Hidden Roots

ANNOTATION

Although he is uncertain why his father is so angry and what secret his mother is keeping from him, eleven-year-old Sonny knows that he is different from his classmates in their small New York town.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

As hard as 11-year-old sonny and his Mother try, they can't predict his Father's sudden rages, which can turn physical in an instant. Jake's anger only gets worse after long days laboring at the local paper mill, and when Uncle Louis Appears. Louis seems to show up when Sonny and his Mother need help most, but there is something about him and his quiet, wise ways that only fuels Jake's rage. The love of Sonny's fragile Mother, the support and protection of his Uncle Louis, and an unexpected friendship with a librarian help Sonny gain the confidence to stand up to his Father. The consequences of his actions, and the source of his Father's self-hatred, will reverberate through the hearts and minds of readers and challenge them to examine their own feelings about love, acceptance, and self-esteem.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Reprising his signature themes, Bruchac sets up this taut novel to reveal a chilling bit of history: according to an endnote, the Vermont Eugenics Project, signed into law in 1931, enabled the state to incarcerate and sterilize many Abenaki Indians, on the grounds that they had "bad genes," leading other Abenaki to conceal their Indian identities. This revelation comes only near the end, although fans of Bruchac's writing and attentive readers will suspect much sooner that 11-year-old Sonny, the narrator, is related to the Indians whose customs and beliefs his Uncle Louis relates with such passion and insight. Sonny has plenty to contend with. The dawning Cold War, in 1954, means air-raid drills and talk of nuclear bombs. Yet even the bomb may not be as scary as his father, an abusive man so volatile that Sonny vows, "I will never be as angry as my father." Why does Sonny's father get so angry at Uncle Louis, and why does he have to work at the paper mill, where the machines mangle workers' limbs and chemicals poison the river? A terrible accident that costs Sonny's father part of his right hand, and a friendship with the town librarian, who shares the news that she lost her German Jewish parents in the Holocaust, reminds everyone to value what will always belong to them, namely, their identity. The author doesn't quite master all that he introduces, but the climactic shocker has the intended effect, and is certain to have a searing impact on the audience. Ages 9-12. (Feb.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Children's Literature - K. C. Manus

It is 1954, and eleven-year-old Sonny Camp lives under the fear of his father's violent outbursts and the mysterious appearances of his Uncle Louis. Sonny's confusion grows as he realizes the depth of his father's distaste for Uncle Louis. Though Sonny continues to see Uncle Louis secretly, he also wonders at his brooding father's distance from the community. When it is revealed that Sonny's father was involved in a terrible accident before he could join the U.S.'s war effort, Sonny thinks he has found the skeleton lurking in his family's closet. But that skeleton is not alone. Uncle Louis is actually Grandfather Louis, a secret kept for fear of revealing the family's Native American ancestry. The family had moved from Vermont during its eugenics campaign that targeted Native Americans as others. The family heals through this revelation and begins to embrace again the traditions they were forced to hide. In this tale, Bruchac's pacing and sense of mystery is impeccable, but his choice of material is confusing. Though obviously meant to alert readers to their country's darker decisions, the work begins many years after the fact and dwells only briefly on the terrors faced by Bruchac's own Abenaki people. Where Bruchac could have produced a compelling and chilling narrative set during Vermont's sterilization program, the terrors and injustices of which the reader could experience firsthand, readers instead experience very little real horror and get a brief account of the program late in the novel. 2004, Scholastic Press, Ages 9 to 12.

Library Journal

Gr 5-9-Small for his 11 years and the last picked for playground games, Harold doesn't much care that he's friendless. His mother is also a loner; his father works at the paper mill and everything about his job makes him angry-chemicals spilling into the Hudson, the gnashing cogs of machine Number Three that will rip off a limb if you're not careful, and the double shifts that never bring in enough money. Life is hard in this upstate New York town during the early 1960s. Harold knows that his family has secrets; some are too threatening to make sense of while his mother tries to hide others. Uncle Louis visits mostly while his father is at work, showing Harold the wonders of this Adirondack wilderness. Bruchac's story takes its roots in the 1930s Native American sterilization program known as the Vermont Eugenics Program. This chilling reality haunted the Abenaki people, threatened their annihilation, and drove them into hiding for three decades. As Harold learns near the end of the story, his family, victims of that program, escaped to New York and claimed a French heritage. "Uncle Louis" is actually his mother's father. This purposeful but discerning book will prompt discussion and further research into the plight of the Native people from the Green Mountain State. Yet within this historical framework of the shameful deeds of man, pride and integrity hold the family together.-Alison Follos, North Country School, Lake Placid, NY Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews