The Journal of Jesse Smoke : A Cherokee Boy, Trail of Tears, 1838 (My Name Is America) [Hardcover]

Joseph Bruchac (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Series: My Name Is America

The Cherokees call The Trail of Tears Nunda'utsun'yi, or "The Place Where the People Cried". In Joseph Bruchac's Scholastic debut, Jesse Smoke, his mother, and his sisters are forced to abandon their home, their land, and their possessions when they and several thousand other Cherokees are forced west on The Trail of Tears.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6-Fully researched, written by an outstanding Native American author, and without minimizing the horror and the genocidal nature of the Cherokee removal on the Trail of Tears, this story about Jesse and his mother and sisters has many strengths. Unfortunately, while being praiseworthy and authentic in terms of the history, the characters are bland. Bruchac is capable of lovely language and biting metaphor, but often simply recites the continuing horror in ways that numb rather than touch readers' hearts. Several references to attachments (such as between a slave and Jesse's sisters) are made just as they end. Because readers never see the relationships unfold, the separation isn't affecting. The characters are names only. Jesse's family seems forgotten by him for long periods of time as the agonizing details of the preparations for the journey and the trek itself are cataloged. Readers who have become used to making a personal connection to moving events in American history will find this diary more historical than personal. There is a good section of notes at the end, most of it repeating facts Jesse has shared.
Carol A. Edwards, Sonoma County Library, Santa Rosa, CA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 5-8. Sixteen-year-old Jesse Smoke records the events leading up to the Trail of Tears as well as the excruciating journey west in this diary-format novel that comes alive with details of everyday life and of Cherokee spirituality and world view. Bruchac integrates a Cherokee creation story, the political issues surrounding the forced removal, and tribal practices into this compelling story about a young adult's struggle to understand what is happening to his people and their way of life: "At the end of each day I see how my mother stands, her eyes on the setting sun. That direction, the direction of the Darkening Land, is the way the whites wish us to go. It is also, in our old beliefs, the direction of death." Concluding historical notes summarize the issues and provide background information, enhanced with black-and-white photos. Bruchac demonstrates his extensive knowledge of the Cherokee people in this outstanding addition to the My Name Is America series. Karen Hutt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 203 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Inc. (June 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0439121973
• ISBN-13: 978-0439121972
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #171,798 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #73 in Books > Children's Books > Travel & Cultures > Multicultural Stories > Native North & South Americans

More About the Author

Joseph Bruchac is a highly acclaimed Abenaki children's book author, poet, novelist and storyteller, as well as a scholar of Native American culture. Coauthor with Michael Caduto of the bestselling Keepers of the Earth series, Bruchac's poems, articles and stories have appeared in over 500 publications, from Akwesasne Notes and American Poetry Review to National Geographic and Parabola. He has authored more than 50 books for adults and children. For more information about Joseph, please visit his website www.josephbruchac.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Cherokee boy keeps a journal on the Trail of Tears., February 19, 2001

By 

Rebecca Herman (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Journal of Jesse Smoke : A Cherokee Boy, Trail of Tears, 1838 (My Name Is America) (Hardcover)

Sixteen-year-old Jesse Smoke's Cherokee ancestors have lived peacefully on the land for generations. Jesse's own family once owned a large, successful, plantation, until the family was driven off their land by white people, who then killed his father. Now, Jesse, his mother, and his two sisters live on a small, backwoods farm in Tennessee. But even there, they are not allowed to keep their land. All the Cherokees are ordered to leave their homes and move west to Indian Territory, part of present-day Oklahoma. Those that refuse, among them Jesse's family, are rounded up in the night, their homes burnt to the ground as they watch, and then taken to overcrowded stockades to await their forced journey west. Jesse tells the heartbreaking story of the tragic journey his people come to call the "Trail of Tears." I reccomend this book to all My Name is America fans.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Trail of Tears, September 13, 2001

By 

hiphopgirl_1000 - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Journal of Jesse Smoke : A Cherokee Boy, Trail of Tears, 1838 (My Name Is America) (Hardcover)

Jesse and his fellow Cherokee people have lived on the land for generations. Their ancestors grew old and died on the same Georgian land. However life changes suddendly in 1838 as the Treaty of New Enchota forces him and his mother and sister off of their land. At first like many of his people his family refuses to go. However in the middle of the night one night they were forced harshfully to move out. Jesse knows life will never be the same again as he sees the harships, sickness, death, hunger, fatigue, and sorrow in his Cherokee people. The "Trail of Tears" was truly a sad time in our nation's history.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jesse Smoke's Journal, November 7, 2002

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Journal of Jesse Smoke : A Cherokee Boy, Trail of Tears, 1838 (My Name Is America) (Hardcover)

If you like historical fiction, then I think you should read The Journal of Jesse Smoke because it was very exciting. It was exciting when the soldiers came to take all the Cherokee and Creeke Indians. I thought that was interesting because then a white man came trying to steal the house when a soilder beat up. Then, they went to a lot of forts. Many died. The Cherokee and Creeke Indians called that journey the Trail of Tears.
THE END