Product Description

The Iroquois Confederacy was one of the world’s great democra­cies, serving as a model that inspired the founders of both the United States and Canada. C. J. Taylor has drawn on her Mohawk heritage and versions of the story she has gathered from elders to tell the story of the Confederacy of Five Nations (which became six after European contact) and of the heroic peace walker, Hiawatha, in powerful prose and dramatic art.

Peace Walker is the story of how peace and unity emerged from a time of chaos when the nations suffered under the brutality of Chief Atotahara – a man so evil that he drank potions from the skull of a small child.

Hiawatha’s story has been told in many versions, but none have the ring of authenticity and passion of C. J. Taylor’s remarkable book.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1783529 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-14
• Released on: 2004-09-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 48 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 6 Up–Taylor gives the folk story of Hiawatha a historical foundation and cultural clarity. The events surrounding the collaboration of two chiefs, the Onandaga Hiawatha and Tekanawita of the Mohawk, to upset the tyrant Atotarho are related simply and abound with graphic details of Native life. They vary from descriptions of clothing, food, and daily life to harsh, cruel practices of war, which are accurate for the times and Native American practice, and create a complete picture of the people and era. Hiawatha endured his village's murder of his daughters to force him on the psychic and physical journeys necessary to the accomplishment of peace. Each chapter includes one full-page illustration done in acrylic on canvas in a slightly naive style. .Sentences are not long, and the writing is eloquent and poetically rhythmic.–Cris Riedel, Ellis B. Hyde Elementary School, Dansville, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Gr. 6-9. When the five Iroquois nations began warring with each other after generations of peace, only Hiawatha was brave enough to defy the evil chief Atotarho. Hiawatha worked with Tekanawita to bring about the Great Peace and to establish the Iroquois Confederacy. Mohawk author and artist Taylor drew on stories she heard from elders in her retelling of the Great Peace, which is illustrated with full-page paintings of the chiefs, the council meeting, and the land of the Iroquois nations. The People of the Longhouse trace their confederacy back more than 1,500 years, and Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were inspired by the confederacy and drew upon its principles as they developed a democratic government for the U.S. Use this strong title to introduce Iroquois history or studies of democracies. Karen Hutt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From the Inside Flap
The Iroquois Confederacy was one of the world's great democra­cies, serving as a model that inspired the founders of both the United States and Canada. C. J. Taylor has drawn on her Mohawk heritage and versions of the story she has gathered from elders to tell the story of the Confederacy of Five Nations (which became six after European contact) and of the heroic peace walker, Hiawatha, in powerful prose and dramatic art.

Peace Walker is the story of how peace and unity emerged from a time of chaos when the nations suffered under the brutality of Chief Atotahara - a man so evil that he drank potions from the skull of a small child.

Hiawatha's story has been told in many versions, but none have the ring of authenticity and passion of C. J. Taylor's remarkable book.