Sweetgrass Basket

Poetry - Prose = Wonderful

Enjoyed book!

This is a powerful book, that I actually picked up on a whim when browsing my local library. Even though this is a work of fiction, it tells a horrific and true story so many women and men of Native American heritage suffered through. This is the story of two young sisters forced to live at a boarding school. Which doesn't sound too bad until you read some of what happened in these places! It isn't pretty, it isn't okay, and it's time for stories like this to be told. Below is taken from a few websites to give you a little history on boarding schools, A little history on this whole boarding school thing, please stay with me." The first boarding school was established by the Bureau of Indian affairs. The first school was on the Yakima Indian Reservation in the state of Washington. These schools were part of a plan devised by well-intentioned, eastern reformers Herbert Welsh and Henry Pancoast, who also helped establish organizations such as the Board of Indian Commissioners, the Boston Indian Citizenship Association, and the Women’s National Indian Association.Ultimately the goal of these so called reformers was to use education as a tool to "assimilate" tribes into the main stream way of life, or at least the so called "American way of life". This followed a religious ideology that was very popular in the mid 19th century. Which stated essentially stated that Indian people would be taught the importance of private property, material wealth, and monogamous nuclear families. They believed it was necessary to "civilize" native people. Force them to accept white culture, beliefs and value systems. "Credit to: Native Partnershipand University of WashingtonI loved that this is a work of fiction which is told through poetry. To me poetry is such a powerful way to share your thoughts, and express your emotions in ways that might be hard other wise. The poetic text just leaks onto the pages, and you can feel the emotions down to your soul. One of my favorite lines from one of the poems is,'Poor Father.He knows deep in his heartthat Sarah and I did not wantto leave our home.Father said it would be best,best for us, best for our family,and that we had to be good.'This is the heart breaking story of Sarah and Mattie. Two sweet girls from the Mohawk tribe in the early 1900s. At the start of the book their mother has passed away, and their father he is sending them away to Pennsylvania to a boarding school called Carlisle Indian Boarding School. I never could figure out if he was doing this, or he was being forced to do this. He seems to promise them that everything will be okay, that they will be taken care of, have a good education, get fed. He seems to genuinely expect good things to happen to his girls, which makes me think, he has decent intentions. He sends them by train, with the hopes to be reunited again, although this will never happen.What they get at the boarding school is anything but care and compassion. They get beatings, almost total loss of identity, and a gut wrenching loss of culture. This abuse is used to punish and publicly shame these children for how they were born and who they are.Told in alternating perspectives of both sisters you see just how damaging the abuse is. They attempt to make friends and avoid conflict, but somehow they always seem to be in trouble. Their story talks about racism, difficult economic times, a parent’s desire for them to have a better life. The deal with growing up, and friendship. These issues are dealt with in a very interesting way, through their inner most thoughts.I believe this book needs to be in every school and library. It would make a great book for a class assignment. I believe everyone should read this one.

Sweetgrass Basket is a contagious book that captivates you into its cruel world. Once I started reading, I could not put the book down. The pages turn rapidly alternating between the two sisters' point of view. Mattie and Sarah are shipped off to the Carlisle Indian Boarding School by their father after their mother dies. Together they struggle to survive harsh working and living conditions and ruthless belittling while the school attempts to strip their culture away from them to "prepare them to survive in the white world". I think this is an accurate portrayal of the vicious abuse and forced assimilation that took place in the Carlisle Indian School and other boarding schools because it did not have a happy ending. The two sisters' close bond and love for their culture is never taken away from them and proof of this is their continued use of the Mohawk language and attachment to objects they snuck in from home. It goes to show you that ones' culture can never be taken away, no matter what conditions you put them through. This book would be a great book to use in the classroom setting because its example of a relentless struggle to remain proud of whom you are.

This novel offers a unique perspective on a little known historical period. I read it to find out more about Indian Schools but found it much more fulfilling than merely a research tool. It is a beautifully written, bittersweet tale of two sisters and the cruel and stubborn continuation of the attempts to strip away their Native American culture.

After the death of their mother, two Mohawk sisters, Mattie and Sarah, are sent away from their reservation to the Carlisle Indian School in upstate New York. Sarah is quite shy and quiet, while Mattie is bold and outspoken. Despite their different personalities and perceptions, the girls share a very strong bond.Soon, though, that bond is tested. The girls have difficulties adapting to their new school, where the dominant language and culture are not their own. Mattie speaks up whenever she feels a teacher is being unjust, while Sarah would rather not cause any trouble and hesitates to draw attention to herself. Mattie makes a new friend in a classmate named Gracie, while Sarah becomes more and more homesick. The narration alternates between the sisters with every other chapter, allowing readers to see both of their perspectives and hear two distinct voices. Though this is a verse novel and takes place at the turn of the century, those who are apt to shy away from poetry need not pull back from this book: as with many contemporary verse novels, the words are always expressed with a realistic meter, without rhyming or being obvious poems.The title, Sweetgrass Basket, refers to a beautiful basket woven by the girls' mother. Not wanting to give too much away, I'll simply say that the basket plays a subtle but important role in the story, as it serves not only as a memento of their family and their old home life but also factors into a few key points of the story.

Overall it's OK at best. I did like the build quality of the book but there were too many complaints with the storyline