Wilma's Way Home

Juvenile herstory 

     "My own story has only meaning as long as it is a part of the overall story of my people.  For above all else, I am a Cherokee woman."

     During the years I've been writing this blog I've learned about some pretty amazing sheroes.  Wilma Mankiller is one of my favorites.  So when I discovered Doreen Rappaport's Wilma's Way Home I was over the moon.  The text includes many well placed actual quotes.  Illustrations are dynamic and engaging.

     Mankiller was born into a rural family of eleven in Oklahoma.

"It was a hard life.

We were really poor--

'dirt poor' is how they say it in Oklahoma.'

But the Cherokees had an asset poor whites didn't: Gadugi, a community system of helping one another and maintaining tribal identity.

     In 1956 when Mankiller was ten her community was ordered by the government to move to California.  She found the transition from open land to grim city to be heartbreaking.

"One day I was here, and the next day I was trying to deal with the mysteries of television, indoor plumbing, neon lights, and elevators."

     Nothing made her feel comfortable in the new, cold environment.

"It robbed us of our vitality 

and sense of place."

     Children and parents alike will be by her long, determined journey home and by what she was able to achieve when she arrived.

On a purrrsonal note,  my first ever lunch and learn, centered around ageism, catered beautifully by Harvest Moon, was a total success.  I wasn't at all anxious.  In fact I was totally rocking that Jules magic.  People were enthusiastically and actively engaged, learning from each other, and having a great time.  The food was delish.  And even the predicted precip petered out.  Instead of a sleety, slushy soup we had gentle flakes in the morning and a drizzly damp afternoon.  Now I can work on the holiday event I'm planning for December 7.(Jules)

Of course she was purrrfect.  But maybe a little heavy on the alliteration? (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to all who participated in my first lunch and learn.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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