Book Review: Indian Captive

Author: Lois Lenski
Review by Lauren Tatum, 12 years old
During the summer of 2003

Indian Captive takes place in New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio starting in 1758 during the French-Indian War. The main character in this story is Mary Jemison, her Indian name is Corn Tassel. The other main characters are Shining Star, Squirrel Woman, Shagbark, Little Turtle, Running Deer, Bear Woman, and Earth Woman.

The conflict was when Indians took her family captive. She then was seperated from them. The climax was when she was becoming use to the Indian customs and started to like her Indian friends.

My favorite character was Shining Star, because whenever Molly was feeling down or upset Shining Star would give her advice and helped calm Molly down. I love stories about when people are captured by Indians. I like to see what they do with the problems they face and see what there new life is like. This is one of my favorites. This is a great and easy book for children to learn about what happened in the French-Indian war; what life was like for an Indian captive; how the Indians lived; and that Indians are not not wild and crazy killing machines.

"The career of Mary Jemison, the White Captive of the Geneseem, has been the subject of several books and many papers and addresses. Many efforts to describe her life and Indian background have lacked the very essential things which Miss Lenski has introduced. "
-- Arthur Parker, Director of Rochester Museum of Arts and Sciences

Other Books Louis Lensky Wrote
Cotton in My Sack
Houseboat Girl
Prarie School
Strawberry Girl

PLUS:
24 Picture Book/ Juvenile
48 Children Fiction Novels