This book is aimed towards young adult readers, but is suitable for adult readers as well who are interested in Carlisle Indian School and Native American studies. This is a story about a young Sioux girl named Nannie Little Rose who describes her life at Carlisle Indian school in 1880 through a series of diary entries. Through her eyes we get a glimpse into what life was like for Indian children sent to Carlisle.

Unfortunately, though this book has some historical accuracies, it is NOT a true story. Nannie Little Rose did not write this diary, in fact, she never existed. The author, Ann Rinaldi, visited Carlisle and its graveyard and, fascinated by the names on the headstones, decided to write a story about Carlisle and its students using the names on the headstones to create the characters in a fictional account. She did do research and used events that occurred at Carlisle to weave her story, however the events did not take place in the time period covered in her book and any feelings or events specific to the characters are not real - just their names. I found this to be very disappointing, especially after reading the entire book and THEN finding the disclaimer, "While the events described and some of the characters in this book may be based on actual historical events and real people, Nannie Little Rose is a fictional character, created by the author, and her diary is a work of fiction" on the VERY LAST page of the book. I felt like I was purposely deceived, as everything in the book is made to appear that it is a true accounting and diary, complete with an epilogue detailing what happened to Nannie Little Rose after she left Carlisle - down to the number of children she had and the year of her death.

In addition, because this is a FICTIONAL accounting by someone who is not Indian, one has to question the feelings presented by the characters she has invented. As someone who has some knowledge of what Carlisle was like for its students and how it made them feel and how being there affected their entire lives (my father-in-law was a Carlisle student and spoke about what life was like for him there), I feel that only someone who is Indian, or who has spoken to an Indian who experienced Carlisle, could truly represent their thoughts and feelings about what it was like for them. Rinaldi should have attempted to find someone who actually attended Carlisle to get their personal story to base her characters' thoughts and feelings on. Otherwise, it is just another white person's take on what it is like to be Indian.

In this book, Carlisle is presented very favorably. Some of the injustices are described, but in a somewhat whitewash fashion. I did, however, find Rinaldi's description of an Indian child's first day at Carlisle to be pretty realistic and moving. The 'great experiment' that Capt. Pratt practiced on these people was, in all reality, an attempt at ethnic cleansing. These Indian children were forced to attend the Indian schools. They were stripped of their identities (separated from their families and then separated by their sex, clothes taken and burned, forcibly bathed and de-liced, their hair cut - for an Indian a very traumatic event - names taken and given new Anglo/Christian names) and beaten and punished if they ever spoke their language or did anything remotely 'Indian' again. How is this not like the holocaust for the Jews, save being placed in a gas chamber?

Just like Capt. Pratt with his idea for Indian schools like Carlisle, Ann Rinaldi seems to have had good intentions when writing her book. Her writing and story is good and informative, but unfortunately, by deceiving the reader into thinking it is a true story written by a real person - a Native American, who really attended Carlisle - everything she writes is then suspect and colored by a white person whose experience and understanding can never truly compare. I would recommend reading this book to get a basic idea of Carlisle, but to read further in order to obtain a true accounting.

My daughter loved this book! She learned a lot about history and kept telling me excerpts from it. She read it in 2 days.

Nannie Little Rose has been sent to and English school in the hopes of becoming a interpreter for her Sioux village. Can she become a "proper" American schoolgirl without forgetting her heritage?

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February 6

Names were carved on the boards that are black...
When my turn came, I asked Mrs. Mary,..."Why
must I take a new name? I have a name, Little Rose."

"Your old names are hard to say."

"Little Rose is not hard to say."

"They tie you to your savage past."

"My past is not savage," I told her.

"You are Sioux. Your people killed Custer."

My under-where is itching me all the time. I feel silly in citizens' clothes. I trip on the skirts when I walk. I am angry...

Then Mrs. Camp Bell told me not to be dis-re-spect-ful. And to pick a name. So I did, for Mrs. Camp Bell. So now I am Nannie Little Rose. And now I am here. And I have learned to wear this citizens' clothes and write their words. But I will never forget my past.

wonderful!

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