On the Long Trail Home [Hardcover]

Elizabeth J. Stewart (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

The escape of the author's great-grandmother from the infamous Trail of Tears inspired this gripping account of Meli, a nine-year-old Cherokee girl, and her perilous journey from her people's exile back to her childhood home.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6-Meli, a nine-year-old Cherokee girl, is separated from her family as her people are driven by soldiers from their homes in North Carolina and forced to march to government lands in Oklahoma. Somewhere in Kentucky, she and her older brother find one another, escape, and travel on foot the long way home to a reunion with her father and younger brother. Resolutely she faces hunger and danger from both nature and humans. Meli's solitary thoughts and the formal relationship she has with her brother allow for little of the contacts and dialogue that help define character. Some plot elements are jarring, perhaps because the story is based on true events, which don't always plot well. For instance, Meli discovers the dead body of a murdered woman, an incident that is never resolved. Careful attention has been paid to remaining true to Cherokee cultural norms, such as family relationships and accepted behavior. Stewart also incorporates interesting historical details such as Meli's contact with the Quakers and her understanding of their religious beliefs. A long afterword gives information about the Cherokee people and the Trail of Tears, including the diary entry of a soldier involved in the military action.
Sally Bates Goodroe, Houston Public Library
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 5-7. A young Cherokee girl, Meli, escapes from the white soldiers who are forcing her captive people on the long trail westward in the 1830s. Meli knows that thousands of Cherokee have died of starvation and disease on the Trail of Tears. First with her older brother and then on her own, she makes her way back to the Appalachian Mountains, from which her people were cruelly driven. In an afterword Stewart says the story is based on her own great-grandmother's experience, and a map shows the Trail of Tears and Meli's homeward journey. The core of the book is her survival story, and that's told with simple realism: how she finds food and shelter; how she swims rivers, scales mountains, and makes her way home. There's no tension or surprise; we know she'll get there. Some of the writing is purposive and over-explanatory, and the history is the most interesting part of the book. Readers will feel the sorrow of Meli's haunting memories: the richness of her early life--and then, her mother and baby sister murdered, her people brutally displaced. Hazel Rochman

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: Clarion Books; First Edition edition (September 19, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395683610
• ISBN-13: 978-0395683613
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,830,895 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Children are brave, July 6, 2008

By 

R. Bagula "Roger L. Bagula" (Lakeside, Ca United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On the Long Trail Home (Scholastic Press) (Paperback)

Rabbit-Proof Fence is a story from Australia that parallels this one, but a century later. In both cases the government
treats the original people of the land as if they had no human rights.The Cherokee are the case most often pointed to of a "civilized" people.
with their own written language.
In this novel the only real Christians seem to be Quakers.
Meli and her brother Tahli break out of the U.S. Army's detention
and Tahli is wounded.
He nearly dies on the trip home
and Meli is recaptured and manages to escape from a root cellar.
They are befriended by Caddo Indians whose language seems to be from the same base language as Cherokee.
This story is reconstructed by the author from a word of mouth oral history of her family.
As a Children's book it might be confusing to young people that historically the U. S, government has broken treaties and generally treated the American Indians/ Native American very badly.

5.0 out of 5 stars On The Long Trail Home, January 10, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: On the Long Trail Home (Hardcover)

Nine year old Meli was on her way to school.When all of a sudden a soldier knocked on the door. He came in and killed her mom and her sister.

Meli clung to her grandma ever since her mom and her sister had died. Meli and her grandma named Sagui can't find the rest of her family.

If you like history of indans than you would like to read this book.

By Lexy

3.0 out of 5 stars On The Long Trail Home, January 10, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: On the Long Trail Home (Hardcover)

A little girl named Meli is a Cherokee girl with a drepressing,and complicated life. When she was just a little girl her mother,and her sister which is a new born baby died by the white soldiers. Her, her brother ,and her dad were able to escape. As her mother,and sister lay dead,she makes one last look and leaves before......it will be her turn to rest by the white soldiers.

If you feel sad knowing that they have to kill animals to survive, to have something to eat don't read it. If you don't like that the fact that at a young age a brother,and a sister travel through woods in fear of soldiers, because they could get killed, just to find their father, I don't think this book will interest you. If you don't like confusion, and flash backs don't read it. If you like adventure, the fact to risk your life to find your father. To have your family come together like it used to this is clearly the book for you.

Over all I would give it a 3 out of 5 star book rating. I like the most fierce survival needs,and journeys they go through. All just ot find their father.
Stephanie