On the night that fourteen-year-old Cassidy “Rain” Berghoff shares her first kiss with Galen, her best friend, he dies in a tragic accident. In a state of shock, Rain, who normally loves to take photographs, goes into mourning sheltering herself from friends and family. Rain is so wounded she doesn’t even attend Galen’s funeral.

Rain lives in a small, predominately white town in Kansas. She and her brother are part of just a handful of Native Americans who live in the town and they share their minority ranking with a single black family. In an effort to celebrate and educate about the family’s ethnic heritage, Rain’s aunt Georgia organizes an Indian Camp open to Natives and Non-Natives alike. Rain chooses not to attend the Indian Camp, but instead photographs the Camp for her brother’s fiancé who works at the local newspaper.

Her decision to serve as an impartial observer is tested when Galen’s mother politicizes the financially-struggling city’s funding of the Indian Camp, which serves a minority of the community.

Rain is Not My Indian Name is full of subplots. In addition to being about Rain’s struggle to overcome her grief after Galen’s death and that of her mother who also had died only a few years before Galen, it is about tension in her family. The book also touches on racial tension and prejudices that are encountered in a small town community as a minority.

Rain is part American Indian. In a diary entry she states, “I’m Muscogee Creek-Cherokee and Scots-Irish on Mom’s side, Irish-German-Ojibway on Dad’s.” She is often confronted with the question, “How much Indian are you?” She states that she doesn’t mind being asked by Native people though, because they show respect for tribal affiliation and never follow up with, “You don’t seem Indian to me.” However she is ashamed that she is unfamiliar with her heritage when she spends time with an Ojibway acquaintance.

Jeff Zaleski, a reviewer from Publisher’s Weekly stated, “Multiple plot lines and nonlinear storytelling may make it difficult to enter Smith’s complex novel, but the warmth and texture of the writing eventually serve as ample reward for readers.”

Told from a first-person perspective, Rain’s wry sense of humor and the dialogue make the characters realistic and believable. Rain’s family’s preoccupation with their own lives makers her plight seem even more troublesome as she makes an effort to come to terms with her emotions much on her own. Rain’s diary entries that precede each chapter help fill in the blanks for the reader.

Though subtle, cultural markers appear throughout the book. While going through some of her mother’s belongings, Rain comes across her mother’s tear dress, a traditional Cherokee dress, made of Settlers’ cotton--a long calico with a fanned skirt. Rain describes herself being able to get a tan just by looking out the window. However, her hair is like “waving wheat” and she has hazel eyes.

As part of Indian Camp, Aunt Georgia plans a trip to a wild rice harvest. Rain concludes that it must be part of Ojibway tradition. The book is set in a fictional town in Kansas, but Rain refers to trips with her mother to Oklahoma, where she learned more about her Native American culture.

In addition, at least one negative stereotype is apparent-that of the “alcoholic Indian.” “Uncle Ed looked good. Not too pink. Not too puffy. Not since he’d gotten serious and regular about going to AA.” However, Smith attempts to remind readers that many might have Native American ancestry. Queenie, the token African American in the community finds that one of her great grandfathers was Native American.

Jones et al write, “It is one of the best portrayals around of kids whose heritage is mixed but still very important in their lives.”

Jones, Trevelyn E., Toth, Luann, Charnizon, Marlene, Grabarek, Daryl, Larkins, Jeanne, Edwards, Carol A. 2001. Rain is Not My Indian Name (Book Review). School Library Journal 47 (June no 6) In Academic Search Premier (database online). Accessed 9 July 2005.

Zaleski, Jeff. 2001. Rain is Not My Indian Name (Book Review). Publishers’ Weekly 248 (9 July no 28). Available from Academic Search Premier(database online). Accessed 9 July 2005.

From the perspective of a young girl, Erdrich tells the story of a grandmother who “was a far more mysterious woman” than her family knew. As the family is vacationing at the beach, grandmother hops on the back of a porpoise to make her way to Greenland, where she has always wanted to go. After a year goes by, her family realizes she is gone for good and decides to go through her belongings and pack a few things up.

As each family member is reflecting on a memory of grandmother associated with her things—the wooden effigy of Sun-tzu’s horse and the stones she had collected on the shores of Lake Superior, father turns the family’s attention to grandmother’s collection of birds’ nests. Amazingly, the eggs in one of the nests begin to hatch in the warmth of mother’s hands.

After calling a bird expert over to explain the mystery, the family learns that the birds are passenger pigeons, thought to be extinct. The family must face an onslaught of scientists, reporters and photographers filling their home to get a glimpse of the inexplicable birds.

In spite of the attention, the family recognizes that the birds are suffering in captivity. The children write notes to their grandmother and attach them to the birds. Then under the shroud of darkness, set them free. A few weeks later a note arrives from grandmother announcing that she just arrived in Greenland and promising to return soon.

As a reviewer for Kirkus Reviews points out, “The point of all this may be that ‘nature is both tough and fragile,’ as an ornithologist describes the lesson of the passenger pigeon's extinction, or it may have something to do with the folly of examining miracles too closely.” Despite some words that will have to be looked up or explained, such as “ornithologist,” the text is simplistic in style yet, as the jacket describes, “quirky” and “poignant.”

The book is beautifully illustrated and full of whimsy. Jim LaMarche’s full page acrylic and colored pencil illustrations are naturalistic, done in warm tones resulting in a depth of texture. The characters' features are expressive from the wonder of the young girl when the birds begin to hatch to the knowing look of the wise, but eccentric grandmother at the book’s opening.

Although the book is not marketed as a Native American story, Erdrich’s heritage shines through if the reader searches, sometimes falling into stereotypes like the mystical nature of the book and the appreciation for nature’s creatures. Grandmother’s hands were soothing medicine and she brewed a potent medicinal tea to heal ailing grandchildren.

The family is not identified as Native American. Grandmother has whitening grey hair and the children and their parents have dark brown hair. All family members have peach colored skin and rosy cheeks. As Ilene Cooper‘s Booklist review stated, “Like the pigeons, this is a rare bird—a book that evokes wonder, in both its meanings.”

Cooper, Ilene. Booklist 92. (1 May): 1502. Available from FirstSearch (database online). Accessed 15 July 2005.

 

1996. Kirkus Reviews. (15 April). Available from Books in Print (database online). Accessed 15 July 2005.