The Warriors [Hardcover]

Joseph Bruchac (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. As a member of the lacrosse team and of Iroquois heritage, Jake knows how sacred the game is, but when he moves to a boarding school and plays for its team, he finds that the coach is feeding untruths to his team about the game.

--This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8-Contemporary realistic fiction that incorporates background information on a specific Native American culture but does not overwhelm readers is far too rare. In Warriors, Bruchac introduces Jake Forrest, a young teenager who leaves the Iroquois reservation where he was raised to live with his mother, a lawyer in Maryland, and attend a prestigious private boy's school. Like many kids his age, Jake wrestles with the difficulties of moving to a new city, fitting in at a new school, and trying to make the best of his one-parent family. Additionally, he endures many little offenses, like the nickname "Chief," and bigger ones, like the biased presentation of events in history class. Throughout the novel, the author mixes just the right amount of universal teen experience and culturally specific perspective to make Jake's story appealing to a broad audience. Plus, as a sports novel, Warriors is just plain fun, with action-packed descriptions of lacrosse that put readers right on the field with the players. One hopes that books like this will encourage more teens, from all ethnic backgrounds, to recognize and internalize their own traditions instead of opting for mainstream popular culture.
Sean George, Memphis-Shelby County Public Library & Information Center, Memphis, TN
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 5-8. Jake Forrest enjoys playing lacrosse on the Algonquin Indian reservation where he lives. He understands the way the game ties into his people's view of the world and their history. After his mother gets a job as an attorney, however, and enrolls Jake in a fancy Washington, D.C., boarding school, Jake finds his world disrupted. The school is lacrosse obsessed. Jake becomes a star of the team, but he's disturbed by his coach's failure to grasp the subtleties of the Indian approach to the sport. When a tragic shooting kills the coach, Jake organizes an all-school lacrosse game as a sort of prayer of healing. Young lacrosse fans or players may be disappointed that there aren't more descriptions of the game, and some readers may find that the novel's many messages overwhelm the characters and action. Still, there's plenty of thought-provoking material here about the place of sports in American society. Todd Morning
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 117 pages
• Publisher: Darby Creek Publishing (August 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581960026
• ISBN-13: 978-1581960020
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,696,114 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 2004 Pennsylvania Young Readers Choice Masterlist, June 13, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Warriors (Hardcover)

This gripping story of a Native American boy's tribal connection to lacrosse was named one of 16 2004 Pennsylvania Young Readers Choice books by the Pennsylvania School Library Association.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars IRA Teacher's Choice for 2004, June 13, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Warriors (Hardcover)

Joseph Bruchac's moving story of a boy torn from the reservation to live a new life in Washington D.C. was named one of the International Reading Association's Teacher's Choice Books for 2004. Congrats, Joseph! It's a wonderful book!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BOOK REWVIEW, November 22, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Warriors (Paperback)

I read a fiction book titled The Warriors by Joseph Bruchac. It is a terrific book. It was set between the Native American reservation and Weltimore School.

The three main characters were Jake, his mom and Coach Scott. Jake is a nice boy who is Native American. He loves to play lacrosse he goes threw a lot of events in the story. His mom his women that works a lot and doesn't get to see Jake as much as she wants to so she pops up in the story in the important events. Coach Scott he is the lacrosse coach and he is a teacher. He reads to his students about Indians and things Jake dose not like because it talks about bad stuff about his culture.

The main problem in this story occurs. When Jake tries to tell every one that what they are saying in the books Coach Scott reads to them in class about the Indians being bad people and doing bad things to other American is not true. When nobody listens to him he fells bad about his culture.

My favorite part of the book was when Jake moved in to the worries rooms because his mom could not have him stay alone at home. This was my favorite part because it had Jake make knew friends and more people to talk to.

I really liked this book because it shows you that all people are equal in different ways. I would recommend it to because it tells you that Indians.
How they used to play lacrosse and shows you that words can heart other people .
The book is a terrific book. If I could I would give it 4 stars.