first chapter, opening with Muskrat Mike and his radio program.... that scene is so perfect. Native radio programs that Native people listen to.... do you remember this from Alexie's film _Smoke Signals_?
In the author's note, Bruchac says "whatever is true in the book, I owe to them" ---- them being the young Native people he visits on reservations when he does writing workshops. When I read the book, I am saying "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" because his words resonate so strongly with my own experiences.
That some houses on the reservation still have outhouses... My grandmother had one. That Chris's Auntie uses a woodstove with an oven in it... My grandmother had one. That just about every Penacook man is a decorated veteran... My uncles were all in the armed services.
References to AIM and John Trudell and Cherokee princesses...
Over and over, there are places where I connect with the words on the page, and I wonder how others read those passages?
Debbie Reese
How do others respond to them?
_________________________________ Debbie Reese, Doctoral Student Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction College of Education, University of Illinois Champaign, IL 61820
Telephone: 217$4?86 Fax: 217$4E72 Email: d-reese at uiuc.edu
Received on Wed 20 Oct 1999 07:24:02 PM CDT
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 19:24:02 -0500
Bruchac's picture book autobiography, as described by KT Horning, sounds exquisite! I'll put it on my list to read. His work is so accessible - he's able to put his voice on the printed page. Those who've heard him know the qualities of his voice and his style are quite engaging. Reading his words feels very much like he's sitting beside you.
In the Author's Note and "Seeing the Island," Bruchac gives us a great deal of information that sets the stage for our reading. We don't have to wonder about the place. He tells us there is no Penacook Reservation in New Hampshire. And then he moves into the storyteller mode in "Seeing the Island." In those four pages, we learn a lot... who Gluskabe is, why he's telling this story "mostly" in English, his English name and his Native name, and how/when it is used...
Then in the first chapter, opening with Muskrat Mike and his radio program.... that scene is so perfect. Native radio programs that Native people listen to.... do you remember this from Alexie's film _Smoke Signals_?
In the author's note, Bruchac says "whatever is true in the book, I owe to them" ---- them being the young Native people he visits on reservations when he does writing workshops. When I read the book, I am saying "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" because his words resonate so strongly with my own experiences.
That some houses on the reservation still have outhouses... My grandmother had one. That Chris's Auntie uses a woodstove with an oven in it... My grandmother had one. That just about every Penacook man is a decorated veteran... My uncles were all in the armed services.
References to AIM and John Trudell and Cherokee princesses...
Over and over, there are places where I connect with the words on the page, and I wonder how others read those passages?
Debbie Reese
How do others respond to them?
_________________________________ Debbie Reese, Doctoral Student Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction College of Education, University of Illinois Champaign, IL 61820
Telephone: 217$4?86 Fax: 217$4E72 Email: d-reese at uiuc.edu
Received on Wed 20 Oct 1999 07:24:02 PM CDT
