Product Description

A portrait of the great Iroquois leader Hiawatha chronicles his role in bringing peace to the five warring Iroquois tribes and uniting them into the powerful Iroquois Federation, in a biography enhanced by paintings by modern Iroquois artists.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1735334 in Books
• Published on: 1992-09-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 48 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In Fradin's enlightening work, readers will learn about the real Hiawatha. This courageous, kind man--and inspiring speaker--ensured the survival of his people for 300 years after his death. The author recounts the childhood of this celebrated Iroquois Indian, the tragic murder of his family, stet comma and the incredible strength and forgiveness he found within himself to become a peacemaker between his people's fighting tribes. Hiawatha and a Canadian Indian named Degandawida encouraged the Iroquois to form their own government, which , in turn, created tranquility and humanity throughout that nation. Unlike literary works that describe Hiawatha as godlike or supernatural, this text accurately explains the role he has played in our history. Although Fradin's research and intent are admirable, his prose evinces a flat, pedestrian tone. And while some of the historical illustrations prove absorbing, others seem dry and uninformative. Ages 7-11.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Quick, accessible, interesting & well illustrated
We just found this book at our local library, and being as I had now and then heard that the Longfellow story was inaccurate, but that there was a real Hiawatha, I checked it out right away. It's a short book, under 50 pages, and filled with illustrations, so it is a fast read. There are no pronunciation keys for the Indian names, but aside from the long name of the Creator, I was able to make what I felt was a decent attempt when I read the book aloud to my kids. The illustrations are terrific... ranging from a photograph of Longfellow, to period paintings of Native American activities, to detailed drawings of longhouses and at least one photograph of an artefact, to paintings by living artists. And of course illustrations make the text more interesting to adults as well as children.

The real Hiawatha was an Iroquois man (from the region that is now New York State). The Iroquois lived in longhouses, and they called themselves the Haudenosaunee, the People of the Longhouses. We are not sure when he lived, somewhere before the time of Columbus anyway. When Hiawatha was young, the Iroquois were split into five nations, and there was always fighting, as each time someone was killed it would be necessary to kill someone in retaliation, and of course that never ends. Hiawatha, along with a Huron (a man from another people related to the Haudenosaunee) named Degandawida, worked to bring the Iroquois together into one people, stop the retaliatory killings, and create a set of laws and a nation which were, to many historians, the model used by the American Founding Fathers to create our Constitution and government.

Of course, I tell it poorly, and I don't have any pictures in my review, but I couldn't let this wonderful book sit on amazon with no reviews!