Books

We Are Mesquakie, We Are One
List Price:$11.95
FP Price:$9.56
  • Paperback Edition
  • ISBN: 978-1-55861-148-1
  • Publication Date: 10-01-1996
  • Page Count: 128
  • Categories: Fiction, Young Readers

HADLEY IRWIN is the pen name of Lee Hadley and Annabelle Irwin, both native Iowans, who taught English at Iowa State University, Ames. Together they wrote over a dozen young adult novels. Read the NY Times obituary for Lee Hadley

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We Are Mesquakie, We Are One

Hadley Irwin

This powerful, fact-based story is seen through the eyes of Hidden Doe, a young Native American girl, who grows to maturity during the 1840s, when the U.S. government forces her people to leave their homeland in Iowa and make the long and bitter journey to a Kansas reservation. As she comes of age during this painful time, Hidden Doe is counseled in the ways of her people by Gray Gull, her courageous grandmother, and by Great Bear, the wise chief, and soon also grows to know Bright Eagle, the young man who will win her love.

"This is a story of hope, of spring coming, of new life nourished by the old ways, written in a beautiful way. It is a story that must be told of women, of Indian women, of Mesquakie women. There is a wonderful sharing of love between women and between generations. I believe that Mesquakie women would share the good feelings I have about this book."

—Gretchen Bataille, Chair, American Indian Studies Program, Iowa State University at Ames

"An excellent portrayal of the Mesquakie resistance to white civilization and reservation life. It reflects their struggle to preserve their culture and language until they could find a way to return to their homeland where they knew the seeds of the Mesquakie would again flourish with their way of life."

—William H. Bean, Indian Education Consultant, State of Iowa, Department of Public Instruction

"The authors have presented a fictional account of the Mesquakie which mirrors the reality of my People's history."

—Adeline Wanatee, Mesquakie Settlement, Tama, Iowa