Sequoyah

Sequoyah is written and illustrated by James Rumford. It is part of the realistic fiction genre. Sequoyah was published by Houghton Mifflin Company Boston. The primary character was Sequoyah. The theme of the book was to never give up. The book received the Robert F. Sibert Award in 2004.

This book is about the life of a Cherokee Indian named Sequoyah.  Sequoyah did not know how to read. He was scared that the Indian people would fade with the white people. He made up his own symbols so that the Cherokees could read. People began to believe he was going crazy, but he did not let it stop him. He continued to carve symbols into the wood. Someone wanted to stop him and tried to burn his house down. Sequoyah thought that everything happened for a reason, so started over, creating markings for individual letters instead of creating symbols for words.  Soon the Cherokees could read and were proud of what Sequoyah had given them.

 

This book could be used as part of our history lesson. This book would be a good way to give students an idea of the life of Cherokee Indians while teaching them a good lesson. Students could also do a craft with this story by creating their own symbols for writing.