Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison (1941 original; edició 1995)

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Based on the life of a real person, Indian Captive tells the story of Mary Jemison, a young girl who was kidnapped by a Seneca tribe in 1758. After taking her away from her family, she was not treated as a slave or prisoner, but adopted as a member of the tribe. This Newbery Honor book from 1941 has aged well. It is an engaging, well told story. As a result of extensive research, Lenski does not portray the Native Americans as either saints or savages, but honestly. Among the characters in the village are people who are kind, caring and generous, and other who are spiteful and selfish. Some are harsh and firm, but fair and honest.
Mary, who is known to the tribe as Corn Tassel because of her long blonde hair, thinks frequently about how she can escape and return to the white people. But over the course of time, she begins to care about and even love some of the people in her new "Indian" family. The book concludes when she has been with the tribe for about two years, and then is given the freedom to make a decision... will she leave and return to live with the white people, or will she remain forever a member of the Seneca? ( )

It might be easy to assume that this book is dated because of its subject and age, but except for calling the Seneca "Indians", this book has stood the test of time amazingly well. The detail about the Seneca's way of life is captivating, and I'm impressed with the depiction of Mary's struggle between the life she was born to and the life she chooses, with the Seneca. It has to be hard for people to understand since she chose to stay with the people that had killed her family, but as she said, "War killed her family." ( )

Good book. I learned a great deal about Native American life. ( )

is a good book to read I have in my collection ( )