The Heart of a Chief

The Heart of a Chief. Joseph Bruchac. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1998. 153 pages. $15.99 (Hardcover). ISBN 0-8037-2276-1. Grades 5-8.

My Thoughts …

As I closed the cover of this book and felt the tears well up in my eyes I felt like a huge baby. I have never been overly sympathetic to the abuse, mistreatment, and racial discrimination towards Native Americans. I am embarrassed to admit this, but I don’t feel that my inaction and lack of thought is due to racism or closed mindedness, but rather ignorance. I realize that there is a Native American population in South Carolina and even where I am from in Maine, yet I was never really exposed to, introduced to, or taught about all of the injustices or what I could/should do to help. That being said, I loved this book and how Chris stayed true to his roots and honored his heritage while teaching and implementing change in the community around him. I was touched by how the family in this book stood strong and stood together, giving for the people rather than keeping for themselves. I know this is a work of fiction and that a lot of the feel good emotions and perfect words and actions may not happen in real life, but they could. This book is realistic in a way that I could see an eleven year old boy living how he has been taught and accidentally making a huge change.  I think Native American readers will take pride in this book as they see one of their own stands up for themselves and their culture. I think non-Native American readers will be inspired by this child and in awe of their way of life. The optimism, devotion, pride, and commitment to their beliefs are astounding and I loved reading about them. I loved the narrator and how he thought like a regular eleven year old so I could relate to him, but he was wiser than his years due to his life. I love that Bruchac developed him so well. This is a totally relatable book, and I think other readers will enjoy it as much as I did. If nothing else they will love all the stories that Doda and Mita shared with Chris throughout his life.

This book kind of reminded me of Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian because they share similar themes, settings, situations, etc. I think the writing style and audience are different, but I was interested to see how alcoholism and identity do play a similar role in each story. I wonder if other Native American titles too share these traits. Group Four’s approach to actually making a change through their presentation also reminded me of the determination of TC and Ale to make a different in Steven Kulger’s My Most Excellent Year: A Novel of Love, Mary Poppins and Fenway Park. This is a minor fact, but I like books where young people take a stand. I also thought it was neat that there is a small crossover between the Manzanar Japanese internment camp in the two books as well.