Indian No More [MG Review]

Review ✍🏻

About the Book

Indian No More is an #ownvoices title, based on the experiences of Charlene Willing McManis’ family. McManis was a baby when her Umpqua tribe was terminated in 1950s and her family moved to Los Angeles. When McManis learned she had terminal cancer, she asked Traci Sorell (Cherokee) to finish the book. Sadly, McManis passed away in 2018 before Indian No More‘s publication.

Indian No More tells the story of 10 year old Regina and her family moving to Los Angeles after their tribe is terminated in 1954. Regina’s family includes younger sister, Azores Portugeuse mother, Umpqua father and grandmother (Chich, meaning grandmother in Chinuk Wawa). While Regina’s father strives to assimilate into white America, Regina questions her identity and navigates racism in a way she never had to growing up.

And I didn’t live on the rez now. I lived in a new neighborhood that didn’t understand warriors or the history of my people. They didn’t understand why my ancestors needed to win against the cowboys. this neighborhood only knew what was told to them in movies and television and history books.

That Indians always lose.

Indian No More, pg. 74

Reading Experience

Personally, I enjoy shorter historical fiction because I find longer titles can be dry. In a story that comes in at 168 pages, every line and incident matters. Many moments pack a punch and had me pausing to reflect. In one scene, Regina’s mother hesitates to let her children trick-or-treat. Regina appeals to her father, saying that they’re Americans now and “American kids trick-or-treat” (97). Regina immediately thinks “There. I did it. I bargained my Indianness for free candy.” Regina’s father wants his family to be American, but Regina has a different view of her identity. In another chapter, Regina is made to play the Indian in a Thanksgiving play at school. One mother comments that she looks like “a real Indian” in the costume (pg. 120).

No one wanted to talk about the play, and I was fine with that. I tried rubbing the red stripes off my cheeks, but nothing worked. Once we got inside the house, Chich smoothed Mama’s cold cream on them and the lipstick came right off. But I wasn’t sure I’d ever forget this day or what those stripes felt like.

Indian No More, pg. 123

Indian No More also touches on racial inequalities beyond those that Regina and her family experience as Indigenous people. Regina lives in a diverse neighbourhood; her new friends include Black and Cuban families. The trick-or-treating event described above ends horribly as white boys egg Regina and her friends. One shouts the n-word at them (pg. 100). Regina repeats the term when she asks her mother what it means a few pages later; her mother tells her never to say again it and that it’s a very bad word (pg. 103). While the story has many serious moments, the reader can find hope and comfort in the positive relationships that Regina does develop, as well as the understanding of her own identity she comes to by the end of the book.

Collaboration

Indian No More came from a collaboration between four Indigenous women: author McManis (Umpqua), co-author Sorell (Cherokee), editor Elise McMullen-Ciotti (Cherokee), and cover artist Marlena Myles (Spirit Lake Dakota, Mohegan, Muscogee Creek). I highly recommend you check out Indigenous youth Ashleigh’s review. Not only has Ashleigh written a great review demonstrating why mirror books like Indian No More are so important, she also notes what it means for her to see such collaboration.

Supplemental Material

50 pages of back material follow the story: definitions, author’s note including photographs, co-author’s note, editor’s note, and “The Beaver and the Coyote”. Given the semi-autobiographical nature of the novel and the unique way in which it came to publication, these materials are an integral part of the reading experience.

One tribal member said it best: “There was no Chinuk Wawa word for termination except mimɘlust·ʳ.” That means “to die” in my Native language. For many, this loss of identity was exactly how they felt. They had become the walking dead.

Author’s note, pg. 178-180

The Bottom Line 💭

A compelling and thoughtful read, I highly recommend Indian No More as a well-written work of historical fiction that offers plenty of relevance to today. (Remember to go read Ashleigh‘s review!)

Further Reading 📰

🍂 Book webpage (lots of neat supplemental material, including a cover reveal that explains the art’s symbolism)
🍂 Traci Sorell interview @ Cynthia Leitich Smith
🍂 Reviews: Ashleigh @ Indigo’s Bookshelf, Alex @ Randomly Reading, Dr. Reese @ American Indians in Children’s Literature, SLJ review
🍂 Related posts: Reviews of Indigenous #ownvoice middle grade novels I Can Make This Promise by Christine Day and Ghost Collector by Allison Mills