Trouble's Daughter: The Story of Susanna Hutchinson, Indian Captive

Trouble's Daughter is the best book I've read about an Indian captive! It tells the story of Susannah Hutchinson, a girl who lives with her family in 1600's America. One day Indians raid her farm and massacre her family. However, for some reason Susannah is spared and she is taken to live with the Indian tribe. At first she is angry and upset, and she tries to run away, but after a while she begins to open up to the tribe and she learns their language and ways. Will she stay with the Indians forever, or will she return to civilization?This book was written well, and it was very interesting! I'd recommend for ages 11 and up. If you like books on captives and American Indians, I'd also recommend: Standing in the Light; I am Regina; Sweetgrass; and Dawn Rider.

TROUBLE'S DAUGHTER is one of the most satisfying and wise pieces of historical fiction around. In terms of promoting a compassionate understanding of Native American people and their customs and views for non-Native Americans, this book is tops. In addition to providing an accurate as possible historical setting, the book provides sustenance for its young readers - and our children do need this nourishment. Whether Som-Quay is offering words of wisdom on love or peace, or whether the young heroine is agonizing or growing, this book takes kids gently by the heart and helps them to develop the ability to look at the world with a more open-minded attitude. The study of history is changing from the memorizing of names and dates to the understanding of people and culture and forces; Katherine Kirkpatrick is an accomplished author, researcher, and historian, and her book ought to be a part of every middle school curriculum regarding America's colonial days.

This book follows a familar plotline: an Indian attack on an isolated frontier cabin, family members brutally slain, a child spared by the attackers, the numbing march into captivity, the hostility and strangeness of the Indian village, the despair of the captive, the dreams of escape or ransom, the kindness of a few individual Indians which eases the captive's loneliness and pain, the gradual acceptance of the new life and family, becoming a full-fledged member of the tribe in spirit as well as body, and the eventual return to the whites which is met with reluctance or refusal. This story has been told before, and very well too, by Lois Lenski in "Indian Captive" and Sally Keehn in "I am Regina." Yet "Trouble's Daughter" is as good as any other Indian captive story.No, the story is not unique; but how the characters are developed within that story is very well-done. The book is very well-written, and is a fast-paced read which makes for a real page turner. The reader will have a tough time putting this one down. Excellent historical fiction.

Kirkpatrick has written an entertaining and informative novel. The storyline moves quickly along and her characters are vividly portrayed. While you are very sympathetic to the capitve Susanna, you soon learn that her captors have their side of the story too. This is a journey of a young girls growing up, but it is also the story of two different kinds of people learning, under the most difficult of circumstance, to love and accept one another. Teens will enjoy this as an adventure (based on true story) and as the story of an exceptional young woman.

Nine year old Susanna's mother is Anne Hutchinson, who is known throughout the colonies for her free thinking. Mother's views have forced the Hutchinsons to move from Boston first to Naragansett, and now to New Netherland, where the Dutch and the local Lenape Indians are fighting a fierce conflict. And one fall morning, Indians attack the cabin, kill Mrs. Hutchinson and the rest of the family living there (two sisters and a brother live elsewhere) and take Susanna captive. At first Susanna is desperate to escape, but as time goes by, her hopes of rescue fade and she begins to accept her fate. Then she begins to have visions, the same kind of visions that forced her family from her home and brought such sorrow and trouble to them. Can Susanna escape her visions or are they her destiny?