Because it was written in 1954, I'll bet this book does NOT portray American Indians in a fair and respectful way. But the kids at my library need to read the pioneer fiction, so I'll give it a shot.

In 1707, young Sarah Noble and her father traveled through the wilderness to build a new for their family. "Keep up your courage, Sarah Noble", her mother had said, but Sarah found that it was not always easy to feel brave inside. The dark woods were full of animals and Indians, too, and Sarah was only eight!

The true story of Sarah's journey is inspiring. And as she cares for her father and befriends her Indian neighbors, she learns that to be afraid and to be brave is the greatest courage of all.

While it was a sweet story about a pioneer girl having the courage to be left alone with an Indian tribe, consideration has to be taking while reading the title. The Native Americans in the story are referred to as Indians and often white ideas (such as renaming the family so she could pronounce their names, the fact that they do not wear clothing like her and that they are meant to be feared) have influence over the story. However, the characters of the Robinsons who other reviewers do mentioned to voice their horrible attitudes towards the Indians ( "they will chop off your head", "they will skin you alive", etc), in the book's defense Sarah and her father do have a lot of respect towards Tall John and his family. Sarah also mentions that "there is no love in that [The Robinson's] house". Keep in mind to start conversations upon reading.

00001928

To a 21st century reader this is so insensitive and there is so much that is cringe-worthy. But it was written 70 years ago and set 300 years ago, so it's not fair to judge it based on modern sensibilities. She's afraid of the Indians until she meets them and makes friends with the children. But she never bothers to learn the name of the tribe, never learns a single word of their language, or even bothers to learn their names. She lives for months with "Tall John," "his squaw," "Small John," and "Mary" because she just assigned them English names for her own convenience. Presumably the woman who fed her everyday, sewed winter clothes for her, and cared for was never even assigned a name. ( )