I Can Make This Promise

Juvenile fiction 

     "They ask me what tribe I'm from.  They ask me if I know what buffalo tastes like.  They ask about my spiritual beliefs.  They ask about the percentages and ratios of my blood."

     Edie, protagonist of Christine Day's I Can Make This Promise, can't answer any of these questions.  Her indigenous mother was adopted as a baby and raised by a white couple.

     One summer, exploring her attic to find a set of popsicle molds, Edie and her best friends find an old fashioned photograph of a woman who looks a lot like her.  The box it came from is filled with more pictures, postcards, and letters.  They discover that the mystery woman was named Edith.

     It turns out that Edie's parents know about Edith.  They're planning to tell Edie about her.  They're waiting until they feel that she's old enough to handle the information.

     Edie's uncle tells her to trust her parents.  But how can she when they're withholding information about her heritage?

     I Can Make This Promise, inspired by Day's life and family history, combines an engaging coming of age narrative with age appropriate information about a not so glorious chapter of American history.

On a purrrsonal note, the last day of finals week the Foster Center had their Christmas party.  It gave me a chance to meet some of Emma's colleagues.  She'd invited me.  It was really nice.  It was a small, congenial group.  The soft Christmas music didn't drown out the conversation.  The atmosphere was mellow and relaxed.  The food was distinctive, brought by different people.  I'd helped Emma make peanut butter cookies.  I met a woman named Katie who I plan to get to know better next semester.  It was such a lovely ending to an amazing but exhausting semester.  (Jules)

And she got home before darkness fell.  (Tobago).

A great big shout out goes out to the Foster Center crew.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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