Arrow Over the Door

I read this book to my daughter as we studied the formation of the thirteen colonies of America. The gracious and touching story of the Quaker family brought home to us some of their views and ideologies in a far better way than a essay on the matter would have done. Reading the cameo of the Native American boy and his world painted thoughtfully in the story, we felt like we had been given a tiny peek into their world of thoughts, values and ways. The interaction between the Native Americans and the Quakers then came as a beautiful culmination to the build up and we came away feeling like we had been there. A well written and thought-provoking book. I would read it again.

Native American literature is such a new genre but it will be a thriving one if THE ARROW OVER THE DOOR is any indication. Joseph Bruchac is an Abeneki Indian who is both rediscovering his family's culture and teaching us all about the peaceful acceptance of others through out the pages of this book. Samual, a young Quaker, and Stands Straight, a young American Indian, have seperate lives which are on an inevitable path towards each other. Their meeting and the way in which they handle themselves shapes the immediate fate of their communities. The book is based on an actual event and offers much to readers of all ages.

Both of the little-understood groups featured in this book, Quakers and Native Americans, are portrayed with depth and understanding in this short account of a true 1777 incident near Saratoga, NY. The incident - in which Quakers were gathered in silent worship when a tribal group recruited to fight for the British came upon them - has been passed on orally among Quakers and others, although it has remained tainted by old conceptions of the "savage" Indian. This book corrects those faults and re-tells the story in more accurate detail than has been done previously. Though written for children, adults will also be rewarded in historical understanding and modern sensibilities by reading this wonderful book.