• Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2005 August #1
  /*Starred Review*/ Gr. 7-10. Mattie and Sarah try to be good when their father, a Mohawk, sends them to Pennsylvania's Carlisle Indian Boarding School at the turn of the twentieth century. He believes it's best, but the children suffer cruel abuse. Mattie, falsely accused of stealing, is beaten and publicly shamed, and things only get worse. The sisters tell their story in alternating first-person, free-verse narratives, which reveal their close bond, their longing for home, and the vicious pressure to assimilate (Mrs. Dwyer says, "if we work hard, we will be as good as white people"). A few adults are kind, and the sisters make new friends, but the vicious school director encourages bullying and betrayal. The girls' voices sometimes sound similar, but different typefaces make it easy to tell who is speaking, and readers will be deeply moved by the sisters' loving connection in a world of cruel authority. Carvell based the story on the experiences of the members of her husband's Mohawk family, four of whom attended Carlisle. The gripping drama of displacement and forced assimilation has much in common with some of the immigration stories reviewed elsewhere in this issue (see the Immigration Spotlight section, beginning on p.1955). ((Reviewed August 2005)) Copyright 2005 Booklist Reviews.

Marlene Carvell is an author and former teacher from New York State.