The Sacred Harvest: Ojibway Wild Rice Gathering (We Are Still Here)
Grade 4-8-- Glen Jackson, Jr., is an 11-year-old Ojibway Indian from the Leech Lake reservation in Minnesota. His people are wild rice growers, and the annual harvest has as much spiritual meaning for his people as the raising of corn, beans, and squash does for the Hopi and the Seneca. Glen is taking part in the ritual for the first time and is worried that he won't be strong enough to push the canoe through the rice beds without tipping over. As in Woods's A Boy Becomes a Man at Wounded Knee (Walker, 1992) and Keegan's Pueblo Boy (Dutton, 1991), readers are introduced to the modern Indian world through the experiences of an individual young person. Ojibway history and descriptions of the reservation are smoothly blended into the narrative as Glen learns how to harvest, parch, winnow, and cook the rice. There is a lot of information here, and readers will gain much from it and the many well-chosen, full-color photographs of the Jackson family. A word list and excellent bibliography conclude the book, and author Michael Dorris contributes an excellent foreword that captures the real strength of this and similar books --Lisa A. Mitten, University of Pittsburgh, PACopyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.