Reading Response: Historical Realism

 My Heart is on the Ground

Rinaldi, A. My Heart Is on the Ground: The Diary of Nannie Little Rose, a Sioux Girl. Scholastic, 1999. 206 pages. Tr. $10.95, ISBN 9780590149228

 This juvenile fiction text is told in first person through the perspective of protagonist, Little Rose (Nannie Little Rose). Little Rose is a Sioux girl taken from her reservation to live and learn at The Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania in the year 1880. The story is told in the form of a dairy and is organized by entries titled by month and day. Rinaldi uses the voice of Nannie Little Rose as a way to speak to readers and give them information about Native ways. What she is actually doing spreading incorrect historical accuracy. Some historical inaccuracies include mentioning that the whites gave Black Hills to the Lakota people when it fact Lakota people were able to retain some portion through a Treaty. In the "Historical note" of the text, Rinaldi mentions that graduates form the school were able to find work. There is no historical evidence that this is true. Rinaldi then goes on to write that The Carlisle Indian School was “different and better” than similar schools. This note in itself has no historical evidence and is simply an opinion. 

The setting and geographical location is accurate enough to understand this story was set over one hundred years ago. The tone and point of view of the story is set through the eyes of Nannie Little Rose and tells a different story from history. The main character does not reflect the mannerisms and period reflected. A Sioux child would not refer to herself as Sioux but would refer to herself by her location. It is also very unlikely that Nannie Little Rose would learn to write and advance in her literacy skills so quickly. It seems that cultural authenticity is also lacking. A Lakota child would not willingly write bad or funny things about white teachers, especially if they knew it would be reviewed. The theme seems to adhere more to fiction than fact. In the author's note, Rinaldi mentions many of the events of the books were based off the school's newspaper "Morning Star".  It is clear that this newspaper would be bias since the school produced it, therefore cannot be relied on to be an accurate portrayal of events. 

Verdict: Although this historical realism novel lets us learn a little more about the time period, it is clear that the author did not research the culture or history thoroughly enough to create a culturally and historically accurate representation. 

Dawn Raid

Smith, P. V. Dawn Raid. Levine Querido, 2021. 224 pages. Tr. $17.99, ISBN 9781646140411

Smith writes a story set in the first person point of view in a dairy format with character doodles throughout. The dairy is written by the character Sofia as she tells the reader about her life living in New Zealand in the 1970s. The first chapter entry casually mentions the normality of capital punishment when stating "small bandage on his head, right beside his eye and a plaster on his knee..Mum said the doctor gave hime a telling off for being silly". This automatically sets the tone for how life was in this time period for the Pacific community members. 

The Dawn raid was a time when the New Zealand police were instructed by the government to enter homes and stop individuals to ask for identification and paperwork to verify their right to be in the country. These raids were targeting the Pacific individuals and clearly showed the country's period of discrimination. The actions in the story clearly reflect the pace of life in that historical period. Sofia is a teenage girl worried about getting a pair of boots while progressing her experience with the raids. The conflict resolution comes the form of Sofia's speech competition essay and the support received by Polynesian Panthers. Sofia states "In the news reports The Polynesian Panthers have been talked about as troublemakers...but the Panther came to help them get out of jail, taught them about their rights and even brought them food after the raid". In keeping with the times in which the story is set this novel does a good job at painting an image of how the news outlet tended to be bias towards the Polynesian Panthers and how discrimination played a big part in this historical realism novel. 

In the back of the text there are historical notes and includes a glossary of New Zealand slang, and a bibliography. The details of the time and place are authentic and tells the reader about an event in history that not many may know about. 

Verdict: This historical realism text gives reader a glimpse at a historical event that many may not know about. This book gives an authentic view of an accurate time in history while keeping the reader entertained. 

One Crazy Summer

Williams-Garcia, R. One Crazy Summer. Quill Tree Books, 2021. 240 pages. Tr. $16.89, ISBN 9780060760892

The story is set in the first person perspective of Delphine in narrative form. Williams-Garcia does a good job in writing about three sisters' summer spent with their estranged mother who is a black panther member in 1960s Oakland, California. This politically charged text allows Williams-Garcia to portray the three sisters, Delphine (oldest), Vonetta (middle), and Fern (youngest), in different mannerisms and attitudes that reflect a good historical period portrayal. The sisters are different in every sense of the world. Delphine is responsible, Vonetta seeks attention and Fern is determined.  

In terms if the time and place are historically, geographically, and politically accurate, I can state for the most part yes. The story does not get into details of the "why" in regards to the Black Panther movement but accurate portrays a time period in which Black individuals were treated unfairly and discriminated. The style of the text is evident through Delphine's perspective. We see speech patterns accurately portrayed with lines like " Boy, you must be crazy" and "Stop being chicken". We are also given a sense of how life was in this time period for Black people. We see this in the need for the sisters to act a certain way when around white women and the fear of being arrested without cause. Allowing Delphine to tell the story from her perspective allows the reader to get a good mix of fact and fiction blend in a way that does not take way from the historical value. There are no notes, timelines, bibliographies, and glossaries provided in this text, however, the tone of the story conveys honesty, relationships and trying to belong while fighting for what's right. The story shows us the side of history that keeps the setting authentic in terms of what we know about the history and geography at the time period. 

Verdict: Williams-Garcia does a good job in blending fact and fiction into a novel that tells us about historical events from the past.